Intro - Things that make the USA great
Well well well, looks like we're a scant five days away from the birth of a nation. Just shy of 233 years ago, a few politics nerds were blowing the ink-setting powder off the 'well, it's good enough now' draft of the Declaration of Independence from Britain document. Less than three centuries is nothing in civilization's terms, but in modern history it's an enormous chunk of time.
Yes, 233 years is a gnat's fart on the timeline of the history of man, but when you consider full-fledged members of the European Union such as Poland the Czech Republic have only been part of the 'new' Europe for five years, 233 seems like a hell of a long time. Also consider that Poland has only been an independent democracy since 1989 and the Czech Republic since 1993 (OK, you want to get serious on me and argue that the combined 'czech-and-slovak-republics' - aka Czech Republic and Slovakia - existed at the same time as Poland's 1989 split from the USSR, all well and good - but I'll Velvet Revolution your ass and reference those nations' true birth at the 1993 summit.)
Eastern European political histories aside, I really do believe the nation we call the United States of America is one of the best places on the planet to be an intelligent human being. Tonight is the eve of July, and starting the first of July through at least American Independence Day, I will be writing blog posts about the things I believe make this a great nation. Please note as a caution to your sensibilities that I will be brutally honest in the things that I believe make this a *great nation*. Whether or not I agree with the ultimate outcome of these 'things that make the USA great', I will do my best to list my opinions only in conjunction to facts. I can only comment on things that we know to be the generally accepted reality of our world, and I can guarantee that only a few of us will agree.
So it's with this that I introduce my first independent series: Things that make the USA great.