What is an American?

What does America owe the rest of the world?

Well, for starters, it owes at least some of the world many trillions of borrowed dollars.

America long has extended a helping hand to many others in the world.

We can't do everything.

But I hope we always maintain that helping hand attitude.

Far from "amorphous" I believe our enemies are quite defined: people who pray 5 times a day to a religion that condones killing us as "infidels" or "pagans" seems clear to me. A religion that condones and encourages its believers to lie to the infidels as much as it takes to infiltrate and ultimately destroy their/our society is clearly an enemy. Their war on us includes destroying us from within and "by our own hands" such as voting for the wrong people and laws.

The war on the West, the war on America, the war on our Judeo-Christian society by multi insidious means is still a war.

Only the very naive will talk about encouraging these people with open arms, and understanding! An American will see the duplicity and stand up for our traditions and values, for hard work to earn one's living, for pride in doing a good job, for less government interference-rules-spending, and for adhering to our US Constitution. A real American knows that keeping the rights of free men may involve seeing the enemy for the liar or disguised do-gooder that he is.

Well said lotlot. Mooseloop, I have dear friends who are muslim and that is NOT what my friends believe.  It is like classifying all Christians as bigots who burn crosses on the lawns of anyone they don't like and string up people because of the color of their skin and kill anyone who won't convert.  Those are all things that have been done and are still sometimes done by people who call themselves Christian. Those bad apples don't define all followers of Christ, or even most, just a tiny few...those tiny few are in every group known to man, wether it is a religion, profession, political party, or quilting circle.  Blanket generalizations promote fear and hate and don't solve anything.  The KKK and the Spanish Inquisition do not represent me or my beliefs, any more than extreme jihadist waging an unrighteous war define my peaceful and loving muslim friends and neighbors and their beliefs.  Conflict is inevitable, it seems like there will always be a war somewhere, and I hope that there are always just and brave men and women who step up to intervene.  But my biggest hope is that some day there won't be a need for them to have to volunteer, and that I'll be there to see it.

As long as there are bombs and guns instead of peace talks and rebuilding, there will be collateral damage.  As long as there is collateral damage there will be retribution.  As long as there is retribution there will be fear, bitterness, ignorance, and hate.   I saw how peace could work with my own eyes, how I could walk down a street in belfast with my friends and not be afraid. 2 years earlier people wouldn't go out after dark and they wouldn't walk down certain streets EVER because that was enemy territory.   I say we need more peace negotiators like George Mitchell.

We faced the enemy, We survived, Let's eat.     How many festival/holidays are just that?  We, all of US (visual pun intended)owe the world the liberty we enjoy,have fought and died for,asking nothing more than the continuation of that liberty....

So as long as we are sending service men and women to fight for the freedoms of others, let's send skilled peacemakers as well. For those in conflict every single person in that country makes a difference.  I've always loved this quote by Monica McWilliams after the GFA "I came home to my two young boys who wanted to know what all the excitement was about. 'Did this now mean there would be no murders,' they asked. 'Would the riots they witnessed every summer now stop?' Tired as I was, I had to explain to them that the agreement would not spell the end of sectarian hatred and, like them, it would probably need a lot of nurturing."  She stood up for peace, and she planted the seeds of understanding and peace in her sons with a healthy dose of reality.  No hippy easy way out "make love, not war" slogans, just hope and hard work by ordinary people to give peace a chance.

Seriously what is the trick to formatting paragraphs here?  I had hard breaks in all of those.  *sigh* guess it is time for bed.

ever notice how the enemy du jour wears a 'funny hat'?

Yeah, RY~ like Americans wear baseball hats sideways or backwards.
The English, Welsh and Scots also send young men and women into harm's way. Some of them come home in body bags. 'Fighting for freedom' is not the exclusive task of Americans. It is food for thought 'tho where the powers that be elect to wage wars, dispense aid and attempt to influence the politics and culture of far away countries. As lotlot mentioned ~ blessed be the peacemakers.

