Why is it considered uncultured to be proudly American?

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I suppose, but that would be a huge lack of forethought on their part.

Proves 'Murica is tuffer'n all them forin countries.
Murica, f*k yeah!

Good grief... LoL

Exactly. I don't see being a proud American as being uncultured. What I do see is that many so-called patriots are arrogant, hateful, and intolerant (and yes, you can say that about some liberals too). They wave their flags not as signs of love of country, but as threats to anyone who doesn't toe their line. It's ugly, and some of us will gladly swing the other way in an effort to counter-balance that sort of nastiness, at least in part because it only creates yet another reason for other countries to hate ours!

As far as any one group having hijacked another party, well...we could talk for hours about that, but in the end, it only means that our two-party system is insufficient for such a diverse nation, and the angriest and loudest overshadow the more moderate people, leading to more conflict and more extremism...I see no end to it.

Kind of came off as being illogical on your side as well. What you described sounds more like a hipster... (Trust me, I'm from Oregon.) Hipsters like to criticize everyone for not being cultured enough, but don't really know much about the countries they are rooting for, only the good things. My family is liberal, and happen to eat a wide variety of foods from different regions,but we don't really see it as culture. We just... like variety?

I wouldn't say I am patriotic. I wouldn't say that at all. However, I am not a nihilist either. We have it so much better here than many other countries, most of our problems are rooted in accessibility to various systems that I would consider rights. Such as healthcare, and education. But again, even in those departments, we are better than most, but not as good as some.

I think there is a difference between being patriotic, and being ignorant to the rest of the world. They can go hand-in-hand, but they do not always. I do feel like we don't focus on other countries as much as we should in High school, I know tons about our own country, but I've had to look to other sources to learn more about the world's history and philosophies. It takes a bit of a back seat here. But again, I am of the mindset that "it could be worse". Heh. This probably came off as a bit more rambly than organized, sorry.

^^I very much feel the same way.

Many of the American liberals I know suggest frequently that they would prefer living elsewhere. But, they never seem to get around to saving their pennies to actually, really, truly move to other nations. Having moved around the United States a few times, I was able to save enough to move places. Their apparent lack of will in saving to move to the nations of their choice suggests something more than a lacks of funds. No, I suspect strongly that they enjoy kvetching about America while relying on it for their standard of living.

I am a person who has some "liberal" viewpoints.

I love my country. I would call myself patriotic, though not in the "flag-waving" sense.

I also love other countries--when they deserve to be loved.

I wish for us not to have an adversarial relationship with another nation if this is not necessary.

I understand, full well, the benefits of living in the USA. We could even be better--but I find that we are quite decent as we stand now.

The health care thing bothers me, though. I believe in universal health care for all catastrophic conditions. We already have it for End Stage Renal Disease.

Pretty much agree on all points. Health care is one of my biggest concerns. Oh, and the prison system, now that I think about it. Certain people shouldn't be jailed at all, certain people get less time than they should. The biggest thing for me is putting drug addicts into prison. MOST of them are harmless, and need rehabilitation. Violent druggies should serve their time in accordance to whatever violent act they committed. Someone who is simply addicted to an illegal drug should be helped. When you put them in jail, they will just come back out and start doing drugs again. *Sigh*

I would agree that people who are merely addicts are treated very badly by the police.

Especially if they don't steal from their families because of their habit, or don't get into criminal cartels because of their habit, jail is not the place for them.

But......the drug addicts have to want to help themselves, too. It's not just society's responsibility. It's very difficult to be treated for some addictions.

It is, and I am sure that is why we haven't already started to do this. It's a far less black and white subject, there's so much grey zone. It makes it hard to make LAWS, when laws need to be more direct.

Edit: Partially why, anyway. I have other complaints about the jail system, especially when it comes to using them for profit. But I won't go too much into that, haha.

Yeah....the "privatization" of the jails rather irks me.

The people who want free stuff are the ones who complain about America.

I am not so sure its a lack of will in saving...lol most people in my age group/this generation are finding money all goes to rent and bills, unless you're lucky enough to have parents who buy you a place to live or something like that...then chances are you won't have much left over to save. Its not like it used to be when people my parents age were my age and younger and they paid a living wage where you could afford to save up whilst living fairly comfortably in the meantime.

Also though I have talked about liking the idea of moving somewhere like Scandinavia, realistically I don't think it is going to happen at least not anytime soon...but its a nice idea if I am feeling frustrated about this country. Might be more realistic to find ways of making this country better, or at least be active in signing petitions and what not for causes you support locally. I imagine there are other liberals who realize moving out of the country may not be the most realistic and might turn their focus to how they can make things better here. But I think for a lot it is certainly lack of funds, not lack of will to save...there just isn't anything to save for a good majority of people once bills, rent and groceries are paid for.

Nice simplification.


I complain about issues here yet I cannot say 'I want free stuff' is my motivation. What free stuff are you referring to that people want anyways?....services for the impoverished and financially struggling like medicaid, SSI and EBT or WIC for struggling mothers? Clearly such unnecessary luxuries am I right?....

Seems like if anyone wants 'free stuff' its our current administration and the top 1%, and they want it at the expense of the rest of us. But some poor right wingers eat it up and practically worship the wealthy elite, that are screwing them over to....its perplexing.

Yeah, it will only bring tons more corruption into our justice system and jails. I will say our Justice system really is screwed up, I mean for one we have the highest amount of people incarcerated for long periods of time for non-violent offenses. People have gotten longer prison sentences for pot than child molestation...talk about some screwed up priorities.

Yeah I am sure privatization doesn't encourage making criminals out of people and ruining lives just for profit for those running said prisons....NOT.