I want to celebrate this great nation every chance I get. Most of my life, America has made me proud to be an American. Even when things get tough. Even when America is openly hated by the rest of the world. So many incredible, diverse people in one country, given the freedom to unleash their greatest potential. America. That’s the America I grew up with. In the words of Yakov Smirnoff, “What a country!” Yes, what a country, indeed. And you still see flashes, regularly, of this greatness. However, for the most part, modern America is in shambles. Our culture is broken. Our institutions are broken. We’re in about as bad a place as we have ever been. I can’t possibly cover everything, even if I tried. How can you see what’s going on and even believe we have a future worth looking forward to if we stay on this course? We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines if we want America to remain the greatest country in the universe. Let’s examine an honest assessment of America and take it from there.
The Good
-SEC football
-The average American lives a quality of life higher than that of 95% of the rest of the world just based on access and resources alone. Despite what many have been told, Americans have the most guaranteed freedoms in the world and can literally leave the house and have access to almost anything they want. Any beer on tap, any game on TV at a bar, any type of food, any stupid gadget at a big box store. If Americans can’t find what they want in the outside world, they can buy it online. Americans can even live with minimal sacrifices, relative to the people of other nations. Want to hear sacrifice? Try Europe, where the people have to heat or cool one room at a time to save money. Think gas prices are bad? These prices would be pretty standard in the socialist European “utopia.” America actually has a reputation of “excess” in other countries. It’s not excess, it’s comfort, and we have it. For now.
-The American Dream is still alive and well. If you have the opportunity to speak to any immigrants, as I have been fortunate enough to do, you’ll find that the United States is STILL the best place on the planet to start a business. Fewer regulations, easy corporate registration, and plentiful access to resources and capital. Shout out to the folks out there hustling.
-Credit where it’s due—Justice Sotomayer going to bat for Justice Thomas was great to see. There are still people who can see past partisanship and find the good in people, especially when it’s easy to find in someone like Clarence Thomas. Too bad she’ll be canceled for not toeing the party line of “Republicans Bad.” There’s still time to turn away from the dark side, Sonia. You wouldn’t be the first.
-Costco. Nothing bad about Costco.
The Bad
-Millions of children can barely read, write, or do math at an acceptable level, but at least they know what a pansexual is, thanks to their teacher they’ve known for 3 days.
-Our death cult of a foreign policy team has severed all diplomatic ties to Russia and is instead funneling billions of dollars in aid and weapons systems to Ukraine to fight a proxy war that can be easily ended with, well, extremely basic diplomacy. Not like people have been talking about nuclear war for months like it’ll all be fine and dandy for everyone but Russia.
-Our plan to transition away from fossil fuels involves destroying the entire fossil fuel industry without addressing how that power will be replaced, how we are going to make that happen, and a timeline to convert infrastructure to ensure a smooth transition. We are currently begging for oil from countries that hate us. I’m not against weaning off fossil fuels, per se. Just show me a reasonable, logical path. We have time. “Stop asking questions, citizen. Just buy a Chevy Volt and turn your A/C to 85.”
-While millions struggle to make ends meet, Congress continues to try to make examples of “dissidents” with their January 6 hearings. No word yet on the status of any hearings over the >$1 billion in damage done by the summer riots of 2020 and their government enablers. I guess politicians are just that much more important than the rest of us.
-After the massive experimental (in some cases mandated) gene therapy rollout during the COVID outbreak, healthy people are mysteriously dying with no explanation and absolutely no major outlets are raising hell about the Pfizer document dump, nor are they asking why a patented Moderna nucleotide was found on the spike protein of the novel coronavirus. Is bat soup still the official US government position on the origin of the virus? You can quash conspiracy theories by telling the truth. Unless they’re not conspiracy theories.
-https://usdebtclock.org
The Ugly
-The average person can barely afford their basic necessities, if they can even find all of them, but instead of finding ways to supplement their income they spent the weekend at a Pride parade cheering on a grown man helicoptering his penis at 10-year-olds.
-We seem to protest all hot button issues by twerking. Even during the George Floyd protests, after the looting, fires, and property destruction, plenty of protesters found time to twerk. Then conceal carry rights and abortion. And, of course, pride month. Sometimes the twerking is done in the direction of young children. Groomers be grooming. I’m not sure civil rights leaders of yesteryear would be proud. Also, probably no need to protest literally everything we don’t like all the time. It’s like there’s a bat signal to assemble mobs these days. Go drink with friends. Refinish a table. Paint a picture. Plant some flowers. It’s nice outside.
-In response to several SCOTUS opinions that did not fit their ideology, psychopaths from probable-bots to left-wing pollsters took to Twitter to call Clarence Thomas the n-word. I could only imagine what is in the draft folders of thousands more. Very progressive of them. If it was 1619. Side note, I did not even think I would mention Clarence Thomas when I wrote this. This is definitely the most times I have typed his name in one sitting. You’re a based one, Justice Thomas.
-Instead of doing everything they can to support women who are scared, angry, or confused by the Dobbs ruling, the pro-abortion crowd is spreading extremely dangerous misinformation. They are telling women that serious conditions like ectopic pregnancy (the treatment to which is not actually an abortion at all) will be illegal now that Roe has been overturned. No matter WHAT your position is on abortion, it is evil to discourage women from seeking help in life-threatening situations during pregnancy just to score political points with dead bodies. Women in need, I doubt you are reading this, but if you are, please take the time to research what resources are available to you in case you need them. The Catholic Church and Catholic charities are a good place to start, as they put their money where their mouth is when it comes to being pro-life and pro-woman.
-Corporations like Dick’s and Tesla are openly offering abortion travel pay. Greeeeeat. Not because they believe it is the right thing to do, but because it’s cheaper than maternity leave. This is as Elon tweets about the coming depopulation crisis, mind you. DOLLARS FIRST.
-We had to have a court case to defend a coach’s right to pray, alone, after a football game was well over. I literally thought this happens all the time at almost all levels. Geez, we’re screwed.
I hope that was uplifting.
We can return to what has always been great about America. It is a choice for all of us, and it is not just done at the ballot box. Set aside your prejudice, your political hatred, and your socioeconomic bubble. Right and left. All of us. What are the values that allow us to take the power back from those who seek to divide us? Family? Educational empowerment? Motivation? Freedom? Morality? God? We can bring back the imperfect but united America we love to celebrate on July 4 if we just take the chance to remember what we Americans have in common instead of what wedge issues tear us apart.
Bring that energy into July 4. It would be an appropriate day to begin America’s comeback.