Proud to be An American

Just had this thought over the weekend, about how glad I am to be an American, to live in this great country.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm blind to the problems of this nation. Certainly we have a lot that we need to do to improve this country. Our economy is in shambles, and our current tax plan seems designed to bleed the government dry. We are not funding our priorities, but are slowly defunding them. Our foreign policy seems based on pushing people around.

That said, we do have the freedom in ths country to make things better. And we have a democratic process that will let us get rid of the current source of many of our problems (President Bush, although I suspect you already knew that). Certainly we know that there are places on this earth where such hope is not available.

Anyway, I guess this isn't a very deep message--but just something I was thinking--hope you are all having a pleasent Monday.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

These fucking right wing crooks have GOT TO GO !

but it is not because I don't love my country and to prove it let me pump up the volume on Ray Charles rendition of America the Beauty, which I do believe might be my favorite rendition. Was a great country America till this Shadow Government kicked in, almost finished ripping up the Constitution, and decided to goosestep their way through the ME.

Say hello to NYC for me Pete. It is my home town. Just your name makes me homesick!

...Tell me, did you choose to be an American? Most probably not; your being an merican is simply an accident of birth.

Moreover, I have no idea what freedoms you are talking about. People get arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts; the government can spy on anyone it wants to without a warrant; at best, in elections you can choose between two very similar candidates, a Republican and a Democrat, and at worst you already know who's going to win, as in 80% of the House races; patriotism in schools indoctrinates children into supporting the USA no matter what; and in eight states atheists can't run for public office. The only real freedom in the US nowadays is freedom fries, it seems.

I was born an American--but that doesn't mean I can't choose to be proud of my country.

People get kicked out of malls for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts--which I admit was a dumb thing for the security guard to do.

Don't bring back that "Teh two candidates are very similar" crap. That's part of what got us President Bush, isn't it? And I admit I fell for it. Well now three years into President Bush, and I can damn sure tell the difference between him and President Clinton.

I have the freedom to act as I like--to move across the country if I want. To change jobs if I want. To go to the church as I want. To associate with who I want. To purchase books as I want. To vote as I want.

This guys is proud of being an American, and get slammed by others on here... how, I wonder is that going to 'improve' the Democratic party? I thought that was the idea here, to make a stronger Democratic group to oppose the Republicans.

He's happy to have many freedoms that others in other countries dont have and somehow he's a right-winger?

In my opinion, that is exactly what is wrong with the Democratic party.. tons of back-stabbing and two-facedness...

morover, there's more HATE and disgust it's despicable.

if he gets banned for saying "proud to be an american" and that is labeled as right-wing.. that's sad.

I guess that means that all Democrats are NOT proud to be an american? That's total bull-sh*t... I'm proud to NOT be a right-winger, and yes, am proud of many of the POSITIVE aspects of the USA. Sorry to hear you dont see them.

*sigh* Democrats have a long way to go if they want to take down Bush and Cheney, and I hope that gets figured out soon, as I dont want them in office, but the ranting and raving will not get us anywhere.

...but I say what I think. I care about content and very little about image, so the Democratic-party-will-look-bad argument can go right up my ass.

And yes, I see the positive aspects of the USA. But they won't make me proud of it any more than Norway's status of msot developed nation in the world makes me, or should make any Norwegians, proud of it.

a purely emperical level if we are perceived as the party that hates America we're fucked.

"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America" -

Bill Clinton

And the discussion is about whether it's rational to be proud of a nation, not about the Democrats' appearance. That was just a complete red herring.

However, I found the post to be pretty innocuous and didn't feel the need to lord my supposed superior intellectual faculties over someone else's.

if you're "proud to be an American" after you see that...then I'll have to worry. That was ALSO supported by Democrats.

Our duplicitous invasion in the early 90s under George Bush Senior or our seizing of the canal under President Theodore Roosevelt?

At any rate, being ashamed of an action of America (and allow me to assure you, I'm ashamed of our actions in both those cases), does not make me ashamed of America as a whole--America, like most human creations, has some bad and some good in it--but the good, in my mind, overshadows the bad.

