Ask500

Not worthy of reply.

And you are wrong about my gender, too.

Not jealousy, education.

I don't hate the USA at all. Far from it. Unfortunately some of the people who frequent this website are against free speech and hate it when anyone's opinion differs from their own.

financial health most of the world would kill for, is not the dollar on an all time low and your economy is on a level not seen since the great depression?

So, did you know who said it? Just checking.

Well said, Cseng. The TRUE problem is that very little information outside of America ever really gets to Americans. We are told, again and again by George Bush (and his pals) that America is 'perfect.' We need no thoughts, ideas or opinions other than our own. Now, most of us know this is not true. But many, many people believe this propaganda. They have been told that to disagree with the government is to be unpatriotic and to hate America.

The problems we have in this country are many. And our government has appealed to Americans sense of greed and fear to get us to this point in our history.

In response to your list above:

1.) Education and advancement has declined in this country due to greed. Ronald Reagan cut our taxes to make people happy. Since less money was coming into the government, the government cut funding to the schools. Our students have less resources to learn then they had 20 and 30 years ago. So we have fallen behind. It is the greedy Americans who are happy with this. They have more money now. Now that our schools are doing poorly, they blame the teachers instead of the fact that the students don't get updated books.

2.) The majority of us are not divided into any type of clan or race. Most all of us consider ourselves American first. We like our different heritages, and have many holidays for each culture. And virtually everyone joins in during every other culture's celebrations. Many new immigrants are coming into this country, but that is what America is all about. People rarely like anything 'new' when it first happens, but once they understand it, they love it. Americans are no different. Right now we are going through a time to adapt to a new culture that is joining America: Mexico. But I personally have ancestors from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Luxembourg. That is what makes me an American.

3.) This is a half day conversation. I'll try to talk about it below.

5.)As to the access of firearms - I'm sure much of what you hear is not completely true. It is very shocking to have so many people killed by guns. But three times as many people in America are killed by hands and feet than are killed by guns. People being murdered is always bad, but somehow a murder is more shocking when it's done with a gun - so people talk about gun violence more then they do hands and feet. Talking about violence is part of what they do to keep us in fear. Fear of each other, fear of strangers and fear of what may happen at any moment in our lives because we live in a free country. But bad things happen to people in every country every day. I can tell you I have never, ever feared walking down the street in my city.

6.) Yes, we are full of many cultures that have very old fights. But if an English American is arguing with a German American, and someone from another country punches the German in the nose, I have a feeling the English American is going to punch the non-American.

As to 3.):

Although the oceans that separate us from the rest of the world have been blessing at many times, these same oceans truly KEEP most Americans from ever meeting people from other countries and other cultures. It is very easy lie and instill fear of things into people when they have very little contact with the outside world. They show it to us on TV, but they are very careful of what they allow through.

Yes, we have freedom of the press, but corporations have taken over the media and have often have the final say in what information is allowed to be given. The law USED to demand that many different people own the media. Bush's appointees changed the law. When reporters report on the corruption of the government, the government uses laws to jail these reporters until they tell them where they got the information. The Bush administration does not ADMIT they've done wrong, they say the people who TOLD they broke the law are the lawbreakers. They say the information they did wrong was "classified" - therefore the reporters are guilty of revealing classified information.

We have a very bad and uphill battle in America to regain our OWN freedom. And we're having to fight Americans to do it. It doesn't matter what truth you tell them, they believe what the government says. They are very foolish people.

If America can find her way out from under this current wave we have to take away our freedoms, democracy will always work. But those who wish to take away our freedoms have found the most effective way to remove them is with fear. They tell us to fear other countries, other cultures and new ideas. And I would guess, since they talk so much about the bad in this country in other countries, many governments who do not WANT to have democratic societies will use the worst parts of America to instill fear of democracy in their citizens. I wish us both luck. Not every society can be happy with a democratic government. Good and bad come with every form of government. But America will never truly be herself without freedom and democracy.

Comment deleted because it contains the answer to my next question.