What do you think the US does well?

[Ban my account ffs!]

I think Americans have a healthy skepticism of authority. Unfortunately we have a need to be. But there are plenty of things that the US does right.

What are things you think the US does right?

Watch Doug Stanhope on the USA..an unabashed liberal who strongly defends America for certain ff things.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w7OlBdFIxbk

I love that... 'Sit at the bar and shes gonna hand you a huge breakfast menu because you know what we have in America for a big traditional breakfast...CHOICES...you want some eggs..we can do em ten different ways...

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

We hold fair elections, that's about it.

Everything else is anything but admirable. We are never in the top tier of any education-related statistics, we squander tons of money in our terrible conquest to police the world, our politicians always claim to want to cut spending but never actually do it because of some special interest group who is in love with said spending and/or because they're too worried about reelection, our debt has skyrocketed so much out of control that our credit rating was downgraded, our political leaders are perfectly content to argue endlessly rather than compromise and to let our entitlements go bankrupt rather than enacting sensible reforms, our labor participation rate sucks, wages are stagnant even as the cost of living goes up and up, we force state governments to allow abortion and gay marriage, and underemployment has been in double digits since 2008.

[dead0man]

Yeah, the haters are going to LOVE this thread.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Yeah, the haters are going to LOVE this thread.

Anyone who cant come up with something is mentally challenged.

[Beet]

The U.S. does a good job at innovating consumer goods (Beet types on his iPhone).

[Joe Republic]

We hold fair elections

  Compared to countries that just make up the official vote tallies, sure I guess.

[Ban my account ffs!]

We hold fair elections, that's about it.

Everything else is anything but admirable. We are never in the top tier of any education-related statistics, we squander tons of money in our terrible conquest to police the world, our politicians always claim to want to cut spending but never actually do it because of some special interest group who is in love with said spending and/or because they're too worried about reelection, our debt has skyrocketed so much out of control that our credit rating was downgraded, our political leaders are perfectly content to argue endlessly rather than compromise and to let our entitlements go bankrupt rather than enacting sensible reforms, our labor participation rate sucks, wages are stagnant even as the cost of living goes up and up, we force state governments to allow abortion and gay marriage, and underemployment has been in double digits since 2008.

Did you know that when Minnesota was compared to other nations in educational achievement, we were 3rd or 4th in the world behind I believe Taiwan, Singapore, and one other?

And that's without a complex mercantilist system like Germany or cram schools galore like many high achieving nations.

I believe we achieve this through a fairly and consistently funded school system with an emphasis on the how rather than the what.  But the real achievement is successfully teaching your students to demonstrate well how they came to their conclusion...even if it was wrong.

Learn how to learn and learn for a lifetime.  Learn what to learn and you'll be done before you know it!

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

We hold fair elections, that's about it.

Everything else is anything but admirable. We are never in the top tier of any education-related statistics, we squander tons of money in our terrible conquest to police the world, our politicians always claim to want to cut spending but never actually do it because of some special interest group who is in love with said spending and/or because they're too worried about reelection, our debt has skyrocketed so much out of control that our credit rating was downgraded, our political leaders are perfectly content to argue endlessly rather than compromise and to let our entitlements go bankrupt rather than enacting sensible reforms, our labor participation rate sucks, wages are stagnant even as the cost of living goes up and up, we force state governments to allow abortion and gay marriage, and underemployment has been in double digits since 2008.

Did you know that when Minnesota was compared to other nations in educational achievement, we were 3rd or 4th in the world behind I believe Taiwan, Singapore, and one other?

And that's without a complex mercantilist system like Germany or cram schools galore like many high achieving nations.

I believe we achieve this through a fairly and consistently funded school system with an emphasis on the how rather than the what.  But the real achievement is successfully teaching your students to demonstrate well how they came to their conclusion...even if it was wrong.

Learn how to learn and learn for a lifetime.  Learn what to learn and you'll be done before you know it!

The question was about the country as a whole, not one specific state. So, I'm basing my response on the condition of the country as a whole. Ask me "What do you think MN does well?" and my response would change drastically. But the question concerned the country as a whole, so I based my response on national statistics/actions and federal politicians.