I have a problem with the peace and harmony theme by Muslims when they choose as a site for a mosque, shouting distance of the Twin Towers.  Or, as is happening in Baltimore, in the midst of a community that is primarily Jewish with Synagogues on every corner.  It's difficult for me to accept that this is done in the spirit of peace and harmony.  It appears, and probably is, a thumb to their nose using our very freedoms against us. <Aside to Nachista -- it seems that the only time I'm able to format at all is on the iPad, otherwise, it just won't do it....as you say *sigh*.> 

American is an Ideal. Not a Place. America lives inside of me, a human born to be free strengthened by millions of like minded freedom lovers with guts and gumption and big dreams & whose kindness should not be take for a weakness. Our future wars will be fought against cyber terrorists and criminals who will attempt to disrupt our energy grids and our financial markets. Identity theft is akin to kidnapping. We need to quit the infighting and find a new sheriff like Gary Cooper who says less and does more. Harry Truman and Ike where are ye?

N-When I use IE as my browser I have problems. When I use Firefox or any Apple Product, no problem. The IE seems to also be the problem for Multiple posting since the first click is not always acknowledged. (iPhone post)

Tommy ~  Yes -- Harry Truman and Ike -- where are you?   So many thought-provoking comments, so many great ideas.

When a double agent is on the news, are they compromised? Makes me wanna holler. This is nuts. What part of covert do they not understand or secret mission do they not understand? Navy Seals, ex-CIA, Secret Service Agents need to keep off the news networks. Some stories don't need to be told. It defeats the purpose.

Hazel, thank you for the perspective!  You are right, intervention and and are not purely American traits and we should all think more about being better global citizens.

We live in troubled times. Germany was a Western civilized country in the 1930's, but the stresses brought about by the punitive restrictions placed upon them after WWI eventually helped cause severe recession, unemployment, and lack of opportunity. They looked the other way when strongman Hitler proposed simplistic solutions that jump-started their economy when the they began to secretly build up their army, air force, and navy. Lost in the shuffle was political and personal freedom, respect for diversity, and their dignity as human beings. Now we see red flags in our own country, and in the rest of the world. Once again we seem to ignore the lessons of history. I've seen a lot and don't consider myself to be an alarmist or one who flees from hard choices in tne face of seemingly overwhelming odds. Now before us are our greatest challenges, yet there is only an opaque picture of the vision of what our direction needs to be. Where is Abraham Lincoln when we really need him? A rhetorical yet acutely relevant question.....

The first duty of a state should be self-interest and self-protection. Insofar as those concepts extend to allies and enemies abroad, caution should be used in the commitment of resources to conflicts that are either unwinable (Vietnam) or so complicated in terms of sectarian and tribal animosities that victory is impossible to define and, at best, temporary.
A practical solution to Islamic terrorism would be to place large nuclear devices at or very near Mecca and Medina thereby encouraging muslims to police their own populations… or else.

Martyr; someone who is unafraid to die,for renouncing threats against his religion....nuke-you-ler weapons would do little to change the funda-mental-ists that read into a religion that anyone not of that religion should be killed....now this is only my take on the issue,not based on any great study,so it is indeed arguable. But I witness such a schism within their own  practice of their beliefs,that I can't predict a solution. I don't think a simple answer, like "nuke-'em" would work. But I confess to not having any good answer....

Mooseloop -- I'm with you all the way.  Nachista, just try living life as a woman under Muslim rule -- you can kiss your all around freedom good-bye.  We need to take back Detroit before it goes under sharia law.

 Reading everyone's fine words, I'm at a loss to add.
 
 On CNN, tune in 9pm EST for Piers Morgan (and various guests), the heart of whose hour-long program is "Keeping America Great." Himself a Brit, he knows more about us, our history, and our country than the average American, and genuinely seeks ways to "keep...great."

It's usually the women that suffer.   I acknowledge the fact that Christianity is probably the most pro-woman organized religions, but look what the god-fearing right faction of one of our political parties is doing now.  It's not only the Muslims that make it hard for women.

