I usually read Mark Cuban’s blog. Today I replied to his post “What Can I Do to Help Those Who are Serving our Country ?“

Here’s the comment:

——————————

Dear all,

I am not American, but I have lived in the US, and I have shared my time (and life) with many US citizens.

The USA is a great country, no doubt about that. But let me tell you what I think is the bad news: now it is not the same as it used to be. There are things in the USA that have changed significantly in the last decades. Sometimes because of bad administrations, other times simply because the World is a changing one.

Let me illustrate it:

a) According to Harvard’s research. A European Union citizen is less dependant on his/her social class than an American to thrive in life. That is interesting fact that puts into context the famous “American dream”.

b) A particularly interesting example is comparing US president with the French president. The first seems to have been born to be president, while the second is the son of a Hungarian emigrant. In Western Europe I could not found a country where “political families” were so marked as in the USA. The Kennedies, The Clintons, The Bushes,… Have you ever reflected about it?

c) 60 years ago US army saved the World -especially Europe- from the abyss of fascism. US Army was synonymous of liberation. Now it is not. Now US Army (please note I am not saying “army officers”) is a synonymous of troubles and increasing violence. I think Korea, Vietnam and Irak prove it. However Yugoslavia was an exception in my opinion. There the US tough Europeans how to solve end up a massacre that was happening right at our doors…

d) Few decades ago US citizens and media watched closely at what their politicians were doing. If something wrong was done (e.g. Watergate), pressures worked and officers were replaced. Now it seems their nothing wrong enough to replace officers.

e) After WWII US GDP was –roughly speaking- 50% of world’s GDP. Now many nations have thieved significantly and US GDP is about 20-25% of World’s one.

f) Among developed nations in the World, the US is one of the most (if not the most) religious one in the sense of God taking part in State institutions and politics. For many foreigners, it still shocking listening to a President talking about God. Most developed countries’ citizens believe religion is something private, not public. Our governants should not talk about God (nor sex for instance), but to work for us and deliver good highways, education, health, security, etc.

g) China (among others, but most significantly) is a nuclear power. The “nuclear last resource” is not anything the US can rely on any longer.

h) Japan and the EU are political and economical superpowers. And soon China and India will be. The US is no longer sole in those affairs and now it is more difficult to control the game (for example playing with the currency exchange, or setting trade agreements)

i) The USA is one of the few (maybe the only one I think) developed nation who still execute people.

j) The chances of being murdered in the USA are 10 times higher than in Spain, for instance.

k) The USA is –again- the only developed country with no universal health insurance for its citizens. I have not the figures here, but I recommend you compare life expectancy figures of Japan and EU countries with the US ones. Or cancer patient’s survival rates for instance.

Those are probably the issues the founding fathers would address should they be alive today. That is patriotism. What patriotism should never be is a doctrine to keep people quiet and hide the real problems and mistakes in the country.

I am not sure a soldier in Irak is actually serving the USA. But I am sure a free thinker is a real patriot, whether he/she is right or not.