Are you proud to be an American?

He's NOT Obama.Right there is a magnificent start.
Most Americans understand.

 

With that, I agree. Birthplace is a matter of luck. We should rather feel lucky having been born in rich, first-world countries, rather than proud.

As for pride in your country: I don't understand why conservatives emphasize this emotion. Their mantra is that the free market between individuals controls all human interaction. Thus, whatever one of my countrymen/women does is only their own achievement and has nothing to do with the country (remember, Romney's "we built it" line?). Thus, why would they be proud of whatever someone else achieved if they had nothing to do with it? Why would I be proud of what Bill Gates has achieved, just because he is American? Isn't that what follows from the "everyone for themselves" attitude?

 

Speaking of Archie Bunker.Meathead { Rob Reiner } was interviewed
by MSNBC a couple weeks ago.And he still has that Liberal chip
on his shoulder.Plus those slumped shoulders.He talked about Trump
as if it was Archie Bunker.The guy hasn't grown intellectually in 40+ years.
Still the same clueless,touchy-feely,Liberal,willing to kowtow towards
trends.

 

It was Obama who elected hisself the Country's Car Czar.
It was Obama's Democrats who tried to shut down Gibson guitar.
Gibson Guitar CEO :" Obama's Justice Dept. wants us to Shut
our doors and Go away ".
You mean you have to be reminded of that.

 

My Post # 58 was directed at YOU.

 

Bad reasoning. I am proud of my country because until relatively recently we allowed people to achieve to the greatest extent they wanted. I am proud of this country because for the most part you get to determine what constitutes success for you.

 

I suppose the test is if you were in the room with some fellow countrymen and one foreigner, and the foreigner starts bagging your country saying "America is just full of stupid rednecks and Liberals, you sacrifice your security for liberty and don't protect brown people from insulting speech like we do"

And everyone stays quiet...

Would you step up and defend the good components of your country?

 

That's pretty much how I feel. I'm a person before anything else and I'd rather not be defined by where I was born.

 

I don't think we should let the attitudes of other Americans affect how we feel about "America," a generous country with a great constitution, a balance of powers, judicial protection for the right to free speech, practice the religion of our choice or no religion, even to mock religion, to bear arms, to be secure in our papers and effects, a market that allows us to share in the prosperity of our great corporations or to start our own business, and of course a safety net for those who can't help themselves. (Can't you hear those fifes playing?)

You have to remember too that our constitution is fundamentally identical to the one established by the framers after a successful and durable revolution. We've had a good run and I think we'll run some more. What other large country had been more stable, democratic, and protective of civil rights after a revolution? Argentina? Chile? Mexico? China? Russia? France? Japan? Germany? Iran? Someone will mention the Scandinavian countries and they seem pretty good to me as well, though I don't the history too well.

I actually am inclined to see the UK as a greater country, on balance, because of its history and enduring institutions.

 

I don't know what country you refer to, but we've helped a hell of a lot of them.

 

Exactly! Anyone from humble beginnings who's determined to work hard and stick to a plan can achieve success for themselves and their family when the government doesn't get in the way...

 

Isn't "Pride" one of the 7 deadly sins ? .... so is not telling an employer what they want to hear

 

Absolutely!

 

I voted yes but only because of lack of options.

Being proud of being an American does not seem very logical unless one is a legal immigrant who becomes a citizen. For the rest of us it is what and where we were born. I have long believed that there is nothing to be proud of based on your birth such as race or color or even nationality or sex ( male female ). You had no control over it. Pride comes from accomplishment and working to achieve something and realizing it.

I probably would have answered yes of course I am not out of dishonesty or conformity but merely out of brevity. I feel relieved and happy to be an American and eternally grateful at the movements of my ancestors which eventually led to me being born here. I do feel some pride occasionally when people here surprise me such as the recent defeat of Hillary which no one thought possible but proved not everyone is a sucker for mainstream PC left wing media and elitist BS.

 

Probably better to get a job where they'll fit in better. I would say I feel lucky to be an American, but feel that nationalism is something I avoid in my efforts to be objective about how any country, just like any company, could benefit from continuous improvement.

