Why Isn't America Great?

[Never3ndr]

Okay, so maybe I'm just a patriot at heart, but I firmly believe that America is (currently) a great nation, and one of the best places to live on the planet. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty colored life, having been in the military, being deployed twice, working minimum wage service jobs in my youth, doing a couple years in tech (and hating it), to now going back to school and getting my ass kicked while pursuing a business degree.

I mean there are kids in school half my age and, due to how prosperous we are as a nation, I'm able to have not really had a super stable career and be going to school in the middle of my life. I've been to third world nations, and have the opportunity to speak to kids from around the world at my university...and I've seen how great we have it...and I love every second about it. I'm glad that I was raised in this nation and I'm proud to see how much we are doing and what we have offered to the world.

However, it really seems that a lot of people have no clue how great we are. You look at the media and Trump and his supporters wanting to "make America great again"...insinuating we aren't great now...and you really have to wonder. We have the best education systems, the most well-known and copied culture, corporations that are the largest and most powerful in the world, the strongest military (by far)...I mean by almost every measure we are great. Why do so many people think the opposite?

Now, this isn't to say we don't have problems...our growing divide between ourselves politically, racially, economically is probably the most concerning issue for me...but what nation doesn't have issues?

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

 

[Two Thumbs]

America is the best country the world has ever seen.

What's killing us is the left doesn't want to be great, they want to point at only things that are wrong or make up shit to be wrong but really isn't.

our freedoms are under attack, our republic is in danger, we are just this side of being a socialist nation where the media tells the sheep what to care about the most while the truly important subjects are ignored.

was the Confederate flag important?
no
was gays getting a cake anywhere they wanted important?
no
is trannies getting to use any toilet important?
no

Is the national debt passing $19 trillion important?
fuck yea, but no coverage
Is the fact that seniors got no cost of living increase while Congress got ~ $20k increase in pay important?
yea, but no coverage


America is great, but our government wants control, and that's not great.

 

[cnm]

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

It behaves like a war criminal in other countries, initiating aggressive war.

It is two faced when it comes to treaties like the NPT, insisting some countries, eg, Iran, more than honour the treaty's conditions while helping other countries like Pakistan in violation of the treaty.

It has the largest prison population in the world, both in terms of raw numbers and per capita.

If the listed items are the attributes of a great nation then admittedly America is great. The greatest.

 

[Dale Smith]

Okay, so maybe I'm just a patriot at heart, but I firmly believe that America is (currently) a great nation, and one of the best places to live on the planet. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty colored life, having been in the military, being deployed twice, working minimum wage service jobs in my youth, doing a couple years in tech (and hating it), to now going back to school and getting my ass kicked while pursuing a business degree.

I mean there are kids in school half my age and, due to how prosperous we are as a nation, I'm able to have not really had a super stable career and be going to school in the middle of my life. I've been to third world nations, and have the opportunity to speak to kids from around the world at my university...and I've seen how great we have it...and I love every second about it. I'm glad that I was raised in this nation and I'm proud to see how much we are doing and what we have offered to the world.

However, it really seems that a lot of people have no clue how great we are. You look at the media and Trump and his supporters wanting to "make America great again"...insinuating we aren't great now...and you really have to wonder. We have the best education systems, the most well-known and copied culture, corporations that are the largest and most powerful in the world, the strongest military (by far)...I mean by almost every measure we are great. Why do so many people think the opposite?

Now, this isn't to say we don't have problems...our growing divide between ourselves politically, racially, economically is probably the most concerning issue for me...but what nation doesn't have issues?

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

How about because we, the people have not had a voice on how we are governed since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913? This country has been ran by international bankers ever since and used as a conduit to take down third world countries that didn't have the means to fight off the military industrial complex because they had resources that the international bankers coveted. USA.INC has never spread "democracy"....it has spread misery and installed puppet despots that used torture and imprisonment to squash dissent so the multi-national corporations could come in to rape, pillage and plunder....what a legacy...so glad to be ""Merican".......not.

This country has a lot to answer for and it's way past time for people to wake the fuck up and see what these corporate POS have done in our name and stand up against it. Stop waving that corporate banner that is the U.S flag...you don't owe one fucking bit of allegiance to this corporate entity that lamely attempts to pass itself off as a legitimate governmental body that provides the 19 essential "gubermint" services in a for profit venture. Time to pull up your big boy britches, folks...there is a huge reason as to why other countries despise us...take off the rose colored glasses and deal in reality.

 

[Two Thumbs]

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

It behaves like a war criminal in other countries, initiating aggressive war.

It is two faced when it comes to treaties like the NPT, insisting other countries, eg, Iran, more than honour the treaty's conditions while helping other countries like Pakistan in violation of the treaty.

It has the largest prison population in the world, both in terms of raw numbers and per capita.

If the listed items are the attributes of a great nation then admittedly America is great. The greatest.

and here's a leftist proving my point

 

[Two Thumbs]

Okay, so maybe I'm just a patriot at heart, but I firmly believe that America is (currently) a great nation, and one of the best places to live on the planet. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty colored life, having been in the military, being deployed twice, working minimum wage service jobs in my youth, doing a couple years in tech (and hating it), to now going back to school and getting my ass kicked while pursuing a business degree.

