Second Class

No one likes to think of themselves as second class. In our country, the rhetoric has always been that we are the strongest, most innovative and greatest nation on Earth. Due to our inherent patriotism, we have come to believe it and get quite upset if people talk about the failures of the United States. It is deemed unpatriotic by many Americans to talk ill of your own nation, but if we continue to live within the falseness of our rhetoric, the United States may become a second class nation. Our public education system is far from the top of the list of the bests, our infrastructure is eroding, we have no national rail system that is quick and efficient, we rely on oil from the most unstable part of the world, many scoff at the realities of global warming and as such, we have done nothing to improve our commitment to alternative energy, we are fighting expensive wars that are going nowhere, squandering resources that could be used to fix the real problems of the world, we have a political process that is mean spirited and does not work on behalf of the people, we have a trade deficit and an anemic manufacturing sector and we have a business community that still believes that any government is bad government and paid lobbyists have used this feeling to ramp up populism while leading to near financial ruin. Despite Obama's best efforts, we still have a mismanaged and dysfunctional health care system which will continue to be costly and not really universal in nature. Lastly, we have dangerous and incapable people rising to the top of the heap of potential future leaders wihout the appropriate abilities that are needed. These individuals portray our nation in simplistic and dangerous ways preferring fear over accomplishment and bigotry over our values. These are facts and if we choose to ignore them and reside within the bluster of American greatness, we will find our country not so great. The hopefulness we felt once President Obama was elected was tied to his recognition of these facts. When one fairly listens to his agenda about the future, he gets it. Our frustration with him according to polls, is unwarranted, unfair and just plain stupid. Americans must embrace change, embrace the future and lift us from the manufactured rhetoric of greatness to the reality of greatness. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?