That certainly doesn't mean we don't have a duty to struggle against the bad (such as, to pick a name at random, Current President Bush)

I find myself vascilating. At times I have wanted to leave this country altogether, and than I swing back to loving it, especially when I look at how this shadow gov or oil empire has desicrated and is in the process of hijacking it. I can see what hangs in the balance. How much there really is to lose if they get away with it. And then I swing backto wanting to leave this country. Even if me leaving were realistic, problem is, I have yet to figure out where I would go instead.

To this cabal... I would have thought the Panama Deception was common knowledge on this forum (like those nazi tie ins shhhh)

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/CineastePanamaDeception.html
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/PanamaDeception.html
http://www.webslingerz.com/eclauset/mediasouth/project/panama/panama2.html


DEMOCRACY NOW SEGMENT
Friday, June 13th, 2003
“The Panama Deception”: The Untold Story of the December 1989 U.S. Invasion of Panama
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/13/1556240

That's a reason I'm proud to be an American. No where else in the world does a woman have the same rights, opportunities, and safety as the US. While some cultures demand women cover their faces, walk ten steps behind their husbands, and treat women as children or property, the US has been on the forefront of women's rights. We have a long way to go, but look around the world and you can see how far we've come.

I think that there are many places in the world where women have more rights that the US - including the right to have an abortion, or marry another woman. How many female CEO's in Forbes Top 500 at last count?

You live in the vestiges of a patriarchial society which lags in many parts of the world, but to claim that the US leads that path is not really correct. The women of Britain and Scandanavia carved that one long ago.

Look around the world? Look at Europe or Canada where elderly women don't have to travel miles on busses to another country to buy medicine; look at other countries where women actually have actually sat as Heads of State; look at other countries where women have the right to choose... or where they have the right to be legal in a same sex coupling.

It's ok to see the dark... but please don't elude to America being on the forefront, and actually, women are finding they are going to have less rights like their fellow men if Bush stays in power.

Cheerio

I'm not really interested in rich women's "right" to be a CEO, anymore than I am interested in a rich man's "right" to be a CEO. Europe and Canada of course are on the same level as the US, and better in many cases, but compare the United States to Arab or Asian or African cultures, and the difference is obvious.

I'm adding to the pro-America thread, that's all :)

I guess some posters haven't been in the Kobe threads, she says as she rolls her eyes. Not that I advocate these threads, I must certainly don't.

Of course those threads do tend to bring the more extreme anti-women views out of the woodwork... and must be put in their proper perspective (and well enough said on that... don't want to encourage going round and round...)

anyway... I agree with your comment... not that I am anyone special but

:thumbsup:

I've traveled quite a bit around the world, and women's rights and racism is less in this country than it is almost all the rest. Britian is good, but even most mainland European countries are behind us.

Sure they CLAIM they are 'progressive' and such, but women don't get paid as well, and are still treated as non-equals all over the world.

You should see what Japan is like... let alone Saudi Arabia, and many S. American Countries, and Africa.

(not discounting the SCAMS that this country pulls... HALIBURTON getting even MORE money from Iraq makes me barf..:thumbsdown: )

the ERA is not even signed and woman still make less than men for the same work rendered. Certainly we have come a long way since the days when women were not allowed the vote, but there remains a puritanical patriarchal element that does tend to rear its head and as the superpower we could do better.

More times than not I find myself wondering if women have not just embraced the Patriarchy more than impacted it. I mean they seem to being playing the game rather than having succeeded in a big way in changing the game.

Most of Northern Europe is ahead of Britain I am afraid. You should really do a little research before making a claim like that.

Women in most of Northern Europe are strong both in home and in industry. I dare say, you must have spent your time in Europe in the south. But you move a few hundred miles here and things changes drastically.

I am a North American Ex-pat who has lived in several countries in Europe and spent the better half of my life overseas and my impression is Europe and Canada are moving forward and the country you are so 'proud' of is sliding backwards. This board has helped me solidify my view.

Your rights, not only as a women but as an 'American' are being reduced with the government you now have in power.

To be 'proud' is okay. But to be ignorant is not. And I don't mean that in a bad way.

But does that mean I couldn't live the life of my choosing in someplace like France?

as a Francophone in the States. Anti Americanism is on the rise in Europe. Not surprisingly so. But I think people are pointing more at 'Uncle Sam' than burning the American Flag per say.