What makes you proud to be an American?

I rarely post here in the Cafe but lately with recent events here and in the rest of the world, I've found myself pondering just this question. It's not an easy question to answer and I can't really provide any guidance, but I'd like to know what you would say to someone, anyone from another country who asked you this.

Wilkey

What is left of our political, economic and religious freedom is something to be proud of. Warts and all, the freedom that still exists here generates a different mindset than I have run into anywhere else.

I used to love to work in Third World countries. The contrast still amazes me. When people are not allowed to own property or any of many things that we take for granted, they don't think the same way. They are not as inovative or as open minded.

What I'm trying to say is that while I don't think that we have all of the freedoms that we used to have, we still have enough to make the people different, in a good sort of way. I like that. I don't think I said it very well, though.

Diversity, liberty, and justice for all. True, we don't always measure up to our ideals, but at least we try.

The liberty and justice aren't visible, but the diversity certainly is. I never really thought about it until I traveled to other countries, many of which have fairly homogeneous populations. It's always great to come back here and see people of all races, shapes, and beliefs living together peacefully, with equality a given ideal.

id respond but i have a feeling this thread.may lead to a bad place .sad but true.but i am very prould to be a american

I could say a lot about this.

For here, right now, in this moment I'm proud to be an American because of people like raggie33. When the heat of debates dissipate, the night passes and the morning comes; he raises the flag. He actually raises the flag.

By God, I love that.

wow thank you for the kind words icebreak /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

My gratitude, sir. Truth is a powerful thing.

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Greymage said:
Diversity, liberty, and justice for all. True, we don't always measure up to our ideals, but at least we try.

The liberty and justice aren't visible, but the diversity certainly is. I never really thought about it until I traveled to other countries, many of which have fairly homogeneous populations. It's always great to come back here and see people of all races, shapes, and beliefs living together peacefully, with equality a given ideal.

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well stated! our country is not perfect, but we do have the constitution and the bill of rights--and a lot of great people.

we have the ability through hard work and motivation to make a wonderful life for ourselves and our families.
we even help others in the world (im talking about technology/money/food/medicine/other aid) quite a bit.

no, America is not perfect...but it is still good.


Bob

God Bless America! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif

Well, just about everything.

Unfortunately, I lost most of that faith while I was in serving our country, when Clinton got into office. At the same time I spent a few years in Chicago, and it's rich northern suburbs (Lake Forest, Northbrook). Between the two, and what I saw/experienced, then with the fear that Gore would finish completely screwing America up, I left, after serving for 12 years.

A number of my friends served at the White House, HMX-1 (Marine Presidential Squadron), as guards in the White House, etc. and some of the things they tell about Slick Willie (Clinton), completely discust me, and blow me away thinking about how such a snake could get into the White House.

How most of the BS he pulled didn't make it into the press is also a sad reflection of the state of things.

Now that Bush is in, I'm slowly beginning to have faith again.

This thing in Iraq with the prison guards, I do wonder if these were directed from higher up, I can't imagine troops doing that on their own, plus, if they were part of interrogation of certain suspects to extract essential information.

A lot of things make me proud to be an American.

I'm proud of my brother's service in the jungles of VietNam and equally proud of my parent's participation in the anti-VietNam War movement. My parents were able to honor my brother's service while still opposing the policy at home.

It is this ability for America to encompass both that makes me especially proud.

I was very proud when we invaded Iraq and I saw a U.S. Military commander speaking respectfully with Iraqis as his troops approached a holy site. Then, he very carefully instructed his troops to "take a knee" to lessen tensions...followed by a VERY respectful withdrawel from the fringes of the holy site. That image will remain forever in my mind of military might couched in respect for everyone and everyone's religion.

Because with all the Warts and Boils this is still the:

GREATEST COUNTRY on the FACE of the EARTH!

Though I fear we are on a downward spiral towards anarchy or slavery or martial law or SOMETHING.

And I don't think it is stoppable, we are better than 200 years old (the average age of a society)........

The Bible tells us that pride is a sin. Are we, then, right to be proud? Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the Bible.

