Saying number one and being number one, there is a difference you know

For the record, I am NOT anti-American.  As a Canadian, I am pro-American as one can get. I have the U.S. flag on my wall in my bedroom for over 20 years, courtesy of  from  an old friend. I have on my Facebook cover page, a picture the late great former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. I have been mocked and satirized from friends and relatives who share a leftist worldview because of my love and support of the U.S.  I wish that will go away but I am 42 years old and not 4.  That taunting will continue and if I seek public office---especially the federal level it is going to get much tougher and trust me I am going to need from heaven above, a tougher thicker skin to deal with it.   Much to their discredit, they ignore the fact that though I am pro-American, I can be a critical thinker about the problems in the United States. I acknowledge their is a class warfare, their public educational system is much to be desired,  that Social Darwinism and Christian fundamentalism has taken over a major  political party, their infrastructure is way behind, some of their major cities are in decay and even one city may declare bankruptcy, an incompetent President who apparently knows nothing about economics (and seems to be happy about it) and has not met  anybody from Congress  ranging from 18 months to almost 3 1/2 years (the length of his presidency) and though my friends from the left expect me, as a black Canadian to stand in "black unity" (whatever that is?)  behind the first black president elected despite my terse and at times fierce opposition to some of his policies but that's neither here nor there. I am damn proud of having the United States as my neighbour and glad to share a great portion of their wealth and culture (minus the The Jersey Shore nonsense). It sure beats having Syria, Egypt, Zimbabwe or North Korea as a neighbour hands down (though some leftist masochists might get a kick out of that). At the same time, I know full well the United States can do damn better than it can right now and it is time to stop the jingoistic bumper sticker solutions  and let American people graduate from 13-year old middle school thinking and go straight to  university---graduate studies  to have just for once to have a serious and civil debate on where America should go in the 21st century. On top of that they should be open to  new, fresh, out-of-the-box ideas. Oh yes, STFU about this cosmic dualistic and mentally childish Manichean argument about big vs. small government. At the end of the day, Americans really want "smart government". Period. Deal with it. Yes, it is uncomfortable but change is good and change makes us grow as better people.  It's time to stop shouting number one and start BEING number one. Their is a difference. An astronomical one. This is what Jeff Daniel's character (Will McAvoy who is a registered Republican fed up with the craziness in his home party and can't stomach a Democratic alternative as well) in HBO's The Newsroom was trying to articulate in the clip above and the next clip former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell was trying caution the dangers of American exceptionalism on Bill Maher's Real Time (also on HBO). Anyone wants to scream anti-Americanism from these two clips is on a sad and tragic adventure of missing the point and have gone swimming in a sewer of anti-intellectualism too. Offended? Tough. There is nothing constitutional about the right NOT to be offended.


PS---for those who haven't seen the first episode of The Newsroom, you can see it here in its entirety, thanks to Youtube.com and HBO.