Comments about ‘Love of country seems to divide Americans today’

TRUE Love of country don't divide TRUE Americans today.

"Every year, the Fourth of July holiday provides Americans with an opportunity to celebrate the birth of our nation and give thanks to our founding fathers who boldly proclaimed our independence. In this great nation, we are truly blessed with freedoms and opportunities unlike any other country in the world. However, this would not be possible without the sacrifices made by the brave soldiers who have served our country throughout its history, many of whom paid the ultimate price. We owe a debt of gratitude to all servicemen and women, whether they stood strong against tyranny to establish our independence over 200 years ago or are continuing to defend our freedom today. I hope all Floridians enjoy celebrating with friends and family today, and wish everyone a happy Independence Day!"

Extremism on either side of the spectrum is the divide of our country. Hurtful rhetoric and actions belie the fact that we are a moderate nation.

Chuck says, "TRUE Love of country don't divide TRUE Americans today."

But for too many of us, whether or not you are TRUE depends on whether or not you agree with them or not.

"By wide margins compared with Europeans, Americans believe that "success in life" is determined by individual effort and not by outside forces." This used to be true, but unfortunately is no longer. Most European countries actually have better rates of social mobility than the U.S. does. Rick Santorum, to his credit, often pointed this our during the campaign. It is ironic that Europeans seem to don't believe this as much, even though they are now better at it.

I work with Europeans daily.... and one of their criticisms of Americans is that we are far more materialistic. That having a big house, the right car, the latest gadget is far more important to our ability to achieve "happiness" than it is to them - speaking in generalizations of course. We tend to measure success in how much money you have - and it is reflected in how we prioritize many aspects of our lives.

Europeans aren't better or worse than us. they have many of the same positive qualities as well as vices as we do. But there is a big difference in how we view and weight self versus community needs. Example, Utah freely raises its historical elements in order to make way for progress. Had Europe taken this approach, its historical cities and villages would not exist today and there is no economical math model that would justify preserving these century old buildings. But europeans value their history more than they value rent per square foot in these cases.

Just different - not right - not wrong - just different.