As a proud American, I really hate to break it to you my fellow Americans, but we really are no longer the best or number one in a lot of areas. It’s not exactly a secret if you truly care to look and not just repeat propaganda: From education to life expectancy, to gun violence and infrastructure, we are falling behind many of our developed peers in ways that a country such as ours should not be—and I don’t know about you, but this makes me incredibly sad for us.
We are a nation of doers and of innovators—and like it or not—we are a nation of immigrants; our country is the greatest economic powerhouse to ever exist; the New York Stock Exchange is the epicenter of world finance. We operate and control the world’s most powerful military, or as I like to put it: the biggest boot to put up your ass ever made. To state it bluntly: We are a country that gets shit done and we do it big. It’s the American way.
These things should make all Americans incredibly proud—not just those on the left or the right—but every single American alive right now.
But underneath all of the greatness that is America, there are some serious issues that need to be addressed. And no, I’m not talking about birthright citizenship, or trans athletes, or any of the other myriad “culture war issues” that we are so consumed by. Of course, to some Americans, these are important issues and they are something they feel strongly about, so this is not to minimize their concerns or belittle them for their believes.
This is a call for us to set aside our minimal differences and for us to come together as Americans.
Now to be clear, I don’t care what anybody says, but America is already great. We don’t need people like Obama or Trump to tell us this—we’ve literally lived it. Our influence and power has held a stable world peace for decades, and together with our allies, we’ve championed and expanded democracy and human rights for millions of people around the world.
And while it’s true that America needs some TLC at home, tearing each other apart “to own the libs” or to “educate the dumbass Republicans” doesn’t make us cool or lit—it makes us all look like fucking idiots.
All this anger and division is pushing us towards all the worst possible choices. We are literally willing to hurt ourselves on purpose, so long as it means owning the other side. But let me ask you: When was the last time you stopped to think about the fact that the other side are also Americans?
In any other circumstance, like say in the military or during an emergency, would you also be so quick to friendly fire on your fellow American citizens?
We Have Some Work to Do
We can always strive to be better people—and we should strive for that—but that’s not what I mean by we have some work to do now. Our nation has been paralyzed for far too long and the list of to-do’s has grown stubbornly long.
We have hungry kids and homeless veterans who are being denied their hard-earned benefits; school teachers who are struggling to survive and yet willingly pay for more classroom materials out of their own pocket to teach your children; thousands of Americans going bankrupt in emergency rooms every year; entire generations of Americans locked out of home ownership.
Do you remember when we used to hear about the “savages” that would blow up schools during the 9/11 and war on terror era? What does it say about us now that children are being gunned down in our own schools right here in America? Have we become the savages?
Poignant questions aside, we can all see and feel that things aren’t working quite right, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Surely we will never agree on everything, and we will see things differently, but there are some things that we all definitely agree on.
We all want America to actually be number one. We all want our citizens to be taken care of and for everyone to have a shot at the full American dream. We all want the best schools; the best life expectancy; the best opportunities with decent, livable wages; we all want America to return to the shining city on a hill.
We can have this if Americans learn once more to cooperate and work together, like we did post-World War II, while also re-learning to compromise when needed so we can make an America that is great for all of us.
We need to get back to the ideals of individual freedom, where all Americans can choose their own path and make their own choices, without other Americans trying to take those freedoms away. If there’s anything less American than fighting against individual freedoms, then I have never seen it.
It’s a Start
America’s problems will not all be magically solved by simply coming together back to the same table. But one of the biggest problems we have on our to-do list is the fact that nobody is coming to the table at all to even begin to fix our problems. The only thing this has given us is a Government incapable of doing anything at all.
The best thing we can all do right now is to turn off the news and talk to each other. You’ll quickly discover that there are a lot of things we still do agree on—even in the year 2025.
Of course, in the end, the “culture war” issues will never really go away. But how about we first put out the house fire before we stand around inside and argue about the color of the walls.