We are trying our hardest not to fuck it all up.

you are right, but we could fix it easyly, just hit the eastern europeans(eastern germans included) in the face with the military, hungary and poland should be ruled from viena and berlin, history teaches us that under austrian/prussian rule those countrys boom, if they govern themself, well not so much.

and the national anthem would be better...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8llhDc6c5ko

I like living here. It has it's good and bad bits, just like every other country.

I would like to visit and probably move to another city though. I live in a border town with Mexico, and thus... We're very influenced by their culture. Thus, as a classical musician or pop artist, we don't have much choices but teaching and/or joining the amazing but overlooked and mostly ignored by local citizens, philharmonic orchestra. Its all "Mariachi" here, I'm not a Mariachi musician.

Years ago met someone who immigrated from South Africa and they said they anticipated shoot outs and robberies would be common due to mix of news and film portrayal of the US.  It took him 6 months of nothing happening around him or anyone he met to realize it is actually a pretty boring place.

I am not dismissing the issues we have, but I find people within a any country tend to contextualize statistics with personal experiences.  

Great country. Amazing culture. Irreplacable contributions to humanity and science.
I can't imagine how life had been in my country without all the media that's imported from the US.

It is, however since the 80's a broken democracy, and a destabilizing player in world politics. Money is such a power factor that politicians vote against the popular opinion of their people over 90%. And that has basically warped the political spectrum to such a degree that you have what would be a pretty right wing european liberalist party going up against a downright facist ultra liberal theocracy party.

I don't mind when the US intervenes in world politics. I think Bill Clinton saved many lives in Kosovo. But because of the industries profiting from war and more war, you end up with more intentionally incompetent wars like Vietnam and Iraq than good ones. And that's really scary.

I think the american people mean well, but doesn't understand the death and destruction that happens in the world every time they vote a Dick Cheney into office.

I will say, as a Canadian that's travelled all throughout the US and Canada, that there are a lot of misconceptions people have about the US. I think nationalist identity really causes this friction. For example, driving through minnesota and stopping in Minneapolis, I never had more friendly encounters with people in my life. From just walking down the street and having people acknowledge you with a smile and a "hi", to going to a bar and ending up meeting three people and having drinks with them all night. Sure, there are certain places where you'll encounter ruder people, but those are generally in the high population areas like New York or Los Angeles. In places like that, theres so much going on, and so many people, that people don't have the time for much other than what's going on in their own life. (Will say partying in NYC is way better than partying in LA though)

Aside from that, a lot of people in Canada hate Toronto for the same reason, but from my experience living in Toronto, compared to the other cities I've lived in, it's a super nice place to live. People just tend to hate on what they've never experienced, and/or when they do go, they keep a closed mindset and it hampers their experience.

Now, in the house that I live, I've had many ex-pat roommates who have come from all over Europe to live in Toronto for 6 months at a time. Out of all the French people (4 to be exact), only one of them was super open minded and embraced North American culture. The one I'm stuck with now just hates on anything American, and usually it's in stark contradiction with anything factual. For example, she thinks Americans are all fat, cancer filled, and eat terribly... yet France has a higher cancer rate than the United States does. Or watching Narcos, she laughed at scenes like "this doesn't happen in real life, stupid american shows." I then proceed to show her documentaries on the cartels of South America and Mexico, and she realizes she's an idiot.

So I guess in conclusion, I will say one thing, for all the bad shit the United States government and it's corporations do in the world, there is an equal level of good that has been done to the world through American influence. I guess what I'm trying to say is, as much as I dislike the American government (despite Obama being pretty dope compared to any of the presidents in recent history), I wouldn't want to live next to any other country in this world.

Most Europeans I encounter have a strange romanticism with their country, and it's pretty annoying to deal with. "What is this wine? This wine is shit. French wine is much better."
"What is this music? This music is shit."
"I do not understand why you guys do this, this is stupid."

Blah blah blah. European Elitism is a real thing, and it's the worst. It's like having someone come over to your house and they say "I don't like the way you decorated your place, my place is better." EVERYDAY. WITH EVERY SINGLE THING.

...maybe I've just had bad luck, but I'd rather joke with a yank and make fun of them, and have them make fun of me, than have a French person act like they're better, and then get pissy when I critique something about their culture.

My apologies. You are correct. I was looking at a different, and obviously inaccurate, source which put the figure at below 30%.  My post should have dated ' the majority'.

I like america but i hate their behavior to start wars and kill mostly innocent people

That is quite ironic considering the actual violent crime rates of South Africa vs. the U.S (as a whole) and even more pronouncly the regional variation in crime. It makes me wonder how exactly the media in various countries portrays daily life here.

I like living here, but pot should be legalized by the feds, and big business needs to quit ruining my homeland.