In response to a FB posting that listed pretty much all of our errors and mis-steps over the last 75 years or so, then asked why we would want to return to former Greatness, I replied with the following.

Wow. America is not perfect. Well, I'll be darned. Who knew?

Let us review the immigration statistics for all 207 countries. Oh, look, more people want to come to America, and less want to leave, than any other place on the planet. What a shock. 

Maybe it's because of the freedoms we offer, the opportunities, the lifestyle to be whomever one wants to be, the ability to improve one's life and take care of one's family. Our warts and our mistakes are out there for all the world to see and discuss and rage against and point fingers at. At least we allow that, heck, we encourage it. 

Try speaking out against the ruling governments in: Turkey, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and all the countries ending in stan, N. Korea, Vietnam, China, etc., etc. Dissent is either not allowed at all, or tightly tightly controlled. 

So many firsts in our political system this last national and state election alone. You can look up the "Firsts" elsewhere. Folks of all backgrounds, sexual choices, and religions were elected to various levels of our govt. This is known as inclusion, and it's a good thing. 

The Dulles Brothers/Eisenhower foreign policy of the 1950s has set up the world as it is today. Our own confused unclear national foreign policy has perpetuated it to a certain extent. Interfering in the internal affairs of other countries was thought to be the best way to insure American dominance for the second half of the 20th century. What we overlooked, was that 1) countries tended to take offense at our approach; and 2) all our foreign aid, Peace Corps, Voice of America, Exchange programs, and others, led to the improvement and independence of many, many countries around the world. Not all of them chose to be associated with Western principles of individual freedom of speech, religion, and life itself.

Pointing out our faults is putting our country's existence out of context. No country, no empire, has ever, ever been perfect. More countries have modeled their constitutions and forms of govt after us, than after any other type, period. Communism and monarchy are proven failures. Utopia doesn't work, and neither does Socialism nor Fascism. I think our country has, in just over 240 years, gotten a hell of a lot more right, than wrong.

I am aware of its warts and its mistakes, and I am also aware that despite its missteps, people are still willing to dig tunnels, hang on to a floatable object, swim, stowaway, do whatever it takes, to get in here, so they too can have a better life than from whence they came. We must be doing something right.