Foofie wrote:ebrown_p wrote:Foofie wrote:The U.S. is a good place to be grateful for the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and ignore that game where usually men kick a ball around.
The U.S. is just unique. Possibly it's too unique for some people to appreciate. There are U.S. citizens that would be happier if they were born where ancestors were 200 years ago? They don't appreciate the uniqueness of the U.S., I believe.
Please explain Foofie.
In what ways do you think that the U.S. is unique? I assume when you say this you mean something more profound than soccer.
We let the world come to our shores, and all can participate as they best can. They can buy a franchise, be a salaried employee, join our military, get a civil service job at the city, state, or federal level. They can marry up (rarely done in many countries) or marry anyone willing to marry them. They can get an education, and pay off a loan. They can reinvent themselves with a legal name change. They can convert to any religion they want. They can join any political party they want. They can practice any religion they want. They can move anywhere in the 50 states they want. They can criticize the government at the city, state or federal level. They can become a fan of a baseball team, rather than a fan of a national soccer team which reflects nationalistic rivalries. They can appreciate that the country is 3,000 miles wide with every type of climate within its borders. They can speak the English language which is the language with the most words, having borrowed from every other language (as opposed to national language hubris), and can then give the most nuanced meaning to their thoughts. They can feel good that there never was an aristocracy to overcome, the U.S. never having had one. They can feel good that all that come to our shores adopt the U.S. in their own unique way, not taking away one iota from some esoteric historical national identity. They can die knowing their family, in the future, will likely never have to be concerned about an invading foreign country.
Not one of those things is unique to the US.
Many countries respect (and have respected) immigrants much more. (By the way, the US has a questionable history with immigration. We banned people based solely on their race for much of our history, then we set up laws specifically designed to keep out Catholics).
Americans can't marry anyone they want to (accept in the state of Massachusetts). Most countries allow people to marry accross lines, and many countries are freer then the US in allowing same sex marriages.
People can get an education and a loan in most countries.
People can convert to any religion in most of the world (and in many countries minority religions are treated better then, say Muslims, are treated here).
People can move anywhere they want in many countries. People can (and do) criticize the government in many countries.
The US has had their form of an aristocracy... from the beginning of our country only "free white men" had the right to vote or own property. People still want to give Christians special priviledges in our society.
The "adopting the US" remark shows you haven't paid attention to the Republican primary debates.
And... the invading foreign country thing is not much solace when thousands of American are being shipped overseas to fight.
