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Wow! Some of the things on here really hurt my feelings...I know that you have those in other countries because I am one of the 20% of Americans with a passport and a post secondary education. Its funny how those numbers are the same. And despite my hurt feelings, I'm not going to take my ball and go home.....I forgive you and I'm going to let you all enjoy American a bit longer. But that only goes for the Non-Americans. You USAers, well I've got a bone to pick with you. I can understand a someone from another country having slightly inaccurate and under-informed views on the US. They don't live here. At most they might have visited. or they own a bootleg of Die Hard that's been poorly dubbed in an obscure Eastern European dialect. But anyone who has lived here for any length of time shouldn't be so foolish as to make broad, sweeping generalizations about Americans and America the way some of you have. Yes, many people have a far too money oriented materialistic view of the world - but then Bill Gates (An American?) nearly the richest man alive along with Warren Buffet (Another American?) who is no financial slouch, have put their entire fortunes toward social programs worldwide. Check your facts and you'll find that private citizens in the United States are the most philanthropic in the world, by far. And Yes! we have a pretty vast chasm separating rich from poor and our middle class isn't as strong as it used to be. But we don't really try as hard as we used to because the double edged sword of this nation's bounty is that while you might be suffering by American standards, you're still way better off than some child in the third world who can't even get clean drinking water and has to spend their days digging for diamonds instead of going to school. (and Yes we could do a lot to fix that kid's life, but we've got a lot to do and helping every poor kid in the world involves sticking our noses in places that we don't belong and a lot of people on here don't want that) Lets talk about the government too. Sure we've got some incompetent leaders right now. But that is our fault. We elected them. Even if you didn't vote for them, you're responsible, because you live in a Republic and you have the opportunity to have your voice heard. If you don't like what you've got right now, great! We've got an election coming up and you can work to rectify the situation then. Get out there, protest, sign petitions, march, yell, slap up stickers and posters. Write your governor, state assemblymen, senator, congressman, president. If you're over 35 and a native born citizen...run for president. Not 35? Run for some other office, become a lobbyist...you know some of them actually work for good causes. We've got problems. We've done some unforgivable things. The United States is not the nation that it promises to be and its not close to the nation I expect it to be. We're not perfect. Luckily our government roles over every 4 to 8 years. I don't blame the Catholic Church today for the sins of the church 500 years ago, I don't blame Germany for the sins of German 60 years ago. I don't blame England for 800 years of oppression that eventually sent my grandparents to America. They are different animals now. Lets think about that. Instead of getting on hear and feeding an atmosphere of negativity. Turn it toward the positive and start voicing your opinion where it can be heard. Don't like the system? Too bad Americans, you're a part of it and if you don't do your part to change the system then you're also part of the problem.
Peter ..more by this author..
USA