A Good Word for our Country

[kentuck]

Yes, we are very hard on our own country. We expect a lot. When we are disappointed, we let the whole world know about it. Yes, we are ashamed of what happened in Abu Ghraib and Iraq, in general. We have talked about our country with not the most kind remarks. We have our faults and I will not attempt to list them here.

However, our country is not all bad. We have survived a Great Civil War, where race and geography led us to kill our own brothers. We have survived, through hard work and a lot of generosity to become the sole superpower in the world. We are probably the only nation on earth that could take so many different nationalities and respect each of them as close as possible as we respect our ownselves. That is no small accomplishment.

And our nation went thru the turmoil of the Sixties - with the demands of the women for equal rights and the demands of the youth for responsibility from our government - we survived with a new understanding of our sisters and mothers. Women made more progress in the few short decades since the 1960's than they did for the 2000 years previous. That is no small accomplishment.

We are a nation of ideals. We sincerely believe in equal rights and human rights and peace amongst all our neighbors, even if our leaders do not measure up to the task. Sometimes our leaders fail us but we, as a people, do not give up. We keep searching for a leader that can live up to our expectations and our ideals. We are not a bad nation, when you look at our people instead of our leaders.

[Political_Junkie]

1. Thanks, Kentuck,

I needed to be reminded. With all that we've seen in the past 3 1/2 years it's hard to remember that sometimes. I hope that the rest of the world can remember this too when this mess is over.

[DAGDA56]

2. Exactly...which is why some of the things this government does...

...upset me so much. When I see photos of abuse of prisoners or that monkey in a mansuite representing us to the world, I shout "Dammit, WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT!" If you and I get it, Kentuck, why is it so hard for the wingnuts on radio and elsewhere to understand...we are, as a nation, better than that. Thanks for your post.

[ted88]

3. yeah, and

Yeah, we're better than that. But our success as a nation rests on a tradition of relentless social criticism, protest, and progress. If the American people ever let go of this the idealogues at the head of the ship are going to run us ashore.

[Redleg]

8. Ted88, welcome to DU.

EOM

[susanna]

4. This is a great post, kentuck...

...and I agree!

I think I'm too hard on the USA sometimes (or my friends tell me I am), but then I read this and I remember why. I mean, if we want to be the best, let's make that happen. No halfways, or "We're not as bad as -insert country name here-." That is a Class A cop-out in my book.

Thank you so much for a bright moment in my day! :-)

[Cleita]

5. Our country is still great. We need to get the carpetbaggers

out of our oval office and make sure they pay for their crimes.

[jarab]

6. A fine post, kentuck! eom

...O...

[kentuck]

9. Thanks Bro'...

peace

[Redleg]

7. We are a good people led astray by Bush, Inc. and right-wing lies and

false promises.