Since today is Thanksgiving Day I thought I would talk about why I am thankful to live in the United States of America. I’ve been listening to a lot of immigrants lately talking about why they came to this country and this gives me an appreciation of what is right in this country. I believe the great majority of Americans believe that our government (federal, state and local) is and should be honest, non-corrupt and serving the needs of the people. I think most Americans are shocked and motivated to do something to fix it when they find out about instances when the government has been corrupt or has subverted the rule of law. That is not the case in many countries in the world, especially the countries from which many of our immigrants come.
The collapse of the Soviet Union showed how ultimately all governments, even the ones in countries we call non-democratic, can only stay in power with the consent of the people of that country. I think as long as most Americans refuse to accept as normal and commonplace that the government will be corrupt and serving special interests rather than the people then this country will remain free and democratic.
Polls show that about 70% of Americans think that the country is heading in the wrong direction. I am thankful that most Americans recognize the same problems I see and are prepared to do something about it. Happy Thanksgiving.
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