Why do you love America

[Akno21]

The fact that no matter who you are or where you come from, you can become anything you want with hard work and faith.

What does faith have to do with anything?

I don't really buy into the whole you can do whatever you want if you work hard enough thing, but I do buy that we are a beacon to the rest of the world, and that living in America, you get the best in entertainment, sport, a pretty good political system, and a public education through grade 12.

Faith has everything to do with it. Without faith I would be a Drug Addict, or dead right now.

If the best thing you can think of about america is entertainment, sports, and polotics, then i pitty you.

For you, faith may be crucial, but is not for everyone. Make the distinction.

In America you have more opportunities than anyone anywhere else. We still have work to do, making sure everyone has an equal opportunity, but I'd say, compared to most other countries, we are far along. With diversity comes more options, more types of work, and it is the matter of choice that makes America special.

[Alcon]

Faith does not necessarily have to be in the existence of God, GWB.

[Jake]

Faith does not necessarily have to be in the existence of God, GWB.

I think Akno is misconstruing what he said to mean having faith in a god.   You can have faith simply in believing you will succeed.

[Akno21]

Faith does not necessarily have to be in the existence of God, GWB.

I think Akno is misconstruing what he said to mean having faith in a god.   You can have faith simply in believing you will succeed.

I think GWB means in the God form.

[Gabu]

The way America has been a beacon of hope for miserable and oppressed people around the world.  Once again, we have not always been perfect in this regard, and America-hating liberals like to pick on individual examples without looking at the big picture, but the reality is that no country has even come close to doing what America has done to advance the ideas of personal liberty, the worth of individuals and individual rights.

I find it pathetic that the best certain people here can come up with is to talk about video games and vinyl records.   That shows a total lack of understanding and appreciation of what this country is all about and what it has meant to the world.  It is no surprise to me that such people are on the left side of the political spectrum.

Er, never mind the fact that the person who started this whole thread about loving America was a liberal...

Regarding the actual question, I could answer the question, but I haven't really been in America for a long enough period of time, and I'd probably get yelled at if I did.  I could say why I love Canada, but nobody cares, so I'll just shut up.

[Akno21]

Why do you love Canada?

Oh yeah, kinda an off-topic question, but do you (a Canadian) lock your doors at your house?

[Jake]

Why do you love Canada?

Oh yeah, kinda an off-topic question, but do you (a Canadian) lock your doors at your house?

Do you Akno, because I don't.  Just a FYI to anyone who wants to pay me a visit.

[angus]

I never did when I lived in California.  I do now.  I also did when I lived in Massachusetts and when I lived in Texas.  I can't remember whether I did when I lived in Florida.  That period is pretty much a blur.  Probably not.

[George W. Bush]

Faith does not necessarily have to be in the existence of God, GWB.

I think Akno is misconstruing what he said to mean having faith in a god.   You can have faith simply in believing you will succeed.

I think GWB means in the God form.

For me it was the god form, But i understand not everyone belives in god.

[dazzleman]

Er, never mind the fact that the person who started this whole thread about loving America was a liberal...

Regarding the actual question, I could answer the question, but I haven't really been in America for a long enough period of time, and I'd probably get yelled at if I did.  I could say why I love Canada, but nobody cares, so I'll just shut up.

Plenty of liberals love America, but unfortunately many do not, and we see examples of them here.

I'd love to hear why you love Canada.

[PBrunsel]

Violent video games are banned
Porn is legal and freely available
There is no draft
We have cheap postage rates
It's really easy to find rare collector vinyl and indie film DVDs here

Thank you, Nation of Ulysses - I was having trouble thinking of anything..

Man, you make me sick sometimes. I'm glad you left the country, you don't deserve the freedoms that men like Washington and Lincoln established. "I can't tjink of one" the lame excuse I hear everyday from anti-Am,ericans who say that we are not a "free" people because we can't smoke marijuana and take dangerous narcotics until we blow our minds so much we can't think or screw everyone in sight without being thrown in prison. You and BRTD make me sick. How dare you accuse our nation of not beeing free. Perhaps you would rather live in China or North Korea, where they have no freedom, but they have 100% totalitarian rule. You complain we don't have 100% freedom, so just take the nation that has the complete set of a government.

The day is coming when you and your anti-American and anti-Religion groups will have to answer before the lord Jesus Christ your sins, and I hope you are ready for it opebo, because I would not want to spend an eternity from God where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

[Peter]

The day is coming when you and your anti-American and anti-Religion groups will have to answer before the lord Jesus Christ your sins, and I hope you are ready for it opebo, because I would not want to spend an eternity from God where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And you claim you are not a member of the Religious Right?

[Akno21]

Violent video games are banned
Porn is legal and freely available
There is no draft
We have cheap postage rates
It's really easy to find rare collector vinyl and indie film DVDs here

Thank you, Nation of Ulysses - I was having trouble thinking of anything..

Man, you make me sick sometimes. I'm glad you left the country, you don't deserve the freedoms that men like Washington and Lincoln established. "I can't tjink of one" the lame excuse I hear everyday from anti-Am,ericans who say that we are not a "free" people because we can't smoke marijuana and take dangerous narcotics until we blow our minds so much we can't think or screw everyone in sight without being thrown in prison. You and BRTD make me sick. How dare you accuse our nation of not beeing free. Perhaps you would rather live in China or North Korea, where they have no freedom, but they have 100% totalitarian rule. You complain we don't have 100% freedom, so just take the nation that has the complete set of a government.