I mean there are kids in school half my age and, due to how prosperous we are as a nation, I'm able to have not really had a super stable career and be going to school in the middle of my life. I've been to third world nations, and have the opportunity to speak to kids from around the world at my university...and I've seen how great we have it...and I love every second about it. I'm glad that I was raised in this nation and I'm proud to see how much we are doing and what we have offered to the world.

However, it really seems that a lot of people have no clue how great we are. You look at the media and Trump and his supporters wanting to "make America great again"...insinuating we aren't great now...and you really have to wonder. We have the best education systems, the most well-known and copied culture, corporations that are the largest and most powerful in the world, the strongest military (by far)...I mean by almost every measure we are great. Why do so many people think the opposite?

Now, this isn't to say we don't have problems...our growing divide between ourselves politically, racially, economically is probably the most concerning issue for me...but what nation doesn't have issues?

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

How about because we, the people have not had a voice on how we are governed since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913? This country has been ran by international bankers ever since and used as a conduit to take down third world countries that didn't have the means to fight off the military industrial complex because they had resources that the international bankers coveted. USA.INC has never spread "democracy"....it has spread misery and installed puppet despots that used torture and imprisonment to squash dissent so the multi-national corporations could come in to rape, pillage and plunder....what a legacy...so glad to be ""Merican".......not.

This country has a lot to answer for and it's way past time for people to wake the fuck up and see what these corporate POS have done in our name and stand up against it. Stop waving that corporate banner that is the U.S flag...you don't owe one fucking bit of allegiance to this corporate entity that lamely attempts to pass itself off as a legitimate governmental body that provides the 19 essential "gubermint" services in a for profit venture. Time to pull up your big boy britches, folks...there is a huge reason as to why other countries despise us...take off the rose colored glasses and deal in reality.

and another

yet neither has moved out.

 

[Dale Smith]

Okay, so maybe I'm just a patriot at heart, but I firmly believe that America is (currently) a great nation, and one of the best places to live on the planet. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty colored life, having been in the military, being deployed twice, working minimum wage service jobs in my youth, doing a couple years in tech (and hating it), to now going back to school and getting my ass kicked while pursuing a business degree.

I mean there are kids in school half my age and, due to how prosperous we are as a nation, I'm able to have not really had a super stable career and be going to school in the middle of my life. I've been to third world nations, and have the opportunity to speak to kids from around the world at my university...and I've seen how great we have it...and I love every second about it. I'm glad that I was raised in this nation and I'm proud to see how much we are doing and what we have offered to the world.

However, it really seems that a lot of people have no clue how great we are. You look at the media and Trump and his supporters wanting to "make America great again"...insinuating we aren't great now...and you really have to wonder. We have the best education systems, the most well-known and copied culture, corporations that are the largest and most powerful in the world, the strongest military (by far)...I mean by almost every measure we are great. Why do so many people think the opposite?

Now, this isn't to say we don't have problems...our growing divide between ourselves politically, racially, economically is probably the most concerning issue for me...but what nation doesn't have issues?

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

How about because we, the people have not had a voice on how we are governed since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913? This country has been ran by international bankers ever since and used as a conduit to take down third world countries that didn't have the means to fight off the military industrial complex because they had resources that the international bankers coveted. USA.INC has never spread "democracy"....it has spread misery and installed puppet despots that used torture and imprisonment to squash dissent so the multi-national corporations could come in to rape, pillage and plunder....what a legacy...so glad to be ""Merican".......not.

This country has a lot to answer for and it's way past time for people to wake the fuck up and see what these corporate POS have done in our name and stand up against it. Stop waving that corporate banner that is the U.S flag...you don't owe one fucking bit of allegiance to this corporate entity that lamely attempts to pass itself off as a legitimate governmental body that provides the 19 essential "gubermint" services in a for profit venture. Time to pull up your big boy britches, folks...there is a huge reason as to why other countries despise us...take off the rose colored glasses and deal in reality.

and another

yet neither has moved out.

I prefer to stay and fight...only a coward would leave his countrymen behind. WE are the change but we have to wake up as to why things are like they are.

 

[Kosh]

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

It behaves like a war criminal in other countries, initiating aggressive war.

It is two faced when it comes to treaties like the NPT, insisting some countries, eg, Iran, more than honour the treaty's conditions while helping other countries like Pakistan in violation of the treaty.

It has the largest prison population in the world, both in terms of raw numbers and per capita.

If the listed items are the attributes of a great nation then admittedly America is great. The greatest.

Then why did you support Obama illegal wars?

Silly far left drone!

 

[cnm]

yet neither has moved out.

The ignorance of the rightards.

 

[BlackSand]

and here's a leftist proving my point

Is New Zealand full of these leftists you talk about?

.

 

[cnm]

Then why did you support Obama illegal wars?

Is such ignorance deliberate?

 

[cnm]

Apparently to rightards those listed items are the attributes of a great country. What a surprise.

 

[Never3ndr]

Just to keep the thread more on topic, rather than off topic...

