What is America:
In one of my Political Science classes, we talked about how the United States is considered a litigation nation.
America is, of course, considered the "melting pot," and is extremely diverse.
Last but not least, freedom is the epitome of America and the American dream. We so often take our rights and liberties for granted.
What is not America:
We live in a democratic country that sometimes seems to thrive on "assisting" other countries who are having problems with their government. The first key example I thought of was communism.
We unfortunately are not a peaceful country. The United States has rarely seen a time where it has not been involved in a war. Even on a smaller scale, we have more prisons and prisoners than any other country in the world, something most people would not consider peaceful.
Even despite the significant steps we have made in the area of civil rights, I still don't consider America to be a particularly tolerant nation. Currently there are huge issues in the area of gay and lesbian rights. There are also groups of people who want to bar the rights of individuals in certain religious groups. Until issues like these are solved, I do not think of United States as a good example of tolerance.
Lindsay MacLeod
