IT IS TOO LATE TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT "AGAIN"

Because America is already great.

We often get bogged down by the daily bad/sad news that keeps our media outlets profitable, so it is easy to forget what a great place The United States truly is. I’m as guilty as anyone. If you read my blog regularly, you know that I have lots of complaints and I identify serious problems, but you do not see me moving elsewhere.

I thought it might be a good idea to remind you of a few things making The United States great; there is much more to celebrate than I offer here. And don’t fret…I’ll return to complaint mode in future posts.

• The landscape. I’ve been to at least 45 (maybe 46) states, and I can say with authority that America truly is beautiful. Sure, Switzerland and Italy have beautiful mountains, Costa Rica has beautiful beaches, Canada has beautiful lakes, and I’m confident other countries I’ve not visited also have unique beauty. But in The United States you will find amazingly beautiful mountains, stunning beaches, the Grand Canyon, mesmerizing prairies, magnificent rivers, the Badlands, the Everglades, spectacular national parks, and so much more. If you have never traveled throughout this incredible country, you are really missing out. I once met a British couple on a bus somewhere out West, and they said: “The United States is so beautiful I’m not sure why you would ever visit anywhere else”.

• As I mentioned in a previous post, America’s Constitution is the “gold standard” of written constitutions, one that has been used as a model by more than 160 other nations. Our written Constitution opened the door to the expansion of rights, restricting governmental power, and establishing the rules by which government must abide.

• The United States is the most generous nation in the world. Yes, our generosity is impacted by market forces, by the pandemic, and by other factors, but according to the World Giving Index, Americans consistently donate more to charities, volunteer more of their time, and help strangers more than folks in any other country. Did you know that a few years ago more than 700 people “paid it forward” in a spontaneous chain at a Florida Starbucks? How often does someone hold the door for the next person (in my experience this happens a great deal). What about all those free neighborhood book exchange boxes? Examples of generosity are endless.

• In spite of criticism from some quarters, America has the best system of higher education in the world. We obviously have schools like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, but students come from every corner of the globe to study at ALL American universities and colleges.

• Freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and press are protected by the Constitution’s 1st Amendment. We may disagree on the interpretation of these passages, but very few folks living in The United States would argue that these values are anything other than extraordinary. In fact, in some countries I would be punished for writing this blog.

• The “Rule of Law”. In The United States you may only be punished for a crime if the crime is defined by law and we have the opportunity to know that law in advance. Further, at least in principle, nobody is above the law.

• Years ago The United States was referred to as the world’s “melting pot”. While that metaphor was not entirely accurate, we are an incredibly diverse country, and that is something to celebrate. Beginning in the early 1800’s, people from other countries began immigrating to The United States. At first most were central Europeans, but over time that changed and by the early 1900’s folks from Asia, South and Central America, the Middle East, and other places began moving here. The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world, and almost every country on the planet is represented. These folks bring unique cultures, academic expertise, religious diversity, food, and much more when they arrive.

• It has happened so gradually that you may not have noticed, but English is now the world’s dominant language . Everywhere I’ve traveled throughout Europe, road signs, train station signs, and much more are posted in the country’s primary language AND English. When I watch Formula 1 racing I note that ALL teams communicate in English. This is at least partially a result of our films, music, literature, and sports spreading to other countries.

• We have an entrepreneurial spirit. We are not unique in this, but folks in The United States are really good at creating new stuff (some good, some not so much). Folks from the USA have given the world cool stuff ranging from Ferris Wheels to traffic lights to GPS to video games to microwave ovens to airplanes.

• We have approximately 38,400 coffee shops, so a coffee shop is nearby wherever I go in The United States, and that is good for both me and for those with whom I interact.

• Very quickly, a few other things making us great are space exploration, individualism, music, the fact that about 28% of our land (640 million acres) is owned and protected by the government, our economy is responsible for about 25% of the world’s production, we have had more Nobel Prize winners than any other country, we have the 4th most forest land in the world, about 90% of Americans are connected to the internet compared to only about 54% world wide, we have more than 9,000 beer breweries, and nine of the ten world’s largest companies are based in The United States.

In a survey taken a few years ago, Americans were asked what makes America great. Interestingly, folks tended to agree with the above list (I promise I had not seen the survey prior to creating my list). In order, respondents said the top seven reasons America is great were “the opportunity to become who you want to be”, the Constitution, free speech/press, freedom of religion, democracy, the Bill of Rights, and the “melting pot”. Respondents also noted arts and culture, the military, technology, and the beautiful landscape.

So yes, we have lots of warts and lots of things we need to improve, and I’ll return to telling you about those in future posts, but it is important to remember that The United States is already great. Let’s “Make America GREATER” by addressing those warts rather than tearing the country apart.

If the USA isn’t already great why are so many people doing everything possible, including risking their lives, to come here?

As always, I truly appreciate you following along.

David