We talked briefly today in class about what it meant to be an American during the time of the Puritans and the ideas that went along with it.
Back then it seemed Americans themselves believed that they were in some sort of promised land of opportunity and that they were a superior and privledged people.
These ideas have lingered on with us for centuries becoming deeply rooted into our history and society, but I was wondering if these beliefs had begun to fade in any way; mainly due to our current situation and recent events.
We may or may not be the greatest nation in the world, but do we still believe we are?
-Mike Bass
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Certainly this notion of extreme superiority is something exclusive to only America and the nationalist countries of the world. There's a great Lewis Black routine on this (strong language warning) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCDZMWVWuc
This view became insultingly literal with the Truman Doctrine which threw away all progress made by T.R. to make America a fellow major country of the world and explicitly stated America's unique superiority. But I digress.
Generally the only people that still believe that America is #1 are the neoconservative types (but not necessarily conservative) like the ones on Fox News.
Personally I don't believe America is the #1 country in the world. But I'm also not one of those snobbish Europeans who is blatantly anti-american like the Nobel Literature Chief who recently made the news with an ignorant statement blasting American literature. America is an extremely varied and rich nation, for that it deserves a lot of respect. I think that parts of California, in particular, are some of the greatest on Earth in terms of social, intellectual, cosmopolitan ,and environmental terms. Most of the educated Americans would agree with me about America's fallibility but still hold a deep pride of their country. It's the intellectual and realistic view of America.
I do believe that many Americans still have that supreme pride. Even though we're going through tough times, I doubt even the ones most hurt from it would desire moving to another country. I have never left the country so I can't really share my opinions on what other countries are like compared to ours. Therefore it would be very naive of me to be able to proclaim that America is the number one nation in the world. You have to experience different things before you're able to just make a judgment like that. I personally think that the U.S. is great because of all the diversity and good things that go on. Although the bad things that go on can't be forgotten.
-Joe M
Whether or not you believe that America is the greatest country in the world depends what perspective you look at it. Militarily, the US is the most powerful; economically, it is the importer and exporter. But what I think really makes this country stand out is that it is a melting pot of virtually all cultures and ideas. Of course there are other views in which you could argue that America is clearly not on top.
I think the cosmopolitan nature of America in general is highly overrated. Outside of New York, San Fran. LA, and Chicago, and areas in the immediate vicinity of those cities the average person is relatively untraveled and ignorant of the outside world. Although this really only qualifies as petty anecdotal evidence, I can't tell you how many times I've had people, full grown adults, think that when I say Austria, that I mean Australia.
And what is a "greatest nation" anyway? It seems to me to be nothing more than empty rhetoric.
I am not sure that I could say that our nation is far better than other nations in all aspects, but I am confident in its superiority on the whole. For example, when I travelled to Europe, I found the public transportation system to be much easier to use and much more efficient. Conversly, I did not feel as accepted and welcome in Europe as my international cousins seemed to be when they came to visit our family.
One of the reasons why I am most proud to be an American is that I think that the majority of citizens here have a much higher tolerance for diversity. For example, in Germany, the calendars do not mention the major Jewish holidays, where as in America, calendars list various ethnic holidays, even some of the most obscure.
From the perspective of efficiency, however, Europe has a superior public transportation system, sanitation system, and a better method for the conservation of energy... But then again, following WWII, the modern developed countries of Europe basically had the opportunity to rebuild their cities anew.
Another interesting difference between America and other countries is the educational systems. In America, pre-college public and private schooling is available until the age of 18, in which all students are given an equal oppurtunity to advance, or not, to their desired level. On the other hand, in Germany, the students take a cummulative test around the age of twelve, the results determining whether the student should either continue with technical trade skills or pursue a professional education for their level of schooling they wish to follow. Also, in America, unless one is granted a large scholarship, it is becoming nearly impossible to pay for the college education. In Germany, college is paid for out of community taxation, taxes that are much higher than in America.
-Jen
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