When was it ever Not Great ? We've had some bumps along the way with Racism, Wars, Ideology differences but when it comes down to it Whom else can even compare to the USA. Unlike many nations We have a cross section of every race, Creed and Color of the entire world. We have created most inventions and engineering marvels as well as the best transportation infrastructure system in the world. Our Healthcare system covers everybody, even those without coverage can get health care. Our banking system works well for those that don't try to steal from them and users accounts. Our Prison system is far more lenient than most countries. We even give radical liberals a voice to speak out Their beliefs. What is not so great ?

(11-16-2015 08:00 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  When was it ever Not Great ? We've had some bumps along the way with Racism, Wars, Ideology differences but when it comes down to it Whom else can even compare to the USA. Unlike many nations We have a cross section of every race, Creed and Color of the entire world. We have created most inventions and engineering marvels as well as the best transportation infrastructure system in the world. Our Healthcare system covers everybody, even those without coverage can get health care. Our banking system works well for those that don't try to steal from them and users accounts. Our Prison system is far more lenient than most countries. We even give radical liberals a voice to speak out Their beliefs. What is not so great ?

Agreed.

I suggest people who believe the contrary spend time living overseas. I am not talking about a summer spent studying abroad or back packing across Europe--- I mean actually living overseas for at least a year or more. Trust me, it will change your perception immensely.

Before answering this question, you must be able to delineate the difference between "great" and "perfect."

I can cite several periods of American greatness, but of course she had her problems as well.

It's an unfair question when you think about it, because it's dependent upon what you are defining greatness as, i.e. what's the end goal? If you are defining great as a place that is supposed to promote freedom for all citizens and the first place to deny a place to an aristocracy/nobility/royalty - then the USA has been great since its founding or when the Constitution was ratified. If you're defining greatness as the ability of a nation to expand its borders, conquer lands and secure natural resources for itself then the 1800s was the pinnacle of American greatness. If you want to define greatness as the ability of the US to be an economic power, then the 20th century. If greatness is the ability of the US to exert influence or become the most influential nation on the world stage then the 20th century since 1945. This doesn't even touch on inventions and contributions, although in these areas it's much more mingled because anyone can argue that work was based on prior people's work, etc. Bottom line is that this place has always been great.

I would say my first statement is what clinched it for the U.S., because all other accomplishments are linked to how the Constitution was the foundation upon which political and economic progress in our country. So I guess the U.S. was great circa 1787.

(11-15-2015 08:05 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  Is this for real?

God help us!

Hard to believe, isn't it?

(11-16-2015 02:52 AM)wmubroncopilot Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 11:32 PM)shere khan Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 09:12 PM)DexterDevil Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 09:07 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 09:03 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

Dexter?

that pretty much summed it up....

god bless 'em.....they're gonna need some serious help.....

Nah I ain't wear any tops, wear my regular tshirts for that, my pj pants are my regular weekend attire however, even when I drive into town however weird my work boots and pj pants look together.

You are a man thst wears pajamas. Is s this a northern thing?

Lounging in comfortable pants by a fire when it's 3 degrees outside (as it is now) is a good thing.

Now I wouldn't go with the cocoa. Beer or, if I have to have something warm, a spiked coffee. But I don't know whats wrong with the pajama pants.

Yeah screw the cocoa, give me some beer or Jim bean. Most my friends and family who are men all wear PJ pants and were of the group that hunts, hangs out around fires, goes to race tracks/football games.

Is the OP serious?

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(11-16-2015 08:52 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  Is the OP serious?

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Yes.

I'm asking for specifics because of how vague the concept is. I'd rather we set specific goals and look to the past for examples of when we've done the "impossible" before. This thread shows that people look at different things as evidence of greatness, all (most?) are wonderful examples of the type of country we are / can be.

Have we ever been a perfect country? No. Are we generally better than the rest? For the most part, though we have our weak spots.

So instead of saying we want America to be "great again" how about we set out some specific things we want to accomplish? I don't think that's too much to ask.

I still consider America great. I mean, people die trying to get to the US. Hard to think someone would risk that to come to someplace that sucked.

(11-17-2015 09:35 AM)VA49er Wrote:  I still consider America great. I mean, people die trying to get to the US. Hard to think someone would risk that to come to someplace that sucked.

Yessir.

America is great because we're free to question our country's greatness.

(11-15-2015 07:50 PM)Hitch Wrote:  If we're going to be "great again" I can't help but wonder when the previous high benchmark was?

The day Obama was elected. The seas stopped rising. enemies became friends. We ended all the wars we were involved in. We were the ones we had waited for.

The intellectual high water mark was probably Jefferson. The intellectual low water mark is probably right now.

The economic high water mark was probably under John F. Kennedy. The sole economic power not ravaged by war. Ike just did most of the work on the Interstate System. JFK slashed our 90%+ highest marginal tax brackets. Money poured in. Infrastructure exploded. Sadly this caused a baby boom. The economic low water mark was probably FDR.

The social high water mark is right now coming from, of all places, the courts. The social low water mark is probably Abraham Lincoln. A war to allegedly free the slaves ... but where that was not really achieved. A war that saw the Bill of Rights summarily shredded at Lincoln's whim. And Lincoln had quite a few nasty things to say about black people as well. Better to have the country peaceably dissolve than ferment centuries of conflict, aggression, and distrust.

So your answer depends most on what you're measuring. I'd say we were pretty good (and that doesn't mean ideal, it just means we are making measured progress rapidly in the right direction) under: Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Coolidge, JFK, and Ike.

In general, the country has a tendency to increase entropy. Things slide slowly in the wrong direction on all fronts except social (and if these college crybabies keep it up, I may have to reconsider there as well). But this slide is punctuated by administrations that rapidly send us further down the toilet. Obama. Dubya. LBJ. FDR. Woodrow Wilson. Abraham Lincoln. That is the anti-Rushmore. And one can't help but notice how so many of them (half) occurred recently enough for many if not most Americans to have lived through them. Presidents who fix things are FAR more rare. Presidents who don't just fix things but also INCREASE LIBERTY and DECREASE GOVERNMENT are rarer still (you'd be down to just Jefferson, Jackson, and Coolidge if that were the case.) Government only grows. That is almost an immutable law at this point. The last person to cut something large, powerful, and economically meaningful was Andrew Jackson killing the National Bank. That was over 150 years ago. I welcome suggestions if somebody has something more recent than that.

I thought this was pretty neat. Also, it's something that makes America great.

(11-15-2015 08:43 PM)WKUApollo Wrote:  Great and perfect are not synonymous terms. When people refer to times that we were great, that doesn't mean that everything was perfect. Only the ignorant would think as much. Then again, that's the trap liberals try to use against conservatives all the time. When conservatives mention our greatness in the past, liberals bring up random imperfections in the past. They just don't get it.

The greatness of this country is that it is built upon a system, constitutionally and culturally, in which imperfections can be resolved....i.e.....discrimination, slavery, poverty, etc.....well, at least until liberal policies are implemented that run counter to our principles of ingenuity, freedom, entrepreneurialism, and human dignity.

This, this and this!

This country was great when our presidents didn't tell us, "you didn't build that".

The 90's were pretty fvcking cool.

(11-20-2015 05:38 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  The 90's were pretty fvcking cool.

Ah, a Pearl Jam fan.