What makes American the greatest country in the world?
I listen carefully to what America tells the rest of the world about itself. I hear what Fox News Network explains about life in America. I read what outspoken political leaders promote as solutions to improve the US economy. I pay attention to explanations for the causes of the economic downturn. I listen to what the most Patriotic Americans say about their country and why it is so great. Help me to understand if I accurately understand what makes America great.
Americans – Do you care that your country continues to discriminate against women and visible ethnic minorities. Actually isn’t it a big business advantage to have groups you can legally exploit to increase your profits. American is Capitalist but has long ago abandoned democratic principles. It is a society where the rich are powerful and the purpose of the rest of the population is to serve them, buy from them and to be exploited by them. Is that not the modern American way? There are no more hippies and it is not the 1960’s any more. People don’t protest against injustice. It probably is no longer allowed after 9/11. Don’t the police have the right to treat trouble-makers as domestic terrorists? Who really believes in human rights, equality and freedom? People like that are socialists and there is no room for them in America, is there? Capitalism is what makes America great. It is what pays for the greatest military on Earth. Capitalism and the American Military is what makes and keeps America Free and the greatest country in the world. Anyone who disagrees hates America! Pray for the troops and keep funding their missions to spread the American way around the world.
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28 Answers
My common statement is that the USA seems to be desperately trying to win a giant game of King of the Hill, without realising that no one else is playing.
Jeff Daniels’ character lost me on the “we used to be” part.
No country is the greatest in the world. Politically, economically, geographically, militarily —each has its own advantages and disadvantages. I’ve visited but never lived in another country other than the USA, and though I’m not always proud of it, I consider myself infinitely fortunate to be a citizen.
@syz I came to this question ready to post that answer. Good job!
This sounds more like a screed than a question.
The gigantic body mass of its citizenry, its massive crime and incarceration rate and its openly corrupt government.
I agree with @livelaughlove21 , America is NOT the greatest country in the world. America supports the Military Industrial Complex that builds the weapons of war, but we treat our Veterans very poorly, we now have “For Profit Prisons” that we fill with our darker skinned fellow citizens off of which the various corporations make a tremendous profit from the labors of the inmates, women are subject to a rape culture & they are steadily being stripped of their rights over their own bodies, the Voters are being squeezed out of being actually being able to vote (both by the Supreme Court – who are chipping away at the Voting Rights Act & by the Republican controlled state legislators who are demanding ID that has never been required to Vote). Law Enforcement agencies have become militarized & very racist & frequently innocent people will end up very dead. Politicians work harder to get elected than they do to serve the people that they are supposed to represent. America spends more on prisons than we do on educating our children. The big Pharmaceutical Companies are not actually in the business of finding ‘cures’ for diseases, but in finding treatments for the symptoms of these diseases. Our food producing systems have been taken over by companies like MONSANTO who are using genetic modification on the foods that we eat & they are not testing these GMOs because they say that it is not necessary, so they are (in effect) using the human race as Lab Rats. The Petroleum Industry is busily ‘fracking’ its way to poisoning all of our fresh drinking water & their pipelines rupture on a regular basis & spew toxic oil all over both the land & our oceans. There is no way that America can be considered to be the greatest country in the world.
All things considered, I’d probably rather live in Canada. There are many good things about America, but our overly patriotic national pride is surely not one of them. We’ve got a long way to go in forming a ‘more perfect Union’.
@diavolobella Your answer suggests I am looking to put down the USA. I have no right to do that but as an observer of world and particularly domestic media I hear a strange contrast between intense, unwavering patriotism and expressions of great disillusionment between the magnificent ideals of America and the way people perceive things actually work. What I wondered if I would hear any hint of a movement toward fighting for the kind of America people want. What I seem to hear is disappointment and apathy. As I reading that wrong?
I’m not seeking a soapbox to show disrespect to the USA. I’m sorry if it sounded like that was my goal.
I’m a sellout, and agree with @Linda_Owl.
Personally I think America sucks the big banana.
I’d give anything to retire out of the country but can’t do it yet.
I’d love to an expat.
@glacial Hand’s off, she’s staying at MY place! XD
That should be gratest, given the cheese munching nature of your average yank.
@ucme
yanks do not eat cheese, they eat some yellow industrial paste that they label as cheese, but that is not cheese.
Yall know Cheez Whiz is actually gray, until the colorant is added. eew
@ragingloli Eww, sounds like canary spunk…bad old tweety bird!
Yuck.
I love cheese. Not “Cheez”, or “Pasteurised processed cheese product.”
Cheese.
I’m particularly fond of brie.
@Seek_Kolinahr Yeah but you’re not your average yank though, you’re cool as fuck.
Okay, you’re a cow, but a cool one.
@Dr_Lawrence The reason I felt your question sounded more like a screed was because you asked a question, but then your follow up paragraphs contained a series of assumptions, judgments, accusations and demands for answers to questions (“Americans, do you care…?”) other than the original one. That made it sound as if you weren’t interested in letting people freely answer what they think makes America the greatest country in the world, but were actually asking them to defend against your opinions about why you think it is definitely not.
The question therefore seemed more of statement than a real question. If you had said, “I think America is not the greatest country in the world for these reasons, please tell me if you think I’m wrong or right and why?” that might have fit better with the rest of your question. As it was written, the follow up paragraphs make it difficult to answer the original question. People might think America is the greatest country in the world (or not) for any number of reasons which have nothing to do with the issues you brought up, but your emphasis on those issues kind of forces the discourse in that direction. If that makes any sense.
Thank you for clarifying your view @diavolobella . I agree my question contained elements that could legitimately be taken as rhetorical, especially in the followup paragraphs. Thank you for pointing that out. I will aim for more open-ended questions, especially on issues as political as this one.
The ability of its’ citizens to hide their collective heads in the sand to the obvious faults?
The dozens of millions of Americans who know that America is not the greatest country in every respect.
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