I'm feeling a headache coming on: first we are treated to sympathetic look at the causes of WWII and blamed for having failed to learn from history.
That conveniently overlooks the Berlin airlift, the Marshall Plan and much more that all prove we did.
Then, the religious right is obliquely compared to the Taliban for objecting to being forced to pay for free healthcare (read birth-control and abortions) for women.
Since when did freedom start to mean a right to services paid for not only by someone else but by someone else entitled, on religious grounds, to object?
Small wonder that we are broke… and broken.

RY ~
You are right, oops, make that correct, as far as you went.
My point was that training grounds, financial support structures, recruitment and, most importantly, the notion of glory in martyrdom could be stamped out aborning on the local level with sufficient incentive.
It is instilled. It could be un-instilled.

Ouch!

I guess we shouldn't have any government services anymore. Why have pubic schools, police, roads? No shared responsibility, because, heaven forbid that someone doesn't pull their own weight. I don't have children, so why do I help pay for public schooling?  Let's privatize everything. Let the cities rot. Sorry, I just had an EMG today and my muscles ache.

Many years ago, when the USSR first broke up some of the struggling small countrys like Bosnia ask the US to help them set up a government.  A team of five people were sent over to discuss the "American form of Democracy."   Because of the great cultural differences that existed, even those dating back hundreds of years, the team of Americans, one of whom was fluent in the native language of the country and there was an interpeter, found they were not communicating.  The Europeans did not understand the concepts.  REmember most of the ideas that stirred the fouders of this country came from such writers as Locke and Sidney.
 
If this country plans to import our way of life to every country in which we intervene we need to have our swelled head examined.  To try to eliminate tyrany is one thing.  To send our forces into a fight such a where we hope to establish OUR form of government is sometimes futile.  To let the Taliban know we will not bow or accept an attack is necessary. 

To all those at home and abroad who serve in the armed services I send my prayers, thanks, and deepest respect. 

I watched, years ago, a full screen video of the execution, one by one of a long row of black-clad, hooded figures in a  crowded Kabul stadium.
Their hands tied behind their backs, the fabric of the hoods reacted to their gasping.
A Taliban executioner drew applause by smashing one of the figures in the face with his rifle butt… the preservation of facial features was evidently not a concern because they were all, to roaring approval shot, in the back of the head which would have pretty much obliterated their faces anyway.
They were all, everyone of them, the daughter, perhaps sister or mother of someone and not a one of them had committed anything that would have been recognized as a crime in most of the world.
I call that being hard on women.
A country with women's right and women's health care which places their concerns over and above non-women and children is not.

Ok, Stoney, you're right.  I did not mean to  imply that the regligious right is equal to the Talaiban.  And I think the whole "war on women" thing is a lot of media hype.  But I am afraid of the underlying implications. I do believe that access to healthcare is a right in a civilized society such as ours.  Unfunding access to free or low cost pre-natal care, cancer screenings, birth control, to me, is a major step backwards.  It's not against women, it's against us all.  I guess I'm just a radical lefty pinko.  And let's leave abortion out of this discussion.

If we are clearly unable to define what the Ideal America is then it is even less likely that we could figure out how to get there and certainly what sort of Americans it takes to make that journey. So I just travel around like old Steinbeck with my invisible Charley (my loving memories of all my animal friends over the years). I am one of those of which he asked "Could it be that Americans are a restless people, a mobile people, never satisfied with where they are as a matter of selection? The pioneers, the immigrants who people the continent, were the restless ones in Europe. The steady rooted ones stayed home and are still there." I search incessantly knowing the journey and not the destination defines me as American.

Nicely said, Tommy. Have a good evening everyone. Sorry if I offended anyone.

IM et al- I like to see the old stewpot stirred up. Hells Bells, my family had Republicans, Libertarians, Blue Dog Dems, Liberals and an uncle who never hit a lick at a snake. They would argue until dinner time when they were too busy stuffing their pie holes to say a word. Fried chicken soothes the savage beast. Then after dessert they would start in on religion and though some of 'em would go on about the end of the world they didn't seem concerned enough to not have some of mom's pineapple upside down cake. Golly gee it was good. I believe a slice of that cake and her perfectly brewed coffee would convert a Stalinist.

The first thing that comes to mind, especially when asked what being an American means, my first thoughts are how we treat our wounded returning war veterans and our elderly.

