I will never look at america as better than any other country, we all have done bad things in their history, and america is still young in terms of countrys. Who knows how things will go in its future.

I begin to get the feeling that we are lending undue credibility to the OP.

So? Belief in something doesn't make it true.

And the point of that is?

Wishing doesn't make it so.

Why does any country need to be "better" than another country?

It shouldn't, if any citizen feels proud to be part of their country, then it is a country worth living in.

What makes a country "great"? America is a nation full of people. We supposedly have a freely elected government, and yet the national pastime is complaining about that very government. Go ahead, Yubba/Torvald, now is your chance to once again divert the true discussion by blaming it on the Libs/Cons. But that is also a favorite sport in most other countries.

America was the first country to be created out of whole cloth, based on principles rather than domination, coercion or subjection. But it wasn't from thin air. Those principles were adapted from the ideas of ancient and contemporary philosophers, and developed from a Europe that was in the process of reinventing itself. Being on a different continent helped accelerate the change, and the principles adapted here found their way back to the mother countries. Our forbears shaped the ideas that created America, and America bounced them right back to influence the rest of the world.

But people and times change. Today we still talk about freedom, but we hand over the reins of power to whoever will take care of us. The same is true anywhere, and every nation has its ups and downs. I see many Americans, including some on these boards, who are more concerned with the idea of America being strong, or great, than with the ideals that made us what we are in the first place.

America still has the strongest military in the world, but that's not what made us great in the first place. Today many other countries live by the ideals of freedom and justice, and are every bit as good as any.

And that's my point. Is America a better place to live than any other advanced modern nation? Ask Dowly. Ask Jimbuna. Ask McBeck. Ask Skybird. No, we are not "better", but we are just as good, and that's what really counts. It's the ideals that America is supposed to stand for, not the country itself. National pride is fine. National arrogance is not.

Nicely put. :yeah:

Thank you, Steve, for writing what I couldn't be arsed to.

Great way of putting it, Steve. :salute:

I think it is helpful to never forget that nowadays there is a big difference between how a country was meant to be (usually basic documents like constitutions etc. give a hint), and how it really is. The dream always beats reality. And of course it is fair to say that some countries are better to live in than others. Nobody with a sane mind wpould chnage his home for a life in let's say Somalia or Bangladesh. The range of freedom available in various countries, is wide.

The probvlem with modern Wetsern nations is not how they once were meant and designed and planned to be. The founding principles of the US are great. The modern German constitution is not less so. The way these principles are secretly being eroded, perverted, abolished and taken away is what turns them into societies that are anything but democratic or free. Much of what I see in Germany happeniong, the slogans and paroles being used by poiliticians instead of reasonmablke arguments, remind me of the former GDR. The EU behaves like the central committee of the USSR. Americe slowly seems to shift towards a somewhat militaristic, totalitarian model. None of all this was laid or can be explained by the founding pricniples of these countries and institutions - but by the explciit ignoration if not even intended violation of these.

Take this quote by the current chief of the Euro-group, Jean-Claude Juncker.

"Wir beschließen etwas, stellen das dann in den Raum und warten einige Zeit ab, ob was passiert. Wenn es dann kein großes Geschrei gibt und keine Aufstände, weil die meisten gar nicht begreifen, was da beschlossen wurde, dann machen wir weiter - Schritt für Schritt, bis es kein Zurück mehr gibt.” (SPIEGEL 52/1999)

"We decide something, set it up in public space and then wait a while to see if something happens. If there is no big turmoil and no rebellion, because most people do not even understand what it is that was decided, then we move on - step by step until there is no more return."

That speaks for itself. Damn bastard. Like all others in the EU, he is just after more totalitarian control for the bureaucrats and beyond the reach of the people of Europe, and German tax money from German workers. Maybe because Belgium, with third or second highest debt level in the EU after Greece, is starting to falter, too?

In America they think 100 years is a long time, and in Europe they think 100 miles is a long way.


*obligatory thumbs-up to Sailor Steve's post*

Good one :DL

Of course America is better than all other countries. It's just like how my wife is the prettiest woman in the universe or that my Patriots are the best team in football.

It doesn't mean that it's true (although it is ;)), or that it's provable, or even that we truly believe it ourselves. It's just the American way of displaying pride and team spirit.

After all, only an idiot would think the phrase "USA Roolz!" means that we are claiming ownership over the world.

Good way of looking at it!