What does being an american mean?

[LoneLaugher]

Being an American means I have the security, freedom and liberty to do whatever I want as long as it doesn't break the law. I don't care what other nations do or judge them when they don't agree with me. I don't have to pledge to anything I don't want to. I have the right to chase profit. Sometimes people do get hurt in business. That's called life. Shit happens. Nobody owes anyone anything. But I have the right to be charirable or not. And to listen to someone or to tell them fuck off. That's what it means.

You mention several rights.

Have you any responsibilities?

 

[zeke]

I remember telling my (3) boys when they were young: "be thankful for these things... you're white, you're male, and you were born in America".

Well...that comment rather stinks of racism, sexism and Nationalism as well. 3 strikes you're out Mr. H.

Unfortunately, however, what he says is true. Everyone born in America is a fortunate person in comparison to the majority of the population of the world, but those who are white and male are more fortunate than others. I am not being nationalistic, sexist or racist: those are the facts. But, despite all it's problems, Americans are a very fortunate people with a better standard of living and more opportunities than the majority of people in the world today, this includes everyone of every race, gender and age.

For example, Americans complain about the price of gas, but they have more cars than anyone else on Earth. They complain about the price of food, but they are better fed than anyone else on Earth. They complain about rental/house prices, but they live in bigger and better housing, in general, than anyone else on Earth. They complain about medical care, but they live better and longer than most of the people on Earth. They complain about dishonesty among politians and corruption in government, yet our government is strong and solid, and, despite what hysterical extremists say, will go on and on, as it has since the Civil War. There won't be another Civil War, there won't be insurgencies, there will never be a coup, and the corruption and political lying are minimal compared to most other countries.

In every organization or company I've ever been involved with, people bitch, whine and complain no end. It's always better on the other side of the fence. That's just not true. Everyone has problems.

People say how bad modern times are compared to the 'good old days.' That also isn't true. The 'good old days' were bad in many, many ways, and people in the past bitched and complained about conditions as much as they do now. People need to get some perspective.

Being an American means you are one lucky son of a bitch, in no uncertain terms. It doesn't mean you are the luckiest. I'm not saying America is the best. That many Americans think they need to be the 'best,' or else they are unhappy with their lot: that's just plain silly.

Yes, the USA used to be exceptional in a good way.

Now we are exceptional in our dysfunction. Given all the opportunities that we have been given and we can't do much with it anymore.

Hey. but we are getting pretty good at hating, or at least disliking each other.

 

[Old Rocks]

If one reads not only the history of our nation, but the words from the people of those times, you will see that what we are seeing today is the norm when our nation is in transistion from one paradigm to another.

Today is very similiar to what was happening during the depression when we transistioned from an agriculteral type philosophy of the family being responsible for the care of the old, disabled, or mentally incapable, to that being the responsibility of society as a whole. We were decades behind Europe in this just as we are decades behind Europe in Health Care. I think the reason is that we are decades behind Europe and most of the rest of the civilized world in population density. And we are seeing the same type of resistance from those that oppose any change as we saw to Social Security and the other very successful programs enacted under FDR.

So what we are seeing today is the last ditch stand of the 'Conservatives', who understand full well that once people realize how much better the ACA works that what we presently have, that the majority of American Citizens will feel the same way toward that as they do toward Social Security. And work to make the ACA into a truly Universal Single Payer System.

Of course the 'Conservatives' are bitter, strident, and load. They are losing badly. Our nation is no longer a rural agriculteral nation, but a predominatly urban, comopolitan one, far more like the Democratic nations in Europe today than the agriculteral nation we were in 1900. And there is no way of going back to what we were then, even if one should be foolish enough to want to.

I am quite pleased that I was born an American. That gave me a far better chance at a successful life than being born in any other part of the world, particularly considering I was born in 1943. I am quite happy with the way I live today, compared to how I lived when I was growing up. Some of the places we lived did not have indoor plumbing. Ever use an outhouse at -20F? I have, definately a memorable experiance. I can remember exhausting the libraries of the small logging and ranchng towns we lived in in about six weeks. Today, a child connected to the net has to knowledge of the world at his or her fingertips. Yes, this nation needs change and improvement. Always has, always will. For it is only societies that change with the knowledge and times that survive. Those in stasis become vassals of those societies that continue to grow.

 

[longknife]

Jan, you hit the nail on the head with this:

Our government is at a crossroad of shutdown due to our politicians inability to come to an agreement on the national budget.

Which is EXACTLY the way our Founding Fathers set it up.

We ARE NOT a democracy and depend upon our representatives to not let government run roughshod over us.

With all our many faults, bigotry, and racism over the years, the wide differences in our race, religions, and cultures still mesh together better than any other nation anywhere in the world. We often forget how much we merge with one another to make a better society.

The food we eat.
The music we enjoy.
The books we read and the presentations we watch.

And, most important of all - when we become unhappy with our politicians, we PEACEFULLY change them at the ballot box - NOT through force.