Let me step forward and say I think it is a great nation. I also think Canada is, as well as Great Britain ( you folks actually have the guts to put Great in your name!) I also think there are lots of other great nations.

I travel a lot and have been to most of Europe and although I enjoy being there on holiday, I always feel good to come home. It is my home. As I am sure most people enjoy being in their home countries for one reason or another.

Is it the greatest nation? Well, I think that is a very difficult premise to prove and would be for any other country also. I am not really clear on why people are interested in putting down their home nation, whatever it is. It is a bit like your family, regardless of their curiousities and idiosyncracies and flaws, they are still your family, and most people will support and protect them against outside forces.

Is it a perfect nation? Absolutely not. Can I think of one that I feel is a better one? Well...no, I cannot. Sure we may be a bit over-the-top compared to some of our European friends, and probably more consumer oriented than some and more "in a hurry" and not as cultured in some ways but by and large, we are good people. Somehow it seems that any other people can conduct themselves in any manner they wish and it simply gets chalked up to "It's just their culture," I rarely hear anyone step forward to say that about Americans.

All this talk about crime, well I have never been in any situation in America that I thought I feared for my safety or my families any more than one night in the westend of London when the Football hooligans were out in force and drunk. Or another time when my elderly mother-in-law was surrounded by a group of traveller teenagers in Stow on the Wold in the Cotswolds bent on stealing her purse. I hesitate to bring this up at all because to me there are isolated incidents and I have never equated them with my safety in general in that nation or area.

I would think people are generally proud of thier country and would want others to view it in a positive way. I have never encountered people in my travels that have not said how pretty their village is or how wonderful the food is or how great the art is or the music is, etc. It is only human nature to be proud of your home. Or at least to me, that makes sense.