Not to be a party pooper, but there's plenty in the history of the US of A that is decidedly un-eagle-ish. If you were one of the people the eagles crapped all over, you might have a different perspective. And I agree that we can do much, much better right now.

Nationalism is the refuge of the powerless.

On the whole we haven't been that great. We are very good at self- grandizing.

The human brain is the most dangerous weapon on the planet. The most dangerous ammunition is a difference of opinion. This explains a lot about conflict worldwide. What do you think?

Which great nation is this? We aren't all Americans you know and some of us also belong to fallen Empires...and good job too!

Economically, we had a pretty good run for awhile after the great depression when the New Deal kicked in. Most people had a steady and respectable job, could afford to put food on the table, live in a modest home and drive a decent car. They could also put their kids through school and take a nice vacation once a year. All without going in to debt. That prosperity came to an end in the 80's when Reaganomics came along and threw a big, ugly monkey wrench in to the works.

1940 - 1980 was probably our finest hour as a country. We weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we were the model upon which other countries looked to design a system which allows every single individual to have a decent size slice of the pie and an opportunity to gain even more if they so desired to pursue it.

Go beyond those years of economic prosperity and things become more..... checkered..... to say the least. We've certainly had our dark side. When it comes to acts of domestic terrorism, human rights violations and corruption at the executive level in private industry and in the government, we wrote the "how to" manuel on that shit.

When I think back to my fore parents...I have a whole different spin on things....

Oh, I don't think we're so great. I think that's just another lie we've been sold. Just like "the American Dream", and "the Lord helps those that help themselves".
Truthfully, I don't believe we've ever been "great". We've had the potential for greatness, but it's never been realized.
We've always been entirely too busy looking out for ourselves to actually achieve anything close to greatness. Sure, there have been a few exceptional moments sprinkled throughout our history. However, cumulatively, not enough to qualify our total history as anything but another mediocre civilization.

Our forefathers were evil and made the claim of greatness like any narcissist would. They tread on every culture and brought slaves. We were taught to believe the lies that are now completely out of control. Up until the internet came along all the information we received was being fed to us by a very small group of people.

When WH spokespeople say we have a great relationship with Germany because today is the anniversary of D day
I doubt very much that our leaders have much understanding of that past at all.

We certainly can, and MUST do better.

This nation has almost always based its every move on how it could take advantage of someone else.

I think first and foremost, it starts with voting. Barring the obstacles that are designed keep people from voting, we all need to make that commitment and get our butts to the polls. Our forefathers and brothers and sisters literally fought for all our rights to do that and so many people just blow it off. If the majority of people were involved we might see more politicians actually working for the people and not themselves.

There is a very old joke about how good life was for American First Nations People prior to the coming of white men...work when hungry, make love, sleep, healthy water, buffalo, then subjugation, destruction of the environment, feral animals, birds, genocide, white overpopulation, slavery, modern warfare (independence and civil) - yes the nation's forefathers did very well.

I am totally embarrassed by the USA right now.

Yip, back to basics !