FOR THE RECORD, I LOVE TECHNORATI. It allows me to find out blog posts that reference The Rant, which is very handy considering I might well overlook people responding to my posts, or holding my work up as examples of things wrong with our culture, polity, etc.
Anyway, thanks to Technorati, I noticed that a post I wrote a while back has been held up as prima facie evidence that Americans boorishly and arrogantly claim we are the greatest nation in the world.
I would be more sympathetic to this argument had the writer not used my "In 'N' Out Burger Served Up a 100-Decker Cheeseburger" post as his prima facie evidence. I mean, come on: how could anyone not be proud of America in such a situation, where our grand system of free enterprise allows people to get a 100x100 from In 'N' Out? Besides, this post was notably free of the petty regionalism to which I'm admittedly prone, and was composed with nothing but love and admiration for the nation I call home.
Anyway, our writer, Mr Michael J Gonda, argues as follows:
Of all the pressing matters in front of the people, the starkest is the fact that many Americans do not really understand or know what the meaning of freedom really actually is.This can be attributed to a number of factors, including our lack of knowledge about our own history, our mental amnesia in connection with any world events preceding 9/11/2001, and our stubborn (arrogant) claim that we are the greatest nation in the world - not arrogant, just the greatest - and think the rest of the world should follow and be replicas of our government and system.
Well, since I've been called out as indicative of this problem -- rather insulting, n'est ce pas? -- I'm going to defend my stance accordingly. For America is the greatest nation in the world: not because of our military might or our geopolitical power, but because we value freedom. This freedom is necessarily entrenched in private property rights, the rule of law, our capitalist system and our openness towards allowing people to create wealth and find personal fulfillment. That doesn't mean the rest of the world should replicate our Government and system -- but it does mean we do a lot of things right. Other nations here on God's green earth could improve the lives of their citizens if they embraced the freedoms which we in America enjoy.
And I'm not going to apologize for making an entirely positive case on behalf of the United States -- especially when so many people from abroad would give their right arms to move here, and when people in the most wretched corners of the earth look to us for help and inspiration. I'm not suggesting there isn't room for us to improve -- that would be a bit much -- but sometimes it seems those who run down the United States are like parents who criticize their kid for getting a 95 on a test instead of 100. Let's keep things in perspective here, shall we?
Posted by Benjamin Kepple at January 1, 2008 12:48 AM | TrackBack