What really makes America (actually the USA) the greatest country in the world? This is an argument you can count on eventually hearing from a conservative, especially if you point out some little (or major) short coming about our country. Joe Nationalist thinks because he lives here...that he had the luck to be born in the USA...this makes the country great.
Let's see what former Dep. Ass't. Sec. of the Navy and combat veteran Joe Sanders had to say on the topic in a post on military.com.
It is our hubris, a "holier than thou" attitude that permeates our national psyche, and infuriates the rest of the world. It isn't that we are worse than everyone else; it is that we continually crow that we are better than everyone else and this hypocrisy grates on the international community. They know our history better than we do. Those who turn off their a.m. radios, get off their couches, and actually read our history, appreciate our relationship to the rest of the world, and know that we are a third rate, and even worse, nation in such vital areas as education, childcare, healthcare, and criminal justice. The irony is that we have the talent and the ability to make this country as great as we think it is, rather than expending our energy crowing about it. We have many things to be proud of, but we need to temper that pride with reality.The reality is that the USA is not the greatest country in the world when objectively measured. Although we will continue to be the greatest military power on earth for some time, in a few years we will not be the top economic power. The European Union nearly matches us already and it is very possible that China will eventually become number 1 economically. There are any number of facts that prove the USA is not the greatest, without equal, in everything, except maybe military power.
If the USA is the greatest country in the world, is there any room for improvement? Most nationalists would say No! If America does it, it must be right and good and moral and Christian - including torture. The last eight years we have even been assured that God approves of the USA and its global politics.
A real patriot would say of course there is always room for improvement. In fact, improvement is the American way of life.
So rather than incessantly bragging about how great we are, it might be better to put some effort into actually trying to become the greatest country on earth. And, that includes actually bringing liberty and justice to all.
1 comment:
The people most likely to brag loudly about the US being the best country in the world are the people least likely to have actually been to other parts of the world... and thus actually informed enough to make the comparison.
I have been to other parts of the world. And whether the US is the best or #2 or #7, it's certainly near the top. And one of the reasons it's near the top is because patriotic citizens are constantly trying to make it better, to fix its flaws. The real patriots, not the fakes who think that wearing a lapel pin or putting a flag on their porch absolves them from actually DOING SOMETHING to improve their country.
The Founding Fathers knew that the US wasn't perfect and never would be. But they also knew that making and keeping it great required the constant commitment of people trying to make it better, of never bragging or being complacent. That's why the Constitution's preamble doesn't begin "in order to form a perfect union" but rather "...a MORE perect union."
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