So What IS Great About America?

And How do we Get Back There?

Antonio Berni, Manifestación

“I still love America. I just don’t know how to get there anymore.”

John Prine

Some of you may have heard a quote in recent years about making America great again. It’s a phrase that has been completely hijacked by a man whose entire life has been devoted to taking advantage of the best that America has to offer to line his own pockets. So after six years of devoting way too much time thinking about this aberration, this corpuscle of a human, I found myself wondering what still is great about America these days.

The following is based on zero research, or political savvy. It’s one man’s opinion, and maybe not even the most reliable narrator, so keep that in mind.

What I love about America is that for most of our history, people have been able to say the worst things possible about our leaders without finding themselves locked in a cell somewhere, or facing a firing squad. What I love about America is that, despite the fact that we built an entire society on the backs of people who were shipped here like animals, and swept another entire race of people to one side to accomplish this task, we are capable of taking an honest look at this part of our story and doing the best we can to address these atrocities. No, it never happens fast enough, and sadly, it never will, because there will always be people in power who still benefit from these systemic benefits. But there will always be a huge percentage of our population that sees this as a valuable pursuit. Something that we need to pay attention to. It’s hard to imagine that the men who founded this country ever anticipated that we would have an African American president, not to mention an African American woman vice president. We strive to improve, despite the loud and obnoxious voices who oppose such progress.

What I love about America is that we also try, although we continue to fall short in this arena as well, to acknowledge the contributions of women. From the time America was founded, and Abigail Adams had a quiet influence on the decisions made by her husband, the second president of the United States, we have benefited from the fact that, as a country, we do not embrace the notion that women should be silent, or subservient.