I just wanted to reiterate that the purpose here was to provide a forum for legitimate gripes about the state of America and your personal case for why you don't think it is great (or your case for why it is great, like I presented). I hope to encourage everybody to try and stay away from partisan politics and just let people vent about the issues they think are holding America down. I have an earnest interest in trying to follow people's reasoning when I don't necessarily see eye-to-eye with them on this.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Okay, so maybe I'm just a patriot at heart, but I firmly believe that America is (currently) a great nation, and one of the best places to live on the planet. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty colored life, having been in the military, being deployed twice, working minimum wage service jobs in my youth, doing a couple years in tech (and hating it), to now going back to school and getting my ass kicked while pursuing a business degree.

I mean there are kids in school half my age and, due to how prosperous we are as a nation, I'm able to have not really had a super stable career and be going to school in the middle of my life. I've been to third world nations, and have the opportunity to speak to kids from around the world at my university...and I've seen how great we have it...and I love every second about it. I'm glad that I was raised in this nation and I'm proud to see how much we are doing and what we have offered to the world.

However, it really seems that a lot of people have no clue how great we are. You look at the media and Trump and his supporters wanting to "make America great again"...insinuating we aren't great now...and you really have to wonder. We have the best education systems, the most well-known and copied culture, corporations that are the largest and most powerful in the world, the strongest military (by far)...I mean by almost every measure we are great. Why do so many people think the opposite?

Now, this isn't to say we don't have problems...our growing divide between ourselves politically, racially, economically is probably the most concerning issue for me...but what nation doesn't have issues?

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

It depends what you mean by great.

Different people have different views on what this is.

If great is military, which is has in the past, then the US I guess is great. However things have changed. People are less concerned with growing their empire, it's simply not done much now, the US doesn't go to war to conquer and expand. So how can being militarily great be considered great any more.

I'd say that great now would be a country which is a great place to live. The US isn't bad compared to many countries in the world, but compare the US to other first world countries and the term "great" simply doesn't wash.

The US isn't the best place to live. You might think it is as an American, but a Swiss person in Switzerland probably has a better life than an equivalent American person in the US.

 

[Kosh]

Then why did you support Obama illegal wars?

Is such ignorance deliberate?

And the far left drones denies reality and supports Obama's illegal wars!

 

[Kosh]

Okay, so maybe I'm just a patriot at heart, but I firmly believe that America is (currently) a great nation, and one of the best places to live on the planet. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty colored life, having been in the military, being deployed twice, working minimum wage service jobs in my youth, doing a couple years in tech (and hating it), to now going back to school and getting my ass kicked while pursuing a business degree.

I mean there are kids in school half my age and, due to how prosperous we are as a nation, I'm able to have not really had a super stable career and be going to school in the middle of my life. I've been to third world nations, and have the opportunity to speak to kids from around the world at my university...and I've seen how great we have it...and I love every second about it. I'm glad that I was raised in this nation and I'm proud to see how much we are doing and what we have offered to the world.

However, it really seems that a lot of people have no clue how great we are. You look at the media and Trump and his supporters wanting to "make America great again"...insinuating we aren't great now...and you really have to wonder. We have the best education systems, the most well-known and copied culture, corporations that are the largest and most powerful in the world, the strongest military (by far)...I mean by almost every measure we are great. Why do so many people think the opposite?

Now, this isn't to say we don't have problems...our growing divide between ourselves politically, racially, economically is probably the most concerning issue for me...but what nation doesn't have issues?

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

It depends what you mean by great.

Different people have different views on what this is.

If great is military, which is has in the past, then the US I guess is great. However things have changed. People are less concerned with growing their empire, it's simply not done much now, the US doesn't go to war to conquer and expand. So how can being militarily great be considered great any more.

I'd say that great now would be a country which is a great place to live. The US isn't bad compared to many countries in the world, but compare the US to other first world countries and the term "great" simply doesn't wash.

The US isn't the best place to live. You might think it is as an American, but a Swiss person in Switzerland probably has a better life than an equivalent American person in the US.

Another far left drone chimes in and shows the failed policies that have made the world a more dangerous place.

 

[Jackson]

I just wanted to ask people who think that America isn't great, to please explain why they think so.

We were once revered by foreign countries. Foreigners wanted to come to this country and be proud Americans.

Now we are merely a piggy bank awarding countries with financial windfalls in foreign aide while they call the Americans loathesome and burn our flag. Those that do want to come to America do it for financial reasons and still claim their former country is where their patriotism belongs. Our welfare state is floundering under the burden of a spiraling debt. While we once had strong allies, those countries claim the US cannot be trusted.

With incompetent leaders we have found ourselves in a continuous war with one another instead of finding a common thread joining us. We are no longer great because we no longer value life.

 

[cnm]

And the far left drones denies reality and supports Obama's illegal wars!

Dumber than a stump.

 

[cnm]

Another reason the US is not great is that it refuses to abide by the Convention against Torture, which the chief executive has admitted occurred, which is an offence against US Code, which he has not prosecuted.

All the while commenting on the human rights abuse of other countries. Not the actions of a great country really. Unless of course that is how you define greatness.

 

[S.J.]

America IS great. It's our leaders that suck.