I'm of the mind that when a man or woman comes home from war minus limbs we sent them away from our shores with. He or she should be taken care of for life. Free home built with accessibility equal to the disability,finest health care available, monthly payments to cover all expenses including utilities and food, college education for children, everything. I'd much rather give all to those who've given all rather than the despicable manner that this liberal government rewards millions of unwed "baby mammas", what I call a liberals program to create more welfare recipients. Then we practically abandon our fallen soldiers. God help the mother widowed by a war death. Other than a small insurance policy and a burial stipend, she gets forgotten too. Shameful...just shameful.

The elderly...a whole nuther story.

Sorry for the rant.

I'm proud to be an American and call the USA my home. I'd be prouder (more proud?) if we treated our disabled veterans at least as good as we treat politicians. Most if whom are wealthy class action lawyers , and really just don't need the money.

Someday a president will get elected who feels as strongly about veterans as I do. By the way, I'm not a veteran but know many, love some, care about then all.

Peter Lake & Ummgawa ~
Strong stuff, very strong.

A friend's son told of representing a woman who lost a baby to a careless driver, He is doing time and she is living pretty high on the hog with money from a civil suit.
It was only after she got the big bucks, that she revealed that she had been on her way to abort that baby.
He did not say if that influenced his decision to walk away from the law for another career.
I am all for all of the reproductive health care we can afford. It's reproductive carelessness resulting in thousands of aborted babies… every day that has me thinking that there is something soft and rotten in a culture that  is unable to control its crotches any better than its overspending.

Deep down, we each have an innate understanding of what an American is, of who an American is.

Each of us might define an American a little differently.

But in a quite real way, the definition comes out pretty much the same.

So the basic definition is there, yet we keep refining it.

And we always will.

And that is a good thing.

At some point in each of our family histories someone decided that life in America would be preferable to the life left behind.  For this reason, we are Americans, north, central or south.  Our moral obligation is no different here than it would have been in the old world.  I suppose we would like to believe we are the superheroes, The Avengers, but when it comes down to it, good and evil abound wherever the four winds blow and there are those who respond on either side in the way they deem most fit.  The responsible person is not the one who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, but one who responds to the challenges that life places before him. Paolo once said something like that. 

I'd like to share a little story with you all -- the night before last, my niece, her husband and children were out to dinner.  My niece's husband is career military having been in the National Guard for more than twenty years.  He was in uniform.  Somone anonymously paid for their dinner as a "thank you" to the gentleman in uniform and his family,

PL, you outta get the bling for this one; and if you don't someone is gonna get an earful from me.

Andy~ I've often done that for policemen in a little Polish buffet on Milwaukee av in Chicago. My wife pinky, was always amazed when I somehow,silently and without being obvious, had the waitress or cashier take it out of my hand. I know they get a "strret" price, but to have someone just anony buy them dinner without looking for anything, that had to make their day. I have also,in my capacity as a fixer of A/C and furnace, made city hall, and our beat cops know that I would fix any a/c or heat for a disabled vet, or an elder in touble, for only the price of the parts as they cost me, (and, truth be told, I can influence the part store to make a donation,often)...It's just my way of paying back.....

I don't know about where all Y'alls live, but here in my town, the Postal guys are picking up food donations this saturday....our food pantry seems to be a little lite, and the P.O. is helping...how cool is that?

Andy, GREAT story...it doesn't get much better.

Watched Joel McCrea as Jones in Hitch's Foreign Correspondent tonight as he brilliantly portrayed the consummate "American", chasing Nazis, making wise cracks all across Europe as he makes his play for the girl and has a couple of scotch and waters along the way. Gary Cooper turned down the role later telling Hitchcock it was the dumbest thing he'd ever done. Another American trait, kicking yourself for screwing up while saying "Aw shucks". Later Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone played the American abroad seeking fortune and love.

Penn, i do like your new reflective avatar. And thank you.

Penn ~
Re: 11:20 PM, I second that emulsion although with the Cubs having taken four out of six, he might not notice.

RY ~
That is what is known as walking the walk old friend.