The whole idea that whether or not America is "great" is a relevant political question at all misses the mark. The fact that people feel the need to ask this question contains within it the (itself quintessentially American) idea that a country's cultural characteristics are those and only those of its political institutions. I reject this idea wholeheartedly. America is great because of Emily Dickinson, the Grand Canyon, pee wee baseball, and
The Godfather, not great because it's a presidential republic or non-great because it's capitalist. Get real.
If France magically became a one-party Marxist-Leninist state tomorrow, it could still be recognizable as French. That's not the case with America.
No, sorry, this is absurd. Either you don't aspire to understand France or you don't wish to understand America.