America: Love It or Leave It

[thenatural]

Now I know a lot of you will object to the title, claiming that it constitutes a false dilemma. Well, I don't care. It isn't; America is a place of freedom, and if you don't appreciate that, then use your freedom and take yourself someplace else

Comments

[141n]

Singapore is pretty much an enlightened dictatorship. The media are government bodies. Much of the housing is government owned. There are elections but I think there's only 1 party. The internet is censored. There's limited free speech, the culture is carefully controlled. The national anthem comes on every hour or so on tv. Citizens have a mandatory term of national service lasting a couple years. Not very free, but people still love it there because the economy is good and quality of life is high. I think many would oppose more freedom since they are morally very uptight (and have been educated in government schools

[thenatural]

In the first place, Singapore is simply not as well off as the United States, andt the recent Asian economic crash revealed that they are also far more susceptible to market movements than America is now. Furthermore, they do have a general respect for the rule of a consistent law, which differentiates them from a large part of the globe. Still, I would much rather live here in the US than there.

Furthermore, societies are entities formed by individuals, and they operate most efficiently when their members are content, because that minimizes the inefficiencies of unrest. I would argue for a wide variety of reasons that all people fundamentally desire to have the freedom to run their own lives. Thus, freedom, despite the open political discord it does allow, actually minimizes discontent.

[mezzogiorno]

Why can't you just say how grateful you are to live in a country where such freedoms are available, in a place that you feel is wonderful, but please don't say it's the greatest country in the world. Americans are SO much like French people that it's hilarious, and that's why they can't stand each other. I agree, America is a wonderful place, though most likely I'll never live there again. But at the same time, there are tons of people who thank God every day that they're Spanish, or Dutch, or English. I, personally, thank God that I'm Canadian. Most countries have their relative merits, and reasons to love them and be pleased as punch that you live there (I say most, because I don't think Moldova's that great a place to live, to name one.)

I don't criticise the soldiers at all, I have great respect for them. The only thing I criticise are the people higher up who choose to put our soldiers in very bad positions.

[thenatural]

Well, it seems to me that you don't really fit into the equation that I described. If as you say you have no intention of living here again, then you've put your money where your mouth is. What bothers me most are people who insist that America is such a flawed place and yet still comfortably reside here. I'm not insisting that foreign nationals stand up and sing the "Star-Spangled Banner," even if I do think that my country is better than theirs. I'm objecting to Americans who take advantage of their freedoms to whine and criticize the US, and talk about how wonderful other places are, and then never back their statements up with actions.

[mezzogiorno]

That's quite tricky, though. There are lots of things going wrong in American government at this time, as at any time in any government. People complain because of that, and stay because they hope to change it, or because it's simply where they're from and don't want to give up on it.