I hate Canadian immigration, they come here to take all the comedy jobs
4 Likes
Great post. Lots of excellent points to consider before one judges another’s opinion.
Whether or not this is the greatest country ever could be a lively debate but facts are facts:
- lots of people want to come here in droves
- we have lots of room for improvement starting with the 20 or so state legislatures that are passing laws to negate the will of the people and making it harder for poor people to vote all in the name of eliminating (and does no such thing) near non-existent voter fraud.
I see the fear of high voter turnout as the same kind of reason for not wanting UH to join the Big XII. Some people are afraid they might lose on a level playing field. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
4 Likes
If the US is not the greatest country ever, who is? If you had a country you could live in, now or at anytime in the past, what would it be? I suspect when forced to list countries you would rather live in you will have a hard time naming any.
1 Like
There’s no legitimate reason to not make things better.
Romans, Persians, Egyptians and others thought they were the best too.
The will of the people should be accurately measured, appreciated and accepted. That notion seems to be slowly slipping away.
2 Likes
I’m kinda of fascinated by ancient greeks; European renaissance period around Italy ; Germany
1934 would probably interest some folks; Republic of Texas; Palestine 36 BC, and many more
1 Like
So you are saying there isn’t a better country to live in, we are competing against ourselves. I agree…
When you are competing against yourself there is still room for improvement. To that I agree.
Since the left is messaging challenged, permit me to help you out.
The United States, as great as it is, can and should improve. It is the pursuit of a MORE perfect union that has defined our greatness. In pursuit of the improvement of our greatness we propose (fill in the blank)…
As opposed to “you are a racist, he is a racist, she is a racist and all of the American institutions are racist", That tends not to work very well, it tends to divide people and it is categorically incorrect.
1 Like
Germany 1934? Seriously, umm no I wouldn’t recommend that if you were jewish. Italian city states? They were constantly going to war. Ancient Greeks, they had a bit of a problem with the citizen v non citizen thing. But if you want to throw Athens out there and say the United States is the greatest country since the ancient Athenians (3,000 years ago) ok.
Folks: says “X”
You: Why don’t they say “X”?! That’s much better messaging.
Folks: says “X” again…
You: ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Germany 1934???
Really???
Right after the Nazis took over???
Ancient Greece??? Not sure I’d want to be a Helot in Spartan society. It was legal to kill them once per year without penalty.
Why Palestine in 36 BCE??? Maybe closer to 30 ACE. You could have witnessed an amazing story which, if true, changed the whole course of human history!!
The Italian renaissance might have been interesting…but I’d hate to have been around when a wave of bubonic plague hit.
1 Like
It’s not a competition. It’s being the best we can be. There is room for improvement here regardless of what anyone else is doing or not doing.
I’m not going get into what “the left” is because whatever it is it’s not a monolith. Believe it or not, I’m not a communist just because I think a billionaire should pay a higher tax rate than someone who makes $300k and that I want my land, air, food and whatever to be uncontaminated.
1 Like
Ok lets assume the world is not fun fair positive soccer and that people make a decision on where to live based on what country is the best country to live in. I think its fair to say more people choose the US.
So if we all come at it from the standpoint of we are trying to improve the greatest country on the planet, I bet we all find some common ground.
1 Like
That’s exactly my standpoint.
What data supports this supposition? Or is this just knee jerk
yankee doodle, apple pie, flag hugging, and my dad can beat up your dad talk and
“feelings”.
In this poll , US comes in at #20. 
The 2021 Best Countries rankings, formed in partnership with BAV Group and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, are based on a study that surveyed more than 17,000 global citizens from four regions to assess perceptions of 78 countries on 76 different metrics. The Quality of Life subranking is based on an equally weighted average of scores from nine country attributes that relate to quality of life in a country: affordable, a good job market, economically stable, family friendly, income equality, politically stable, safe, well-developed public education system and well-developed public health system. The Quality of Life subranking score had a 13.88% weight in the overall Best Countries ranking.
Yeah, to live and see how a country that was wasted in WWI , and less than 30
years emerges as a power with a leader that may be the most evil person of the
20th century. Raving crowds and near worship. To see and hear that experience
would be high on my time travel list.
Ancient Greece??? Not sure I’d want to be a Helot in Spartan society. It was legal to kill them once per year without penalty.
Compare this to killing “savages” in early US history or Black Americans quality of life in 1800s ?
Not sure I’d like to be an Indian or Black American in that American society.
Why Palestine in 36 BCE??? Maybe closer to 30 ACE. You could have witnessed an amazing story which, if true, changed the whole course of human history!!
I think 6-4 BC in that little tottering town of Bethlehem, Palestine for the beginning and hanging
around for about 40 years.
1 Like
What country do you choose to live in?
At this point in time the US, I think. But I don’t consider myself well informed about ALL countries and opinion subject to change. Those 19 ahead of us in quality of life rankings would require significant study and extended visits. Lazy answer, the US.
For me it’s not a lazy answer it’s the correct answer (for me). Can we do better? Absolutely but I’d rather stay here and fix things than runoff somewhere where I don’t know anyone.
I still have family in Italy so I should probably never say never.
