Is America the greatest country

[houseofcantor]

Yes.

I think the US is the greatest country. I don't think it's perfect by any means, but I think we are better off than any other overall.

..And I'm not even originally from America. I'm very grateful to be here.

Aren't you some Brazilian or something? 

[Minimalist]

Off topic but while reading something else I found a footnote to a book that is right up C/L's alley:

http://www.amazon.com/Survey-Contemporar...+excretion

The Biogeochemistry of Vertebrate Excretion     Paperback – 1950

by George Evelyn Hutchinson


Seems to be out of print but there are a couple of used copies available.


And now, back to our regularly scheduled rant.

[Whateverist]

Daniel's character has a little too rosy a view of the past.  Our history  reminds me of Napoleon's observation that "history is a lie agreed upon."

He nailed the present pretty well.

Yep imperialist UK and US were basically nazi Germany victorious for a while, albeit without the final solution.  But there was still the presumption of running other countries for your own ends.  Even after it wasn't okay to be openly imperialist the CIA has acted covertly to manipulate other governments for our own ends.  None of that is honorable or anything to be proud about.

In a modern world where no one expects to push another country's people into oblivion so as to colonize their territory, reciprocity and fair dealing are what I expect from every country.  So long as my own won't embrace being a good citizen of the world community while clinging to illusions of grandiosity I'll always have to cringe when these kinds of comparisons come up.

[The Grand Nudger]

@OP Q.

-Yup. Also, fuck the haters?

[Minimalist]

WW2 seems to be the turning point.  Prior to 1900 we were fixated on subjugating the Indians, building an industrial base and fighting the Civil War and everything that led up to it.  Of course we had the Monroe Doctrine (which luckily we never had to enforce against a capable military power) to keep Europe out of the Americas and we did some minor damage starting around 1890.  Usually interventions in Latin America were in support of business interests....which is still effectively what we do now.

I highly recommend Oliver Stones' "Untold History of the United States."  It starts with WW2 and that is a weakness of the series but from that point on it gives a different view of history than the whitewashed version we cling to.

[Edwardo Piet]

New Zealand sounds like a good country to me.

Supposedly it's the most peaceful country in the world.

I once knew someone from the UK who said their dream was to live in NZ, they sold their house to move there, risked everything.

They said it was the best decision they'd ever made in their life.

[Iroscato]

Having the biggest and baddest weapons of war does not greatness make. That's all the US ever had, it's only in recent decades that its own self-infatuation has started to crack.

[God of Mr. Hanky]

Having the biggest and baddest weapons of war does not greatness make. That's all the US ever had, it's only in recent decades that its own self-infatuation has started to crack.

On the other hand, at least none of our rulers who actually have a say in making our laws enjoy lifetime job security. Sometimes I'm not sure whether that wouldn't be worse, and would embrace it with the stipulation that their lives be subject to routine referendum.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Having the biggest and baddest weapons of war does not greatness make. That's all the US ever had, it's only in recent decades that its own self-infatuation has started to crack.

No, we've had a lot more than that, it's just that people tend to focus on things like weapons, not national parks or research facilities or roller coasters.

[Minimalist]

Maybe it would help if the OP defined what was intended by "greatest?"