Liberals versus Leftists

[FatAndFaithless]

I don't feel bad about appreciating the fact that I live in a society that has far more opportunity, freedom, and economic strength than a lot of other places that allows me to live a comfortable life. There are things about America that are just flatly better than other nations (freedom of speech in the US vs freedom of speech in Turkey or Pakistan, for example), and there are things about America that really, really need improvement to catch up to other countries (abortion rights in a lot of places, election finance reform stuff, etc). I don't feel bad about expressing my opinion about the good or bad things about America.

The point that it becomes shitty, for me, is when someone thinks that the way America does something is best simply because that's the way we do things, or that a system or policy in another country is inferior simply because it's foreign. Similarly with people, the notion that Americans are somehow better than other nationalities (ignorant of the fact that Americans by definition are made up of all sorts of nationalities) is also dangerous and harmful.

I really don't think it's hard to find a balance between holding up America as a piece of perfection in all things vs minimizing the achievements of our country so much that we aren't allowed to criticize other nations. I also think the vast majority of people are already maintaining this balance - it's just a minority of folks on the left and right that make the loudest ruckus and get the most attention.

Also have no idea what label someone might use to describe my views, but I've made it pretty clear on this forum that the label I get saddled with really doesn't matter to me.