I had to renounce my Italian citizenship but that’s and story.
So a real Italian Italian ! Tell me the real story on those $1 homes in Italy
you hear about these days 
I find it fascinating to question my values and beliefs and how I acquired them and what
they are based on.
I couldn’t tell you but I learned if something looks too good to be true it probably is. 
2 Likes
I am an immigrant like many. I came to this country in the mid 80’s. I came in the Reagan era. My financial means meant JUCO first than U of H. In my first Economics class in JUCO I had an Iranian refugee that made or re-made his life in America. My class, myself included were privileged to have a TEACHER that could offer an entirely different perspective. I had another business class from a retired C.E.O. His personal experience was also “priceless” I transferred to U of H and then came my first political science class. Keep in mind that when I left France socialism was firmly entrenched. Banks nationalized and other manufacturing companies as well. I grew up in an apartment building with three brothers and one sister, My dad worked his tail off, my entire family is from Normandie where farming hard work is the norm. Even though I grew up outside of Paris hard work and the farming mantra about helping each other was instilled in me at a young age. To this day I do my best to teach my daughters or when I was Coaching my players the same “philosophy” about what life is all about. Hard work and enjoy the rewards. Here I am seating and listening to my “Professor” He starts talking about socialism. Goes on with the great benefits of socialism and how it works. Talks about France and other “great” European socialist countries. I am keeping my mouth shut. I am thinking he is probably trying to engage us for a discussion. That would be great right? To my dismay he starts ripping President Reagan and hammers us that the U.S.A. should transform itself into a socialist society. He goes on about the disinformation of the then U.S. media and the soviet union depiction. I raised my hand and with my strong French accent ask the teacher some precise and concise questions. At first I could tell he was rattled. He tried to answer, then I followed up with another set of questions. After the “second round” he clearly could not answer. My classmates looked at me with a funny look on their faces. Our teacher was not pleased. He got irritated. The semester you can imagine was quite entertaining. I learned a great lesson that semester. Don’t settle for what “people” tell you. Always question the so called “authority”
The Clarence Thomas lynching was especially life transforming for me. Here I am in a new country and I am watching an entire party go after an African American, an American because due to the color of his skin. Anita Hill never proved one 100th of what she try to portray, not ever. He is “supposed” to be a Democrat not a Republican the mainstream media keeps saying. I realized in those days that racism has many facets. Right or wrong this was a major wake up call. I spent one night in jail early on a Saturday morning leaving a night club. I was not drunk but the sheriff did not like my accent. It taught me a great lesson. Do not put yourself in arm’s way. It is never worth it. I had night classes and never felt threaten. I graduated and then moved out West to California. The networks always portray racism alive and thriving in the South. Man was I wrong. I never felt more threaten than in Compton. But why should I feel threatened I asked myself? You either adapt or you will never succeed in life. I quickly discovered that speaking Spanish in East L.A. helps you a bit. Remember about hard work and adapt? Fast forward to when President Obama came to power. I had hope that race would no longer be brought up. After all what an amazing lesson to the World. The first so called Western Power to elect an African American. France did not. England did not, Germany did not neither did Italy or Spain. Shortly after Mr. Obama came to power what did we witness? So called police killings were in fact the exact opposite of what the media portrayed. Just a few years earlier the police was revered. They were everybody’s heroes. A few years later they were called by “black lives matter” PIGS IN A BLANKET. The mainstream media stops at nothing if it can demolish an African American that happens to be Republican. But wait a minute Mr. Obama is President right? Yes he is indeed. Almost simultaneously left and right American history is attacked. Statues are destroyed, history is re-written to fit a narrative. How could this be? We just elected an African American to the highest position. Never and I never have felt more racism than today. We all expected the opposite. But why? How could this be?
Remember my political science teacher? We are finding ourselves in a society that is being forced to shame and to re-shape itself at the detriment of what the United States has been all about since its creation. No matter your skin color, religion, party affiliation you will always have a chance to succeed.
I read on this thread about the terrible times that our country has lived. Do you think for a minute that France, England, Germany, Italy, Cameroon, Angola, Australia, Russia all countries in the world had a “rosy” impeccable past? I have to call it what it is. This is pure ignorance on your part. This reminds me of my political science teacher talking about socialism without having lived and experienced it. Theories are theories. It does not make it true.
The last couple of days I attended an Hispanic conference. One of the speakers made an excellent point. Instead of feeling for yourself, your community, have the community interact with the school. That way the community is fully engaged. A single parent now is being supported by her community. Police officers come to meet teenagers, interact with them. Veterans share their stories about serving our country. The community creates a “community” garden to enhance THE community. Our public schools have horrendous results. Why do they? This is surely not for a lack of funding. The speaker came full circle with me. His clear message was about hard work, create your opportunities, keep yourself from arm’s way. Respect one another even though you might have a different point of view. Is this so hard to do this? Is this so hard to accept that America is not perfect and violence is the wrong answer? We all have a choice. Work hard and make YOUR OWN DESTINY. This has always been the American way. Why do you think people come from all continents, risk their lives, get raped, exploited by drug cartels to come to America? Do you still think that political science teacher got it right?
4 Likes