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Is the USA a great country?

Do you consider teh USA to be a great country?

  • Yes. The greatest on the planet.

    Votes: 44 37.3%
  • Yes. One of many great ones.

    Votes: 39 33.1%
  • Not only not great, but one of the worst on the planet.

    Votes: 3 2.5%
  • No. Good, but not Great.

    Votes: 32 27.1%

  • Total voters
    118
Voted greatest, but I’d tell the other countries’ parents that they’re all great in their own ways.
 
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Of course its great. Even with the problems we have now, they are insignificant compared to what other countries are facing day in and day out.
 
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It was.
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One of many great if you wanna compare things to crawling out of the oceans and painting insides of caves.
 
Having spent a considerable portion of my adult life traveling internationally for business I voted good, not great.

Our raw ingredients are outstanding. Some of the best land on earth, great scenery, natural resources, etc. Our diversity has contributed to some of the greatest scientific and cultural achievements in world history.

BUT, we are a land of uneven opportunity.

For those with an exceptional work ethic/skill/luck to have money there are few better nations on earth - a favorable tax regime and the best of anything money can buy.

But for those that work hard to simply maintain a middle class lifestyle, or for those left behind this country is dramatically inferior to our first world peers. We lack in healthcare and many other areas.

Finally, we have made a devil’s bargain to prop up “greatness” with unsustainable military spending. Money that could be used to pay down long term debt, to improve our infrastructure, or on Healthcare is instead spent inefficiently on our military. This is not great, it is borrowing from our children’s trust fund to wave a flag.
 
I used to think we were the greatest because of our system of government and founding principles, even if we didn’t always live up to them.

These days, I just don’t know. We need to step it up and fix some things. So I voted one of the great countries (although I still wouldn’t want to live anywhere else).
 
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Undoubtedly the greatest on Earth... the people are simply amazing. We are adaptive, innovative, and resourceful.

The wide range of natural resources... plains, forests, mountains, beaches... etc is UNMATCHED anywhere on Earth.

The government needs work though... it is bloated, overbearing and stuck in bureaucratic mismanagement.
 
While America followed the moral law of God we grew from a tiny cluster of states into the preeminent global military and political power. Then we lost our way and have slowly been devolving back to the mean ever since.
 
It's been fading over the last four years but I'd say we are still great.
 
Having spent a considerable portion of my adult life traveling internationally for business I voted good, not great.

Our raw ingredients are outstanding. Some of the best land on earth, great scenery, natural resources, etc. Our diversity has contributed to some of the greatest scientific and cultural achievements in world history.

BUT, we are a land of uneven opportunity.

For those with an exceptional work ethic/skill/luck to have money there are few better nations on earth - a favorable tax regime and the best of anything money can buy.

But for those that work hard to simply maintain a middle class lifestyle, or for those left behind this country is dramatically inferior to our first world peers.
We lack in healthcare and many other areas.

Finally, we have made a devil’s bargain to prop up “greatness” with unsustainable military spending. Money that could be used to pay down long term debt, to improve our infrastructure, or on Healthcare is instead spent inefficiently on our military. This is not great, it is borrowing from our children’s trust fund to wave a flag.
Imo, this country is great for every strata in society except for those at the receiving end of the criminal justice system. I would say that for those who "work hard to simply maintain a middle class lifestyle" there is no place better or even comparable to the USA. I do agree that the healthcare system (though not the facilities per se) has been a soft spot (made much worse by obamacare for the middle class) and needs reform.
 
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The vast majority of America strives for greatness. That's true regardless of beliefs. For those of you on the left or on the right -- your political opponents don't hold their views because they want the nation to devolve into rubbish; we all truly believe our views will make America a better place. That means something.
 
