America is not the greatest country anymore

[heisenburrr]

England and France are doing just as well as the United States.

you mean as bad

 

[Type Username Here]

you mean as bad

Half Empty/Half Full

The point still stands.

 

[the next guy]

if you are not constantly challenged you get lazy

Again you have not want to be lazy. The type of person that will succeed anywhere. I would also say this to some who feels they could succeed in Norway but be mediocre in the states.

 

[the next guy]

before I started to travel, I was one of those, we are too arrogant, we think we are the best and need to take it down a peg because there are better places. Since I've started to travel, I think we do 99% of things a lot damn better than a lot of places. Most places make you feel unwelcome. Those that don't, the people are just as arrogant as we think rednecks and NASCAR fans are about the US. There are cleaner, places and they are usually boring and homogenous and they can be counted on one hand. There are places with singular better food because its the food of their origin, but we can still get most of it, in most major cities. Do we have a fresh fish from dirty water market with flies on it? No, but there are usually a few markets with whatever you want even in a place that has a whitebread reputation like Dallas. Sorry, London or T-Dot <<<<<<<<<<NY, LA or SF. Japan is up there though. Don't know how to describe it, but the US is like a great, self selected home theater. You can get a nice Onkyo set of speakers, but you can get a better set if you mix and match speakers and receivers. Then you take it over the top with an amp and inverter. Your neighbors might think its a waste, but they don't hear that new clear sound you have while he just got sound. You think the black man is treated bad here, get out there a bit. You think the women here aren't the best mix of a lot of worlds, get out there and see. Don't care how it will be in 20 years. Right now people come here to work, learn and move up in greater numbers than anywhere. Sure, we got problems, but right now, overall, there is not better.

I was going to say, your cities are our best asset.

 

[Savior]

I think it depends on what you value.....living in Canada there's definitely some things I envy about the states. They got way cheaper clothes, food, bills, gas...basically all the material shyt. Traveling all over they pretty much got the cheapest prices on anything out of any first world country. And when you're living on your own trust me that shyt adds up. That's why I always laugh when Americans complain about how high gas prices are . Think about why public transportation is so popular in Europe and compare it to the gas price there...the US doesn't need public transportation with the cheap ass gas prices they pay. Saying that I definitely prefer the culture of Canada to that of the US...its hard to explain unless you have a lot of experience in the two countries. Canada's just a lot more friendly and liberal which suits me better. I wouldn't sacrifice that to move to the States even tho I'd be eating better there financially. So basically if you're materially/financially inclined then yea the US is the place to be by far but if you're culturally inclined and place a lot of value on health care/cheap education then its not.

 

[SafeForWork]

America>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Freedom>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[newarkhiphop]

America>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Freedom>>>>>>>>>>>>>

cause we the only country in the world with freedom , and yet over 2 million people here are incarcerated (%1) of the pop.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

America>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Freedom>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Patriot Act

SOPA

Guantanamo

AZ immigrant profiling

Airport Mexican profiling

Corrupt inner city police

War on minorities... I mean drugs

 

[the next guy]

Canada has everything America has

 

[the next guy]

And free healthcare.

 

[Nature Boy Ric Flair]

FLAIR COUNTRY IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Gallo]

All i know is that when I've traveled around Europe, all the broads are feening for that green card - especially French and German broads. The grass is always greener.

 

[Brown_Pride]

...i thought everyone knew this already, we haven't been #1 in anything we used to justify our number-one-ness in the first place.

You can't site things like education, literacy rates, and middle class as proof you're the best country but then start denying you're NOT number one when you fall off those exact same lists.

Ironically the ONE thing keeping us from becoming number one is our blind belief that we ARE number one. Essentially america is being left behind in terms of progress because we're of a mind state that if it's not broken don't fix it.

 

[Mikael Blowpiff]

Ironically the ONE thing keeping us from becoming number one is our blind belief that we ARE number one. Essentially america is being left behind in terms of progress because we're of a mind state that if it's not broken don't fix it.

America: I'm just saying you can do better. Tell me, have you heard that lately?

 

[the next guy]

Overheard on CNN.com: America may not be perfect, but we love it anyway &#8211; This Just In - CNN.com Blogs


Happy July the 4th. Something to read

Another one.
We're No. 1! We're No. 1! We're ... uh ... not? - CNN.com

(CNN) -- In the opening scene of the new Aaron Sorkin show, "The Newsroom," a news anchor goes on a tirade when asked why "America is the greatest country in the world."

"It's not the greatest country in the world," he fumes. "We're seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, No. 4 in labor force, and No. 4 in exports. ... So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the f*** you're talking about."

It's another slab of "Network"-esque bravado from Sorkin -- the creator of "The West Wing" -- but the point is well taken, even if his statistics could be a bit off. By a number of objective measures, America is not No. 1.

Good luck in saying that aloud, however. Forget Social Security. The third rail of American politics is acknowledging we may not be the greatest country in the world.

Despite fights about its merits, idea of American exceptionalism a powerful force through history &#8211; CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

(CNN) &#8211; It&#8217;s safe to say the first European arrivals to New England wouldn&#8217;t recognize today&#8217;s debate over whether America is exceptional.

Though the United States wouldn&#8217;t be born for another century and a half, the Puritans arriving in the early 1600s on the shores of what would become Massachusetts firmly believed they were on a mission from God.

In other words, they had the exceptional part down pat.

Fleeing what they saw as the earthly and corrupt Church of England, the Puritans fancied themselves the world&#8217;s last, best hope for purifying Christianity - and for saving the world.

The Puritans never used the word &#8220;exceptionalism.&#8221; But they came to see Boston as the new Jerusalem, a divinely ordained &#8220;city upon a hill,&#8221; a phrase Massachusetts Bay Colony founder John Winthrop used in a sermon at sea en route from England in 1630.

&#8220;They were reinterpreting themselves as God&#8217;s new Israel,&#8221; Boston University religion professor Stephen Prothero said. &#8220;They were essentially playing out the biblical story.&#8221;

To modern ears, that literal exceptionalist thinking could sound at once both exotic and quaint, which makes the idea&#8217;s staying power and influence throughout American history all the more remarkable.