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It's very easy, as an American to take what we have for granted. Let's get a little perspective however.
For thousands of years humans lived in a constant fight for survival. Starvation and disease were common place. The vast majority of the people had to work in agriculture to survive. Today, only 2% of Americans work in agriculture, and they can support our entire population. Modern medicine has extended the average life expectancy by decades, and has found ways to cure and treat diseases that would have previously been fatal. In addition, we have cars planes and trains that allow us to travel vast distances with relative ease. Our advances in communications with telephones and the internet are equally impressive. As Americans, we have full access to all of these technological advances, that to previous generations would have been nothing short of magical.
In addition, we enjoy more rights then almost any people who have ever lived. Everyone in our nation is guaranteed equal rights under the law, including minorities and women. Even just 500 years ago this idea is unheard of, and in many nations today, equal rights do not exist for women and minority ethnic groups. We can vote, speak our mind, practice whatever religion we choose, and the government can't stop us.
To be an American, in our current era, is like winning the lottery of life.
The problem with your argument is that you also described near enough every other democratic western country.
How is what you described any different to, say, France, the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, etc, etc, who all enjoy very similar (maybe more, maybe less, but very similar) freedoms to the US?
Don't get me wrong, we're all extremely lucky to be born in these countries, America included, but the US isn't any more the "land of dreams" than any other democratic western country.
I completely agree, and I never intended to infer that the U.S. was the "Land of Dreams" at the exclusion of any other modern western nation. As far as rights go I'm pretty sure in France you are guilty until proven innocent. However, in the UK (and many other of the countries you named) there is free health care.
Don't think that I meant to put down any other nations, when I said how great the U.S. was.
"As far as rights go I'm pretty sure in France you are guilty until proven innocent."
That seemed quite an interesting legal position, if true, so I went to check it up. Unfortunately all I could find was contradiction to that fact. According to The Wiki:
"In France, article 9 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, of constitutional value, says "Everyone is supposed innocent until having been declared guilty." and the preliminary article of the code of criminal procedure says "any suspected or prosecuted person is presumed to be innocent until their guilt has been established". The jurors' oath reiterates this assertion." - [Presumption of innocence - Wikipedia]
If you can find any sources regarding that though (I assume it would be something to do with the Napoleonic Code), I'd be really interested in reading about it. I've always wondered if any other legal systems have the presumption of guilt.
And in regards to the debate subject; to be honest I assumed that's what you meant, however, lots of Americans do seem to get a little overzealous when it comes to how great their country is, and often forget that all countries have their bad points, and lots of other countries are pretty awesome too. We're all lucky on this site, it seems, to live where we do.
But yeah, if you can find anything in regards to the French law thing, I'd be really interested in reading it.
I think I may have been thinking of Italy. I know that the Napoleonic Codes, which shaped the law of many European nations, said you were guilty until proven innocent. This is why I assumed that France had this as it's policy. I believe that some nations do put the burden of proof on the accused, however I am not at all sure on this matter, and cannot find any sources to back up my claim.
yeah it is. u get here, u dream that u will succeed. dreaming dosent mean it will come true, it just means u hope it will happen. America holds dreams of success. Keep dreaming guys :)
Sure it is. and as Xaeon pointed out, so are most of the other Democratic, Western nations.
I love America. I love how we are further from Fascism (nationalized banks and health care and strict government regulation over private businesses while still allowing private property ;)) than most other Western Democratic nations.
That's why someone who started poor like Obama can all of a sudden become president of the United States.
Plus, our massive interest in capitalism has caused our influence to go EVERYWHERE. just look at how McDonald's and Oreos can be found in almost every country. fuckin' awesome.
Yes, the U.S.A. has both the world's largest population of dreamers and simultaneously the world's largest population of dreamers whose ignorance is only superceded by their arrogance, and whose ignorance and arrogance is personified in their elected officials. Who, in turn, are a nightmare to the rest of the world.
Well, that sure sounds pessimistic to me. someone with that kind of attitude obviously doesn't care to much for hard work. And you must be sleeping to think you can succeed in this country without hard work. I don't know who that man is and I don't want to know. But I'm sure he was not a true patriot.
Haha, this might not have been the best first George Carlin stand up routine to show Jake. He's definitely one of my favorite comedians though. He's not only funny, but insightful at the same time.
Got that right. After the first 30 seconds, I will never listen to him again.
I guess we will just have to disagree on if he is funny or not, oh well, good thing we have the freedom to listen to whatever we please. You can listen to your favorite comedians and I can listen to mine. Isn't that great!?
I listened to about 30 seconds of that and it's all that I could stand. It was just how I imagined it would be; immature offensive and not funny. Hey, but I'm sure you love the guy.
If you want real comedy I would be glad to show you a real comedian.
I live in Canada but in Canada at least we get free health care. That is something that is very important, but Americans have to have a health care plan, something Canadians do not. I don't think America is the land of dreams, I'm pretty content right here in my country.
George Carlin is probably one of the greatest satirists of our time. If you think for one moment that this man is not a patriot...you really don't know who he is or what he's all about.