What are we good at?

     We have been very good at teaching patriotism in this country; "this is the greatest country on the planet," "the home of the free, the land of the brave," " the land of opportunity where everyone is equal and no matter where you came from or what circumstances surrounded your birth, you could accomplish anything--become anything"... "the sky is the limit as long as you work hard, say your prayers, save your money and be true to yourself."

     If you question that, if you ask someone what the greatest country is, if you point out that our equality statements don't seem to represent anything--you will be met with ridicule or even violence.
Yet the statistics are out there that indicate those statements are not true.
     We have a lot of problems.
Apparently, only a very few people are working hard, saying their prayers, saving their money and being true to themselves:
       99% of the U.S. money is the personal property of 1% of the population.
       While our unemployment is lessened, more people are working all the time so they can live at under the poverty level---maybe they aren't praying enough, maybe they are wasting their money on food and rent.
        We have free public schools, granted we have known since the 1940's that the current system is not effective, but we are sending more people on to college---where they can, with a 2 year degree get any minimum wage job, or with a 4 year degree get a job that pays a dollar an hour over that, although probably not in the field of their degree.
         If you are born in poverty, your chances of occupying a prison for a portion of your life go way up.  Maybe because you keep trying to find that opportunity that will allow you to be anything you want.  Maybe because the public defender's job is to talk you into taking a plea-bargain whether you are guilty or not because a trial takes too long and requires more resources than either of you can afford.
         When you get out of prison, you will be a felon, may not ever be able to vote again, may not ever be able to get a job that includes benefits or even a W-2.  You are now an "under-the-table" kind of guy. 
Thank God we are not the kind of heathens that tattoo a giant F on your forehead making it impossible for you to partake of the advantages of living in the land of opportunity.
         In this great country, it is everyone's right to fail, everyone's right to be poor, everyone's right to develop a preventable illness without the interference of good health education, knowledge of the effects of poor choices, or a single dollar spent on screening after you leave the hospital you were born in.  We are truly free.

What are we good at besides being proud of being citizens of the greatest nation in the world?

Being reactionary.

Someone shoots someone, we want to ban all guns, then we have a backlash wanting to ban all gun bans.
(we do not address the individual cause of that shooting--that would be too simple, make too much sense---once mental health care stopped being funded, crazy was also a right.)

Someone has an abortion, ban all abortions, there is never a reason to have an abortion, then there is blood in the street due to two groups of people that are quite sure they are fighting for right and they should be the winner.  (we do no ask the woman why she had an abortion, we do not listen to her reasons for making that choice, and if she has made that choice many time and with no qualms, do we really think we should make her be a mother? do we really think a child born in those circumstances will be healthly--will that child grow up and thank us?)

I have heard of child born of rape/born with known genetic issues and most are glad they were born....but they were born so therefore that question and answer is not the same as the one you would get from the one that was not born.  Perhaps they would also glad.  Inevitably, the reason not to abort is religious, and I find it interesting that so many think a loving God would punish the unborn.  If living on this planet is important, I'm quite sure they will get their chance--hopefully a better chance.

Most civilized/stable nations have some sort of healthcare for their citizens, but in this great country we guarantee everyone's right to die without good healthcare.  Surely the only one's freer than we are live in those countries without stable governments or stable laws.

I'm so proud.