Imo, this country is great for every strata in society except for those at the receiving end of the criminal justice system. I would say that for those who "work hard to simply maintain a middle class lifestyle" there is no place better or even comparable to the USA. I do agree that the healthcare system (though not the facilities per se) has been a soft spot (made much worse by obamacare for the middle class) and needs reform.
From talking to colleagues and friends in Europe I really don't think this is true anymore - although I believe it once was. As an example, I think Germany would be significantly better for skilled blue collar workers. Better healthcare coverage, better benefits, better social assistance if the factory closes, more focus on technical skills training so you are better prepared for a high skill job that does not require a college degree. and the list goes on.

Why do you think the USA is better, other than because we have been told this all our lives?
 
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The vast majority of America strives for greatness. That's true regardless of beliefs. For those of you on the left or on the right -- your political opponents don't hold their views because they want the nation to devolve into rubbish; we all truly believe our views will make America a better place. That means something.

I think that is where differing definitions of what greatness is come into play.

Germans thought Hitler was going to make Germany great again. . . and right up until they started losing the war, they thought he was.

So when I look at some of the things being said and done . . . I'm not sure that counts. Too many people want the US to be great only for them and in their image.
 
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The answer depends on who you are.

If you're an affluent middle-aged white man (like I think a lot of us here are), then there's no where else in the world that you're rather be. You're able to make money, turn it into more money, and keep a bunch of it.

If you're a woman or minority or LGBTQ, you're still likely better off here than most other countries, but not necessarily all.

If you're middle class, then things here aren't as good as they used to be, and they're beginning to slip behind other countries. As our economy was exploding, rich people kept getting richer, but it wasn't translating into higher wages for middle class workers. The rich were pocketing that money. New jobs that are being created are often lower-paying jobs than the ones that people have been losing - so people are working more second jobs and turning to "gigs" to make up the income gap. Meanwhile housing costs are increasing, as are healthcare costs.

Oh, and it's getting harder for your kids to go to college, because the government guaranteeing student loans meant the banks could loan as much as they wanted, which meant that schools could charge whatever they wanted. Meanwhile, the labor glut meant that employers could require college degrees, even for positions where they're not needed - like being an administrative assistant. So, parents make too much to get free grants, but not enough to save, and the students take on big loans that they can never escape.

If you're poor in this country - whether by choice or by circumstance, or if you're mentally ill, this is not really the country you want to be in. The government has mostly left it up to non-profits to deal with all of that, rather than having a strong national strategy for fighting poverty, addressing mental health, substance abuse, etc.

What's crazy is that the poor are often the strongest flag-wavers, even though they have the least reason to be. I guess it's because they've never been anywhere else, and they don't have much reliable information about other countries. All they have is what they've been taught since birth, which is that the US is the greatest place on Earth - God's Country! - and no where else is even close. They know taxes in other countries are high (while they're getting back tax refunds every year because of their low income - still not realizing that the super-rich are probably paying a lower percentage than they are), and they know in other countries you can't always own as many guns as you like, and owning guns = the only freedom that matters. So they, continue to think that they've got it made, even as they're being left farther and farther behind. It's cool though, because they can still go on vacation to Shreveport again this year!
 
From talking to colleagues and friends in Europe I really don't think this is true anymore - although I believe it once was. As an example, I think Germany would be significantly better for skilled blue collar workers. Better healthcare coverage, better benefits, better social assistance if the factory closes, more focus on technical skills training so you are better prepared for a high skill job that does not require a college degree. and the list goes on.

Why do you think the USA is better, other than because we have been told this all our lives?
Economic/income numbers reflect this -- we are wealthier and more innovative in general and life is better here for most people. Hrot users who believe they would be happier in a place other than America are almost certainly delusional. Europeans who live here also think the world of America -- talk to those who work for european firms (say siemens) with significant presence here. Granted these are not factory/manufacturing workers.

Not implying that there's no room for improvement in the usa but imo impressions of discontent are disconnected from reality. The country of bhutan is the "world's happiest country" but i really don't think any of us (or the europeans for that matter) want to live like that.
 
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