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Originally Posted by KA24DESOneThree
Your people fight against abortion, rattle sabers for military involvement, cheer when multinational corporations move manufacturing overseas, ask for extensions of the USA-PATRIOT Act, refuse to acknowledge institutional racism, refuse to see that we have more people in prison than anywhere else on Earth, refuse to see that our systems are broken.
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You're talking about the extreme right on some of that dude. Anyone could come right back about how rediculous the far left are. The abortion argument is pointless to argue because generally (afaik) it's tied to people's religion. Threatening of military involvement? Sure. You're forgetting the part though where Trump has actually pulled troops out of the middle east, and hasn't started a war..
Cheering for manufacturing over seas? I guess you also forgot when Trump gave corporations a one time tax cut (chance) to bring assets back into the United States. The tariffs on China are killing two birds with one stone. One of the birds being to incentivise manufacturing in the US to not pay a huge tariff. Obviously there's a shit ton of goods still imported, but you cant blame that on the right. That's a supply/demand problem where the consumer (left/right/center) is still willing to pay. I don't like the idea of anyone in my personal shit either, but the Patriot Act has stopped plots of terrorism. Please explain to me what policies we have that are institutionally racist? We do have a massive prison population. Half a million are drug related offenses which most other countries are much more laxed than the US.
Systems being broken? Maybe some. It's definitely not perfect. No system is. At least in this one you have rights and freedoms. [emoji2371]
Quote:
Originally Posted by KA24DESOneThree
We're not ranked first in any scale of wealthiness per capita (3rd place in the world according to Credit Suisse- however over 20 million Americans belong to the bottom quintile of global wealth!), healthiness per capita (we're 35th according to Bloomberg's Healthiest Country Index), education per capita (by UN education index we're 8th, by education level we're 4th) or happiness per capita (we're 19th according to the UN).
Maybe the reason why more people don't fly our flag high is because nationalism has always been the crutch of the stupid and ill-informed, the bullies and tyrants. Patriotism =/= nationalism, and nationalism =/= patriotism. Nationalism is, by definition, xenophobic. It creates and breeds an unwillingness to want to make one's country better by espousing and entrenching the idea that one's country is already the greatest.
Those of us who love this country but don't need to show it aren't somehow less than. We're equal to and often greater than. The difference between conservative and progressive isn't right and wrong, it's that one side wants to stay stalwart and the other wants to move forward. We are in a moving world, and we've royally fucked up some aspects of our society. We must not stand idly by while the world continues to pass us, but rather step forward into the role we think the country we love deserves. We will make a better country for all Americans by being willing to change.
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I agree with some of this. You want to say that 20 million Americans are in the bottom of global wealth. I want to say personnel choices have a lot of influence on it. Sure not every situation is the same. However, when I see someone that has a brand new iphone/air pods with their kid in line to get food, then pull out an EBT card (for non Californians it's our state assistance money on a debit card) to pay... That's a fucking problem, and one that I see a LOT. This is where I agree on some of our systems being broken. Our health is because we have this thing called the American diet. When you can go to McDonald's and get enough food to feed 4 people for like 20$ and not have to prepare/clean up anything, it's also going to be a problem. Our education system is rediculous. There's so much you need to learn for the real world that you don't get from schooling. Our higher education is stupid too in regard to loans for it. Patriotism and nationalism differ in the want for power, yes, but saying that you're "greater" than some others that parade our flag is kind of rediculous. When It's okay to fly a BLM flag, but not our nation's? That's bullshit. Also, your progressive vs conservative statement.. You said it's not a right vs wrong, then immediately contradict yourself saying one is stalwart and the other wants to improve/move forward. Conservative views don't mean there isn't room for change/improvement, it's just not the exact change you're thinking of.
//Fuck that was a lot to unpack.
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