The day is coming when you and your anti-American and anti-Religion groups will have to answer before the lord Jesus Christ your sins, and I hope you are ready for it opebo, because I would not want to spend an eternity from God where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

You had me on the first paragraph, then you kinda lost me. So you think Anthony Romero (ACLU director) is going to hell, along with perfectly decent people like nclib, and people who may not want christianity draping from the courts or want to smoke pot for medical purposes? You think every liberal is going to hell?

No nation is totally free PBrunsel, and I am thankful for that. Both economic conservatives and social liberals will give very convincing arguments that we are no where close to being free.

[PBrunsel]

The day is coming when you and your anti-American and anti-Religion groups will have to answer before the lord Jesus Christ your sins, and I hope you are ready for it opebo, because I would not want to spend an eternity from God where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And you claim you are not a member of the Religious Right?

Hey, I got carried away at the end. Anger building for a while.

[dazzleman]

I can’t even begin to comprehend the idea of not locking doors!!!  That is pure idiocy.  I double check to make sure my doors and car doors are locked.  I even lock my doors when driving for safety reasons.  You never know who could try to get in at a traffic light.  I would like to hear why Gabu loves Canada.  It is a nice place.  My mother and grandparents lived in Ontario.

I don't always lock my doors.  I drive with my car windows open, and doors unlocked, a good part of the time.  I don't always lock my car when I park it, particularly in the summer.

When I'm home during the day, I keep my house unlocked.  I lock it up at night, but there have been times when I've forgotten about certain doors, and it hasn't bothered me too much.

What kind of neighborhood do you live in?

[Cashcow]

I lock my doors, but never need to. Haddonfield has a ridiculously low violent crime rate.

[Nation]

economic freedom, mostly.  this has largely been achieved a number of countries, as some posters will immediately point out, forgetting, or ignoring, that that condition was only realized through US funding and US intervention.  the ability for some white trash, second-generation american, non-WASP lowlife like myself to go to university for many years, to travel around the world, to have employment mobility is a big one, at least for me.

also, I really like the Brook Burke exercise video.

And wal-mart.

and New York City.  I love hanging around in new york.

And the Hardee's Thich Monsterburger.

and, of course, The Simpsons.

I'm more partial to fitness celebrity John Basedow -- and dammit man, the Monsterburger will KILL you. Stick to what you know, what you're good at -- stick to Denny's "Lumberjack Slam."

[Nation]

Why do I love America? Probably because we have diversity -- diversity in the way people look, think, act -- diversity in geography -- Lake Placid NY to Death Valley...Nowhere else can you get the diversity that America has.

[dazzleman]

Here is my favorite version of "America the Beautiful" made even more poignant by the fact that it was performed by a blind black man who grew up in the segregated south - the late great Ray Charles.  Notice how he uses what is normally the second verse - that which deals with improving on America's imperfections - as his first verse.  There is no other version of this song that can compete with this version that comes from the soul of Ray Charles.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

Oh beautiful, for heroes proved,
In liberating strife,
Who more than self, our country loved,
And mercy more than life,

America, America, may God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain devined.

And you know when I was in school,
We used to sing it something like this, listen here:

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain,

But now wait a minute, I'm talking about
America, sweet America,
You know, God done shed his grace on thee,
He crowned thy good, yes he did, in a brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.

You know, I wish I had somebody to help me sing this
(America, America, God shed his grace on thee)
America, I love you America, you see,
My God he done shed his grace on thee,
And you oughta love him for it,
Cause he, he, he, he, crowned thy good,
He told me he would, with brotherhood,
(From sea to shining sea).
Oh Lord, oh Lord, I thank you Lord
(Shining sea).

[Nation]

Ray's version is definitely my favorite one -- good choice, D.

[Cashcow]

Ray's version is clearly the best, but nothing beats The Star Spangled Banner. It's still the best American song ever written (though it probably wasn't originally intended to be a song).

[dazzleman]

Ray's version is clearly the best, but nothing beats The Star Spangled Banner. It's still the best American song ever written (though it probably wasn't originally intended to be a song).

I love the Star Spangled Banner.  Here's the unabridged version:

The Star Spangled Banner
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
(The Defense of Fort McHenry)
September 20, 1814
By Francis Scott Key
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

the morning's first beam,
In full glorOn the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of y reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I can't believe I posted "violent video games are banned"! You could probably tell I meant "violent video games are NOT banned", obvious typo. That's better than in New Zealand or Germany.

PBrunsel, I don't mind opebo, but since I'm a Christian it's probably not too accurate to lump me in with him.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Also we have most of the best indie rock and punk bands and the foreign ones are at least likely to tour here at least once. Europeans miss out on lots of great bands that don't tour in Europe. America is the best place on earth to see touring indie bands.

Of course, this all basically only applies to decent cities (like where I live) and large inner metro cores. Not the suburbs, which is why they are utter trash.

[opebo]

Thank you, Nation of Ulysses - I was having trouble thinking of anything..

How dare you accuse our nation of not beeing free. Perhaps you would rather live in China or North Korea, where they have no freedom, but they have 100% totalitarian rule. You complain we don't have 100% freedom, so just take the nation that has the complete set of a government.

I don't see how helpful it is to say 'well it is better than China or North Korea, or Saudi Arabia.  Comparing ourselves to those nightmares is not setting a very highstandard.  Of course America is freeer than those places.   But it is also less free than most of Western Europe, and I would say only comparably free to some east asian countries.