 

Oh there's far more to it than that. Success is what makes you happy. I've known millionaires who were miserable because making money wasn't what made them happy, I've know poor folk who raised their own food and hunted and fished for meat on the table, and had just enough money to buy the parts to fix the roof if it started to leak provided they did the work themselves, who were happy as can be because that made them happy. There is no standard for success in this country, save that you earn enough of a living that others don't have to haul your freight free of charge. I've had supervisory position a couple of times. The pay was better, but being responsible for what other people did made me miserable.
I have, in my life, done everything from teaching school to running rides in an amusement park. I spent two years sending up weather balloons for the army so we could tell the artillery which way the wind was blowing so they wouldn't shell the wrong people by accident. I've always read voraciously and my degree in elementary education came with about forty or fifty extra hours because I always tried to save a few hours a semester to take some course that just interested me at the time. You could do that back when it was 11.55 a semester hour. If I'd had the money I'd have cheerfully spent my whole life doing that...

 

Yes the America is my youth is dead, and yet I am proud to be American. And I have great hope that we will reverse this madness from both parties, economically, and I hope these social Marxists on the left grow up and come to their senses. I used to think the goldwater conservatives were bat **** crazy, but the faux liberals are beyond bat **** crazy, due to a total disconnect from reality, which is destroying the minds of our youth. If we ever get attacked by another nation state, the fighting age americans today would let the nation down. They do not have the right stuff, and are vastly inferior to the men who won ww2. This is due to this faux liberalism, which I see as some mental aberration. And this is coming from a FDR kind of liberal. Liberals used to have common sense, but it is gone, replaced by absurdity.

 

I agree with that except for the part about the fighting age Americans would let us down. A young U.S. Marine in Afghanistan ...

 

Seth, thanks for sharing; and thanks for reminding us.

God bless this young man and all of the defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need. These are the true American heroes. Right now, less than 2% of our population is defending the rest of us.

We have among us in our great nation a new generation who are willing and more than capable of defending and protecting our people and our country--the U.S. Constitution.

 

↑This is the Higgsian ratchet effect in action. Nothing done by the previous administration will be undone by this one. Instead, it all becomes part of what conservatives want to conserve. All future debates will be about what new thing to use the government for and how to go about that, just like all past debates. He won't do what his base claimed to want before he he was elected, or undo what they complained about, but they won't care because he wears the correct jersey. The public will forget what they wanted before and go on to rally for and against the next "issue" the political class shoves down their throats, just like they always have, until the special interest group driving it gets what they want; then the respective bases will get amnesia with respect to that "issue"; and on it will go forever just like it always has in every single representative democracy(or republic(which means the exact same thing as "democracy", btw)) ever.​

 

Bad reasoning? You made the argument that the country of birth is out of your control and, thus, is nothing to be proud of. Yet, then you go back and list two reasons to be proud of your country that you have no control over. I just don't get it.

Don't get me wrong, I am sometimes proud of my country of birth (Germany), and sometimes I am not. I will always cheer for the German soccer team. I do, however, realize that this is a totally emotional response and not based in logic. I don't know any of the players on the team and have nothing in common with them, except that they happen to be born in the same country. Why should that make me proud? Yet, it does when they win.

 

More bad logic. It is entirely different to be proud of being born in a specific place or of a specific heritage. It is entirely different to be proud of what that country has accomplished. It is about accomplishment not an accident of birth. You are rightfully proud of the German national soccer team as it is perennially one of the best in the world. That is an accomplishment to be proud of because it is damned hard in any sport to stay on the top the heap for a long period of time. It is not much of an accomplishment however to be born where ever you were born or whoever you were born to.

 

Still don't see the bad logic. The Brazilian soccer team is also very good, Why am I not proud of them? Just because of the accidental place of birth?

My point is that pride of country is an emotion. It has nothing to do with logic.

 

yes yes and yes

 

And again you miss the point I'm not talking about pride in your country emotional attachment or otherwise, I'm talking about being proud of yourself merely having been born in a certain location. That's like being proud of yourself because you finished tenth in a field of ten.