For some time now I have been trying to consider how I wanted to express my thoughts on this matter. There is no doubt this will likely attract comments from different individuals on different sides of the political isle. This however, is something that I have been thinking of for a very long time and I have a true deep heartfelt concern about. This is not meant to necisarilly be a political perspective but rather an expression of my personal concern for America, its people, and its future.

Yes, I am an American. What does that mean now? America no longer is viewed on the grounds of how it used to be many years ago. America now seems to be viewed by the world as now nothing special. Nothing "great" about it. America used to be known as a "great" nation. "Land of Opportunity" was one of its tag lines. "Land of the Free. Home of the Brave" was another. Now it seems its message has been severely muddled and tainted within political discourse, strife, and waring ideas about America's place in the world. Many years ago there was a sense of appreciation for America. Being an American was worn with pride. Now across the social world of internet forums, media, and social gatherings it seems being an American is something to be ashamed of. What has changed over the years many ask. Where did America lose its pride? What happened to the respect it seemed to once hold?

There are many answers to these questions. Much of it is seen within blame cast from each of the political sides. There is an ever growing discord within America that expands closer every day to the level it was before the American Civil War. It is the war of ideas. A war between what America should be. What should be its purpose. Yes, America is conflicted. Much has changed within the land of America since its founding. Some things good. Some things bad. America continues to be the most powerful nation on the earth in terms of Economy and Military. But it seems that is now becoming threatend. It wasn't just mere chance that America rose to its power. No, America rose to such power because of its people. Its Freedoms that gave every single man and woman the equal opportunity to obtain success. The opportunity to put sweat into their labor and recieve the benefits it brings. True the people of America have not always shared in equal opportunity within varrying race and gender, but eventually those have been working themselves out so that all have equal opportunity. It was the way America's foundation was laid out. It is what allowed unjust practices to become Just. No, America could not have become so powerful by chance. The purpose of America was for all people to experience Freedom and Liberty. Has America always been on the right side and treating all men equally? No. But through its founding, wrongs were able to be corrected and made right.

America may still be a powerful nation. But its foundation is cracked. Its people are cracked. divided. Clash on ideas of the nations framework and purpose. A nation of true freedom and liberty cannot be defined by its Government. These are within the nature of man...to be free. It seems as time goes on Americans war on class, race, ect. rich vs. poor. black vs white vs latino. Haves vs Have nots. Religious vs non-religious. men vs women. young vs old. Everywhere you look someone is arguing with another on American ideals. When the world sees a nation that argues with itself on so many occasions it muddles its own message.

There is however another growing problem. This problem already has begun in other nations. Namely some nations in Europe. It is the poison that has the ability to kill any democratic nation. It is the poison of entitlement. It is not the kind of entitlement that one can work to offer themselves. It is the entitlement mentality that individuals feel should be given to them. This ideal is now gripping America and furthering the damage upon the foundation of "freedom and liberty". When the people of a nation are continually given something, then why should they be motivated to earn it with thier own sweat and dedication. What made America a great nation was the freedom its people had to make success for themselves. The liberty they held apart from government. The average american realized if they did not work, they did not eat. Sweat equity is what earned them their success.

Take away a man's ability to have pain and harship. You take away the man's ability to risk it all. The more you do for a man to feed and clothe him, the less he has to work for himself. The greatest blunder that America has begun to make has been taking away pain and the risk of failure from the average american man and woman. It is now more important to protect the average american from pain and hardship than it is to enable him the ability to make himself a success. America has been losing its greatness because its people are losing the value of freedom and liberty. a growing number of americans feel that "if my needs can be provided, then I have no need for risk in the marketplace." Freedom is now commonly used as a political slogan. Freedom is now something shrugged off and laughed at, because its meaning has been muddled and distorted.

America is divided and will continue to divide as long as its people do not know the value of freedom and liberty. And as long as they continually lose self reliance and responsibility for themselves.

Yes, I do love my country that is why I do not want to see it fail. The value of freedom and liberty is something I hope for all people.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Now you may commence with your comments and thoughts ;)

I have to say that I am impressed. I was all set to roll my eyes at OP when I saw the title of the thread, but that was actually pretty good.

America was an exceptional nation at one point precisely because of the rights it afforded its citizens as a result of a limited government (which, as you said, lead to greater freedom than any country before America). This freedom allowed for an unprecedented level of success and creativity which lead to the creation of tremendous wealth and prosperity that benefited all Americans of all classes and backgrounds.

The cracks and flaws of America, however, were present from the start, but the tipping point came around 1915 starting with America's involvement in WWI. From that point on, America began to follow a path that strongly deviated away from limited government towards a stronger and much more centralized government. America hit its point of no return after the 60's with tremendous expansions in social programs and entitlements along with the complete abandonment of the gold standard (what was left of it at that point) which took away the only defense against inflation. Now America is a shadow of its former self that is in just as much danger of total economic ruin as Europe is. Its military remains as strong as ever, but that is not and was never what America was about. America was born out of a revolution, but America was never intended to be a nation of force and imperialism (in some ways it has become much like the empire it rebelled against). 

Really the ultimate lesson of America is that small government (minarchy) is not sustainable. American started as the smallest of possible governments. This allowed (like I said before) for the creation of a tremendous amount of wealth. With wealth comes criminals and people lacking ethics who want to confiscate that wealth. The smartest of these criminals found their way to government where they slowly but surely began to take that wealth through taxation. They did a superlative job at taking what never belonged to them, and they proceeded to borrow and borrow agains the tremendous success and working power of America all while bribing people for votes through social programs and entitlements that people never needed in the first place. Fast forward 200 years later and you have a nation on the verge of economic collapse being run by snakeoil salesmen who get elected by selling a worthless product (entitlements) that people never needed using the money of the electorate to fund their social programs. 

The American dream as it was originally conceived is gone, and in its place we have generations of children going to government schools, getting government jobs, all while receiving government benefits. Where as the dream had once been to work hard and to take risks it is now the desire of young Americans to conform and to live comfortable lives while doing as little work as possible.

So the lesson here is that small government does not work (it eventually transforms into big government) and neither does big government (plenty of examples aside from America that demonstrate this). The only way to reclaim the American Dream and to ensure that it persists is to go for a third option ... which libertarians have been talking about since the days of Spooner and Bastiat.