Proud to be an American?

[jokerthief]

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How could you not be proud. We live in the wealthiest, freest, most geographically beautiful country in the world. I don't agree with much of what we have done in the past and we are guilty of many evils. This is a fact that all of humanity has to face however. One can be proud that they live in a wealthy, powerfull, easy living country and not support past sins. Anyone who lives in Western Europe, North America, and liberal Pacific Governments would be foolish not to be proud or grateful. Seriously, try out explaining your dissatifaction of our countries with people living in Darfur. They would invariable view us as spoiled and ungrateful.

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1 Luxembourg $ 55,100 (GDP/capita)
2 Norway $ 37,800
3 United States $ 37,800

thrid wealthiest. Somalia has no government, so they are the most free. beauty is subjective, so i disagree with you on that too.

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Adjust those number to the PPP. We are much wealthier.

[jokerthief]

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I'm not proud of my country, I did nothing to earn living in it. Nevertheless, I love and respect it, and would never renounce my citizenship, certainly not for monetary purposes.

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That sounds like pride to me.

[ACPlayer]

Non-citizens have to pay taxes if they work in the US of A.

Hard to be proud of something that you dont have to work to achieve.

Never did understand where patriotism comes from -- i suspect it is a result of organized brainwashing so you do what the government tells you to and go off to wars and such.

[lehighguy]

As I said, if one could continue to live here, would one participate in the government. In other words, are citizen because you want to or because you have no other choice because this is where you work/live.

Is voting worth that much? Does it get you enough to justify the cost?

[lehighguy]

Not sure about Norway, but I know the Luxemburg number is adjusted to PPP. There are several smaller countries with higher GDP/capita and perhaps much better governmental models in many respects.

[Overdrive]

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How could you not be proud. We live in the wealthiest, freest, most geographically beautiful country in the world.

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This tired old cliche has been spouted like pablam for so long that people think it is true. The US is NOT the wealthiest country in the world. It is not the country with the most freedom.

[jokerthief]

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Not sure about Norway, but I know the Luxemburg number is adjusted to PPP. There are several smaller countries with higher GDP/capita and perhaps much better governmental models in many respects.

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I don't believe it. Document it. I did a paper on this in Macroecon in 1999 and unless Luxemburg's GDP has been growing at something like a 12% clip for the last 6 years this isn't possible.

[Gunny Highway]

Citizenship ain't what makes you an American. It could even be argued that being willing to give up citizenship in protest of this bloated travesty of government makes you a true patriot to what this country really stands for.

[Rduke55]

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In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
-Friedrich Nietzsche-

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So said the insane guy. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[elwoodblues]

To those who are proud of the country (largely for things you have had little to no part in creating), do you also feel the yang to pride's yin -- shame for the negative things that this country has done? If you take personal pride in the good, shouldn't you feel the equivalent emotions for the bad?