We hold fair elections

  Compared to countries that just make up the official vote tallies, sure I guess.

Allowing the rich to donate large sums of money for attack ads /=/ frauding the vote.

All you need to have a fair election is authentic vote totals that were counted correctly and reflect the people's opinion as shown at the ballot box. You can argue that things like big money make the election less than ideal, but it does not destroy the "fair and free" elections status of U.S. elections, because the people are still allowed to make the final decision, and the vote reflects the people's opinion, not that of the current government who wants to stay in power for eternity.

[Joe Republic]

We hold fair elections

  Compared to countries that just make up the official vote tallies, sure I guess.

Allowing the rich to donate large sums of money for attack ads /=/ frauding the vote.

All you need to have a fair election is authentic vote totals that were counted correctly and reflect the people's opinion as shown at the ballot box. You can argue that things like big money make the election less than ideal, but it does not destroy the "fair and free" elections status of U.S. elections, because the people are still allowed to make the final decision, and the vote reflects the people's opinion, not that of the current government who wants to stay in power for eternity.

Buying elections?  That's the only counter-argument to your point you could possibly think of?

[traininthedistance]

I've said it before, I'll say it again:



We haven't always done it as well as we should.  But we have done it better than anyone else.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

We hold fair elections

  Compared to countries that just make up the official vote tallies, sure I guess.

Allowing the rich to donate large sums of money for attack ads /=/ frauding the vote.

All you need to have a fair election is authentic vote totals that were counted correctly and reflect the people's opinion as shown at the ballot box. You can argue that things like big money make the election less than ideal, but it does not destroy the "fair and free" elections status of U.S. elections, because the people are still allowed to make the final decision, and the vote reflects the people's opinion, not that of the current government who wants to stay in power for eternity.

Buying elections?  That's the only counter-argument to your point you could possibly think of?

Well, there's other things, but:

Gerrymandering? Only applies to the U.S. house, and it's not like the dems would have the house majority right now if gerrymandering didn't exist, republicans won the national house vote 51-45% last year.

Electoral College Problems? Only applies to the presidency.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I think that animation is one thing.  Besides that, America is good at producing manufactures, at building skyscrapers.  Its also good at making its influence felt around the world (I say this from a neutral perspective).

[Ebowed]

Buying elections?  That's the only counter-argument to your point you could possibly think of?

Well, there's other things, but:

Gerrymandering? Only applies to the U.S. house, and it's not like the dems would have the house majority right now if gerrymandering didn't exist, republicans won the national house vote 51-45% last year.

Electoral College Problems? Only applies to the presidency.

Have you heard of problems with electronic voting?  It's not like the fact that hundreds of votes go missing in elections on a frequent enough basis is some kind of conspiracy.

Also, by bringing up that the Republicans won the national House vote in 2014, how do you explain 2012?  It's not like the popular vote is even the only problem with gerrymandering in the first place.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

we make okay movies and our music scene isn't bad

[SWE]

We hold fair elections

  Compared to countries that just make up the official vote tallies, sure I guess.

Allowing the rich to donate large sums of money for attack ads /=/ frauding the vote.

All you need to have a fair election is authentic vote totals that were counted correctly and reflect the people's opinion as shown at the ballot box. You can argue that things like big money make the election less than ideal, but it does not destroy the "fair and free" elections status of U.S. elections, because the people are still allowed to make the final decision, and the vote reflects the people's opinion, not that of the current government who wants to stay in power for eternity.

Buying elections?  That's the only counter-argument to your point you could possibly think of?

Well, there's other things, but:

Gerrymandering? Only applies to the U.S. house, and it's not like the dems would have the house majority right now if gerrymandering didn't exist, republicans won the national house vote 51-45% last year.

Electoral College Problems? Only applies to the presidency.

The presidency and House are two pretty major things...

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's amazingly diverse (and has been relatively welcoming toward that diversity - see Train's post) and seems to have an everlasting capacity to move forward and reinvent itself. It also has a healthy dose of pragmatism, and an impetus to "just do it" instead of agonizing at length over everything. These are three qualities that Europe badly lacks, with tragic consequences.

