In all fairness nobody living in another nation is going to call another nation the greatest lol.

Nobody in Europe is calling Australia the greatest country. Nobody in Asia is calling Ireland the greatest country. Clearly 99% of people are going to vote for themselves.

I like you, but your bashing on America is slightly disturbing. Especially when you consider that our two nations are great allies of each other.

As far as my opinion goes.....I think its pretty obvious that Economically and Militarily we are the greatest nation in the history of the world. Right now our economy isn't very good, but still it takes essentially ALL of Europe working together to compete with us.

Militarily its not even close....Yeah Iraq has been a struggle but if we WANTED to that conflict would be over in the amount of time it took a nuclear warhead to launch and then impact.


Now do I think those things are the sole things that make a nation great?? No I dont. I also think your policies, way of life, the way you treat others, and other factors need to be factored in here.

We are awful when it comes to education, ive seen polls where we are very low in "happiness" among the citizens here. Our health care system is ranked #37 in the world. We rank very low in Science and Math, and yet are one of the more religious nations out there....To me that shows that we ignore things that are actually important and ignore things that will actually help us. I also despise the amount of "morals" that people here try to shove down our throats because it invades on ones freedom.

Ive been all over the globe...As for countries I have "lived" in...Well of course the United States. I also lived in Ireland for awhile. While in the Marine Corps I spent some time in Japan, Iraq and Afghanistan for extended periods of time and so ill include those as well.

Ive visited all over Europe, Canada, and Mexico.

So with that said, my own PERSONAL opinion is that the U.S. is one of the greatest places to live in the world. Ive heard great things about Australia however I haven't been there yet so I wouldnt know. Canada, France, Ireland, and England are awesome places as well and I wouldnt mind living in any of those nations at all.

There are things about the U.S that I think are MUCH better than these other places, however in many aspects some of these other nations are FAR ahead of the U.S. as well.

Its just a matter of what is important to YOU as a human being.

Makedde I DO think you are being unfair towards Americans though. Yeah a lot of people talk about how great we are. But so does everyone else. People are patriotic in most parts of the world. I bet if you were asked you would claim your country as the greatest in the world. Most people in France would claim that. Most in England would claim that.

I agree that Americans can be WAYYYYY too overly patriotic. However people all around the world say the same things. Americans also take alot of crap from people in other nations as well, most of it is unfair. So naturally we are going to build ourselves up when others are always trying to put us down.

Patriotism is a good thing. I mean heck I know im cheering for the USA come the olympics. However you also should have respect for other nations and even learn from them at times. That is where I feel we are lacking a great deal...

Other nations need to put aside their unfair resentment and quite frankly their jealousy though.

__________________
Not a Republican, Not a Democrat. I've found that usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle of what both of them are saying.

__________________
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~ Ernest Gaines

Certainly you would be criticized.....People criticize others they dont agree with. However we are still friends with Canada, and they have been critical of alot of the things we have done.

I agree that a lot of Americans go WAYYYY overboard when it comes to patriotism. I consider myself patriotic but I dont chant "USA USA" at every sporting event I go to lol. And I understand my country has some flaws.

As for people crying during the national anthem....Watch the olympics this year, people from all nations will cry when getting their medals and hearing their anthem played.

Also....I may be biased here, but honestly I think we have an AWESOME national anthem and I think it really is a beautiful song when it is sung well. But no I have never cried when I heard it. After 9/11 I did come close though.

__________________
Not a Republican, Not a Democrat. I've found that usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle of what both of them are saying.

__________________
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~ Ernest Gaines

I don't like our national anthem, and I hate it when people try to sing it. How utterly horrid. A much better song for the US's national anthem would be:

Stars and Stripes Forever - John Philip Sousa