Most of us were fortunate to be born here, with no effort on our part. I'm very happy that dumb luck placed me in the USA. Because I didn't do anything special to be born here, I find that pride does not describe my feelings about being a citizen of the USA. I feel fortunate, lucky, grateful, blessed, etc. to live here.

Until 9/11, very few people flew the flag in my town. Since 1982, I've flown the flag for every Veteran's, Flag, Memorial, and Independence Day, and was one of the first to raise the flag on 9/11. I've always voted, even in primaries, I've risked my life for my community, write letters to the editor, serve on city government committees, and donate my time, therefore, I feel patriotic, but not proud. 20% regular, voter, turnout is a disgrace to our veterans and makes me think that we don't disserve to feel pride.

I think a lot of the recent flag waving, "God Bless America" (North, South, or Central?), and "America is the greatest nation on earth" is disingenuous. Doesn't God bless all nations equally? Perhaps not. God seems to have blessed the USA disproportionately - so why do we petition god to bless us further?

The USA may be the mightiest nation, for the time being, but there are other countries that treat their own citizens and neighbors with more dignity than we do. I've been fighting to improve my nation and community so that we can proclaim that we are the greatest nation on earth, but we've a long way to go.

An American car company managed to produce the first modern full-function EV: http://www.darelldd.com/ev/images/ev1sidesmall.jpg For a brief time, I was proud that the US auto industry could be at the forefront of vehicle technology.

I'm proud of other things too, of course, but I like to stay consistent. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I'm also proud, for example, of Icebreak being proud of Raggie.

Gensing - Like you, I'm not exactly sure what I'd answer to somebody from another country. I haven't yet been asked.

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NewBie said:
Unfortunately, I lost most of that faith while I was in serving our country, when Clinton got into office.

[/ QUOTE ]Newbie -
Let's PLEASE not go there. See this.

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Gensing - Like you, I'm not exactly sure what I'd answer to somebody from another country. I haven't yet been asked.

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Perhaps the answer is as simple as this...

I'm proud to be an American because I don't have to be afraid of how I answer this question or afraid if I choose not to answer it at all... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There are more countries with the same freedom. I guess the "proud" part is being "oozed in" with the education.... (please don't /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif me... )
(just an observation by someone foreign... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

I know that there are probably a FEW countries that are every bit as free and happy as outr USA.

Bart makes his sound pretty good.

I've always had a fuzzy place for Belize!

There is so much I could say, but I might not be around to respond to it...

I'll try to sum up my viewpoint quickly (since I tend to ramble off topic too much) .. all the wars that people think are just because they help keep us free and safe... well... they don't. I'd go so far to say that every war we fought in the entire 20th century, including both world wars (just by the fact that had we not entered world war one, world war two would not have happened, and our reasoning for entering world war one was based on lies) were completely unnecessary to preserve our freedom, and more recent wars like oh.. every war ever fought in the middle east the last 30 years.. well ... everything we've ever done in the middle east... are only making us less secure and alienating us from the rest of the world.

Do we really have more freedom? The right to own a gun, lower taxes, perhaps still... but you gun owners can count the days until your guns are gone.. and deep down you really know it. We practically get arrested for teaching christianity, although we can openly promote the discussion of homosexuality to 10 year olds in public schools... but here I am rambling again... we are perhaps are one of the best nations in the world to live in, because of the fact that you can live almost any kind of lifestyle you want just by moving to a specific location in the nation.. we are a nation of many lifestyles... but that's not to say there aren't nations just as good, and even more secure since they are not involved with one war after another... Norway, Iceland, and others pop into my mind first... the ability to own a gun isn't the main thing I look for in a nation, a hard working populate not taking advantage of the system is up there however. I do love the open spaces in america, wouldn't want to live where one city runs into another and you can drive across the nation in 2 hours... America takes the cake there.

I am at heart a conservative, but also strongly anti war and pro freedom, and when looking for a nation to call home, this combination doesn't come up very often when browsing through the nation list.

the diversity, the availability, and the colleges and universities.

it's also true that we have more freedoms than most countries, when it comes to responsibility.. but i believe that ties in with availability.