[checkers]

Being the home of the blues (and thus most modern forms of popular music) is a pretty big achievement.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

The Bill of Rights
Good actors
Good music (though there is also a lot of bad music)

[Hash]

The US holds free elections, but it's clear to anybody who knows even a tiny bit about elections in other democracies that the US' electoral administration, management and laws are pathetic.

[politicus]

Prevents dictatorships from dominating the world.

Has the best universities in the world and is the leader in scientific development in a very wide range of areas.

Makes some of the best craft beers in the world.

Leads the tech revolution.

Got the best jazz musicians and one of the world's top ballets.

Makes some of the best craft beers in the world.

Despite not being a big Hollywood fan - makes great movies (many of them independent).

Americans are generally good at being creative, innovative and applying knowledge.

Makes some of the best craft beers in the world (because good things can never be mentioned enough times).

Plenty of other stuff, but this is top of my head.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Some of this stuff can be framed any way you want it to be.  For example, should we be penalized because we encourage everyone to go to school and in fact offer free education until college, which causes our cumulative test scores to be worse than some countries who separate university and trade school kids at an early age?  I don't think so.  We'd have comparable scores if we only tested our top students, too.

As the awesome post above mind illustrates, it's the intangible things that makes America great.  Our spirit of innovation, our perseverance, our creativity, etc.  Whenever you have a diverse country of over 300 million, you're going to have poor/fat/uneducated/*insert undesirable trait here* pockets that drag down the average ... but the "best" of America can compete with the best of any nation on Earth; it has been that way for a long time, and it likely will be for a long time.

[TNF]

1. Civil libertarianism. What other country allows anywhere near the amount of 'offensive', 'profane', 'blasphemous', or 'pornographic' content to regularly be published and widely accessible? What other country doesn't lock you up for saying the wrong words or thinking the wrong thoughts (mostly looking at European social democracies here, what with your 'hate speech' laws and all)? What other country has the kind of sustained, civil libertarian ethos that the United States has had since perhaps its foundation? I love the fact that in America there are organizations and people that will go to bat for you on any perceived slight of your rights. America is truly unique in this aspect, as its always been kind of the loud, irreverent stepchild of bourgeois civilization.

2. Gun culture. Again, no one comes close to the U.S. in this regard. We have the freest access to arms of any developed nation on Earth and, despite a large minority of pearl-clutting ninnies that want that to be done away with, that isn't changing anytime soon.

3. Technology.

4. Immigration. While we occasionally get this wrong (the 1920s-60s), we have, more or less, a much more rational and sustainable immigration system than do our European cousins. And beyond that, immigrants, while exposed to some fairly nasty rhetorical abuse from our resident lunatic right, don't have nearly as hard a time here as they do in the homogenous, race-conscious European states across the pond.

5. Culture. Jazz, rock and roll, Hollywood, television, etc.

[H. Ross Peron]

Assimilation of immigrants is definitely something America is better at compared to most European countries as well as racial attitudes in general. In particular anti-Semitism is far weaker among Americans than Europeans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=http://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/05/racial-tolerance-map-hk-fix.jpg&w=1484

[TDAS04]

The US recovers from disaster beautifully.  We were fairly weak when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and we then rose to become the world's most powerful country in just a few years.

[Antonio the Sixth]

1. Civil libertarianism. What other country allows anywhere near the amount of 'offensive', 'profane', 'blasphemous', or 'pornographic' content to regularly be published and widely accessible? What other country doesn't lock you up for saying the wrong words or thinking the wrong thoughts (mostly looking at European social democracies here, what with your 'hate speech' laws and all)? What other country has the kind of sustained, civil libertarian ethos that the United States has had since perhaps its foundation? I love the fact that in America there are organizations and people that will go to bat for you on any perceived slight of your rights. America is truly unique in this aspect, as its always been kind of the loud, irreverent stepchild of bourgeois civilization.

Meanwhile, European televisions can show nipples and use curse words.