am I proud to be an American?

I have been thinking about this topic since Michelle Obama said something about when her husband was elected, it was the first time that she felt proud to be an American. She was criticized by the right wing, but I completely understood what she meant. It is hard to be proud of your country when your ancestors have been enslaved, then "freed" but denied basic rights, lynched, discriminated against, etc.

So I started to think about my feelings about being an American. Perhaps I take too much for granted, and I realize that so many parts of the world don't have much of what Americans and other Westerners enjoy. But I can see where America falls short.

For me, it starts with how gays, lesbians and others who don't conform to rigid gender stereotypes are treated. I am treated as a second class citizen in my own country in many ways. I am denied recognition of my marriage and am legally a stranger to my husband in all but a handful of states; I could be fired from my job based on my sexual orientation in many states; my right to be considered for adoption wouldn't be allowed in some states; I can't serve in the military, not that I would want to, but I should have that option. So based on that, I'm not proud of my country's treatment of minorities.

But I am proud of some things my country has done. The defense of Europe during and after World War II was the right thing to do. Democracy has many problems, but it seems better than most other forms of government, so I'm glad that the US has spread democracy.

I can think of many things my country does wrong. Our government is much too militaristic - how many wars have we been in just during my lifetime? Vietnam, the Balkans, Iraq twice, Afghanistan, etc. Why do we still have troops in Korea over 50 years after fighting stopped? Why do we have military stationed all over the world? We are not the world's policeman. We spend more than the rest of the world combined on our military. That money is desperately needed for other priorities. Why does the US get involved in almost any conflict everywhere? Has the government heard of imperial overreach?

I think in many ways I have more of a European mindset than an American one. Americans have kept too much of the settler mentality, the "I'm going to find a piece of land for myself, and screw the rest of you." We don't seem to have the social cohesiveness that other countries do. The social safety net is full of holes. And insults and yelling are standard instead of calm discussions.

Our democracy has so many problems, most based on money. The candidate that raises the most money wins something like 95% of all elections. Corporate interests seem to rule our government, because they provide the money to win elections.

I can't leave out the role of religion in the US. The US got many of the religious fanatics that left Europe. (Why couldn't we just have gotten the prisoners like Australia did? They got the better end of the deal.) Many of those fanatics were extremely intolerant of others' religious beliefs. So many people base their voting on their religion, which is their right, but this is not a theocracy. You don't have the right to impose your religion or religious beliefson anyone else, even via the ballot box.

I do hope that some things are improving. Gay rights have advanced much during my lifetime. Perhaps when gays and lesbians have all the rights of other Americans thoughout the country I will finally be proud of my country, just as Michelle Obama was.