Due to a tech difficulty, Lakerfan's earlier post got buried in comments:
I had a conversation with a friend regarding the war in Iraq.He stated that he supports it. I asked why; he said because he is patriotic. I asked "what does that mean?" He said it means he loves his country.When I asked why he loves his country , He did not seem to have a response.
If you claim to love your country, what is it that makes you think this is true.What do you love about it. Do you love your house, your job, your street, your city, or your state? Do you love the parts of the country that you have never been to or seen? Do you love our political system? how about our president.Do you love the fact that our country sends our young men to die in a war for no good reason, or that this war is costing innocent women and children their lives(granted, their not Americans) . A war that we started.
Do you love the fact that their are millions of people in our country that are deprived of healthcare, while many of the European countrys have universal health care that treats all of their citizens, no matter what.
Who is better now?Do you love the fact that our country claims that drug addiction is a disease, but if you are caught, you are not put in a hospital, you are thrown in jail.Many of the European nations actually do treat drug addiction like a disease and provide treatment.
Do you love our banking system; how about our mortgage brokers. I bet , after this sub-prime loan fiasco,that the people that have lost or are losing their homes do not love this country as much as they did, if they love it at all.Would you?
What I am saying,is that "I love my country" is too freely used without any thought of why? It seems to be a catch phrase for "I am a patriotic American, and we are the best." If you really think about it, are we the best? Just wondering.
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6 comments:
"Do you love the fact that their are millions of people in our country that are deprived of healthcare,"
The system need improvment, as with any other issue for a changing world. Universal healthcare does not offer quality treatment for its patients. A Universal healthcare system would not apply to the United States. Universal is a european system that cannot fit with the American system. Ehat we need to do is somehow intigrate those who do nott have healthcare into the mainstream system and recieve the best possible care.
Drug abusers get caught and sent to jail as necessary but are also provided with rehabilitation. What I am more concerned however, is Pharmsutical drugs. It turns out the rate of Americans on painkillers has icnreased 500 percent over the last decade. Is there not a natural remedy to lower cholestorl and such without harsh side effects? Europe is a different society then America is.
Well Sub-prime was able to provide americans with bad credit or lwoer income a taste of what it is like to have a home, had they paid closer attention they could have sold, saved, then re bought. It is not a perfect system but it is the best in the world and ATTEMPTS to incorporate everyone. And in should no way be compared to a European system. I belive change and preparation should be made in order for our country to grow and progress.
To take arms and actually go to some foreign land in the name of your country is truly something. And as fellow citizens we should honor and respect their desicson.
We need more improvment. It is up to the citiczens and leaders to make it happen. We are a young nation 230 years young. The Roman empire was 1,000 years at its peak than ended 2,000+ years later. There is plenty of room for growth and development and improvment. Only in America would you go to a family party and have your table FILLED and endless with food. Only in America where you will COMMONLY hear "rags to riches" stories from people of ALL color, creed, and religon.
Not trying to be petty, but the Roman Empire lasted about 500 yrs (apprx. 30BCE-450AD). I have a question. Have you ever lived in another country? I bet the people in most other countries feel their country is the best, due to the fact that they have never lived or even visited another country.I bet if you ask a German, a Venezuelan, or even a Russian, most of them would say they love their country and their country is the best. This is mostly due to their naiveity of other nations, and possibly their pure patriotism to their own country.Having lived in another country, it is my opinion that some things were better there and some things were worse. It just depends on your outlook on life.
And as far as sending our young men off to another country to die for no reason, I'm sorry, but it makes me sick.I dare say, that if one of these young men killed in combat was your son, husband,or brother you would feel differently about the whole situation.
Also, I do agree the home owners should have read the fine print on their loan documents. They got caught up in the "irrational exuberance" of the sharp increases of home values and probably believed it would last forever.They probably should have looked at the history of home values in California over the last 30 yrs. Values go up , values go down.Typically the faster they go up, the faster they go down.It really is the home buyers fault that this sub-prime issue came about, with a little bit of the blame on the mortgage brokers and the banks offering these "insane" loans.
Lakerfan, having lived in other countries, I will vouch that many residents consider their country the best.
Their standards for what's best, in my experience, range from "more Christian" or "more moral" to "more cultured" or more artistic and interesting.
Many foreign residents made a point of telling me that they considered their country superior in that it did not invade other countries.
I have also been told that certain countries were better because their citizens were less prone to naive patriotism.
Just because you feel Europe is different does not mean that their solutions and ideas cannot be integrated into our own. Why does your preference for the "mainstream system" mean that we must integrate those from an obviously superior system (UK, Franco, Deutsch and Nippon) into our own broken one? It is this blind attachment to some jingoistic patriotic hogwash that sends our country deeper into our own self absorbed clusterf* of stupidity. Excuse my almost language, but that type of thinking boils my blood.
To be totally cold and unfeeling; a well kept, healthy and productive populace is what keeps your country moving. No one that is dead, ailing and or ill will bother to work, or pay taxes. They die. Plain and simple. It is in the best interest, if not the most humane and proper thing to do, for the government to make sure that its working able constituents stay that way.
The best type of loving patriotic American realizes and accepts that we are not the best at everything. The smart and willing American takes what it can from other countries and improves on it. We did not invent the Car, but we sure as hell developed the best way to make one.
We do not do electronics, cars, health care or even food the best. To be blindly accepting of our recent bumbling operation into whatever country has oil and be
"And as fellow citizens we should honor and respect their desicson. "
as you put it, is quite frankly retarded. I don't have to support any one or any body of government if they are making the wrong decision to be doing so. I wish them not ill health, but for them to wise up and leave.
That is true that many countries find that they are best in music, art, sciences, or just overall well cultured. And that the American way of life, at least the general way is how pocky described it. You go to work day in and day out and pay taxes. It is taking a lot out of a person. I am racially from another country. And seeing the conditions and way of life of a lot(not all) of my relatives, friends makes you think twice of the blessings we have here in the US. We have plenty of food, generally clean water and many laws and standards in food and health, and finances that protect the average American. Traveling abroad makes you think twice of what we have here in the US. Although it is true that in Europe such as France they are way more refined in the arts. What I also like seeing abroad is no matter where you go people are out 24/7. Hong Kong is called the "city of lights" in Paris at 11pm on a MOnday you can sit out at a cafe listen to music. Whilie in U.S. everything closes shop at 9pm share and employees continue to go home.
Sending someone of to a foreign country for war in the name of a country does not sicken me nor did I promote it. I said it was "truly something"(words cannot explain its brilliance). It should be respected in the best way.
And it is not fully the buyers fault. As the old saying goes or even fallacy: "Theres a sucker born every minute". I mean the home buyer wants a home to improve quality of life on and progress. The lenders seduced the unexperienced buyers into taking loans they cannot afford. And it is the lenders reason why many homes are on defults and such. The lenders should have been given more strict regulations and should have realized what was going to happen and taken preventive measures.
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