Doesn't this actually prove the original point of the thread to a tee?

Here is a family that has just taken the citizenship test and is armed with experience of less than the privileges we have.. elated to be watching the fireworks and celebrating our freedoms.

But to your B&M statement.. we are far from perfect as you say, and we could be so much better than we currently are.. why shouldn't we push for us to reach our potential?

If we aren't willing to admit our faults and a nation, accept them and make an effort to realize them, how do we become a better nation?

Isn't that what this country was found upon.. a group of men, critics if you will, that pushed the unfairness of the rule and finally gathered enough steam to revolt against it?

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totally agree with you. When we fail to try to improve.....we fail. Period.

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Exactly! And I feel if we know more about our successes and failures as a nation it will only help us improve. I don't like seeing content and I feel we as a nation are content on where we are. What's that, China has a higher level of education, oh well we try our best. I say BULLSHIT, figure out how to IMPROVE our damn education so we are the best.

I don't like our country saying 'well we gave it the college effort, but came up short' or even having anything close to that mentality. We're America god dammit, we are perceived as the "land of opportunity" lets re-earn that perception and strive to be the best! Build better cars, improve our technology footprint instead of succumbing to importing those items from overseas. Why think 'well they make it better so why try to compete?' Do better, work harder, stop trying to figure a damn way to sue someone and EARN your riches!

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We are becoming a coarser, and more self-serving society as a general rule. To my way of thinking, people, like music, come in two varieties; the decent, and the not decent.

Unfortunately, decency is on the wane, and selfish, "me, me,me" behavior is on th rise. And why wouldn't it? For decades we have put children on pedestals and literally worshipped them as parents, teachers, and society as a whole. Hey, they got the message....loud and clear!

How many households are ruled by the children?

How many marriages suffer because the children come before a healthy and happy relationship between the parents?

How many schools tell every child just how special and precious they are?

Look, in the absence of common-sense parenting that keeps a child's position within the family and society in perspective...which is hard to come by these days and in decades past...children absorb the message...and then act upon that lifelong message as adults.

Thank you baby boomers and the Wodstock generation...your, "if it feels good, do it", message has succeeded in corrupting several generations!

And for what it is worth, I was born in 1963...the last year of the boomers...and could not be more embarrassed by that association.

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or whatever hundreds of titles it's had. and by "it" i mean the GD section. ;)



lol. i think the phrase would be closer to "Thank Fuck."

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I RESERVE the right to bitch about being treated like a potential terrorist by my own nation, THANK YOU very much.

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And yet, nonstop, the 28 year old Muslim man gets a pass as often as not.

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I don't care what my fucking skin tone is or what religion I practice. If I'm carrying an American passport -- not to mention a military ID -- I should be treated with respect. If there's a valid reason to suspect malfeasance on my part, then -- and only then -- am I willing to be treated like a potential criminal. Like I said, I wasn't treated so crassly anywhere in Europe.

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I think I spotted Mal Feasance on one of those islands on the Mississippi just west of the Amtrak Depot in LaCrosse.................... Just kidding.

I understand what you're saying and I agree. But, how many European countries have had an attack like 9-11? How many of those countries are hated as much as the United States is by some countries? How surprised do you think those neighbors were when those Russian spies were arrested? Just right friendly folks they said.

Last year when I flew from Spokane to Albuquerque, I set off all the alarms that TSA had in the Spokane airport. Total knee replacement did it. I had a certified card with what I had, but I still had to be pulled aside and wanded and searched, and allow them to empty completely my carry on bag. I was not in the least bit offended, but glad they took the time to really search.

I'm not arguing. Just glad I live here and can enjoy it.

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So let me get this straight: We are supposed to react to an attack that occurred nigh on a decade ago by treating our own citizens with disrespect? I will never accept such a notion. It is impossible to be both fully free and completely safe. The feeling of safety is nothing more than an illusion anyway. I will cheerfully trade a little of that illusion of safety for the right to live as I see fit.

Don't get me wrong. I love America and I am happy to live here. But I love my wife and girlfriends too, and I'm not afraid to call them out when they're full of shit. I'm definitely not afraid to call my country out when she's full of shit too.

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