It's the season

I'm not interested in any free codes Eden, but I thought I'd add my two cents. Apologies for the long response.

The United States of America doesn’t hold a monopoly on the reasons why it’s a great country (there are many great countries I’ve visited) or the reasons why I love this country down to the last fiber of my body, but these are my reasons:

E pluribus Unum (not multiculturalism)- out of many, one. Despite all the rhetoric surrounding illegal or chain immigration. We are a country of immigrants and people still cross oceans to get to this country. They are as willing as ever to empty their life savings to get to America, legally or illegally. They will sell the shirt on their back just to feel winds of freedom and opportunity. Nowhere else on earth can so many come with nothing and achieve anything. Ronald Reagan repeated borrowed a phrase used time immemorial- America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.

Our governmental foundation- We have a governmental system based on philosophy and not history- Individual liberty, free-market opportunity and belief that it's all a gift from God. I think America is the best idea the world has ever had and has the greatest value system ever devised. These are the values that I love:

Individualism, not collectivism. Patriotism, not relativism. Optimism, not pessimism. Limited government, not the nanny state. God, not Caesar. Faith, not secularism. Once again, E pluribus Unum, not multiculturalism. Life, not death. Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. Goodness, not moral equivalence. We are certainly not perfect and have made great mistakes, as other countries have as well; however, we are a global force for stability and ideals.

America is about being bold, not bland. Brave, not meek. Striving for greatness, not mediocrity. I love America to my smallest fiber because it is confident, competitive, courageous, faithful, idealistic, innovative, inspirational, charitable and optimistic. It is everything as a nation that I try to be as a person.

I’ve had this admiration for Winston Churchill going back a long time and I think he said something that I believe in, “America is the hope that banishes all hopelessness”.