America is Great Because...

I searched the Internet for the phrase "American is great because" and found the following...

• "America is great because she is good." (attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville though it doesn't appear in his writings)
• "America is great because America is free."
• "America is great because of the American people and their determination to fight for their rights and freedom."
• "America is great because it was built on foundation of Bible principles."
• "America is great because its people aspire for independence, not dependence."
• "America is great because it is accepting."
• "America is great because it has as much diversity in geographies as it does in peoples."
• "America is great not just because we have wonderful rivers and streams and great geography or that we have natural resources. America is not great because we have the best government. America is not great because we have the best corporations. Without a question America is great because we have great people. It is the people of America that make it the strongest and most powerful nation on the planet. And America's people are great because we have great parents who made us great."
• "America is great because of the compassion and generosity of its people."
• "America is great because free people have had the chance and the incentive and the opportunity to dream, strive and work toward their goals."
• "America is great because of the dynamic of free people working together in a system based on economic liberty and the rule of law, and not because of government."
• "America is great because of its spirit, we believe it is the spirit of God."

Stephen Ambrose, an American historian, studied and wrote about the American military. In his book, The VICTORS: Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II, he tried to answer the question how simple citizen soldiers could have faced such great evil and conquered. He wrote this:

"At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So they fought, and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful."

Then he talked about what the war meant to the men who fought it. One man, he said, summed it up in a way he could never forget. I personally believe this is why America is great. That man said:

"Imagine this. In the spring of 1945, around the world, the sight of a twelve-man squad of teenage boys, armed and in uniform, brought terror to people's hearts. Whether it was a Red Army squad in Berlin, Leipzig, or Warsaw, or a German squad in Holland, or a Japanese squad in Manila or Seoul or China, that squad meant rape, pillage, looting, wanton destruction, senseless killing. But there was an exception: a squad of GIs, a sight that brought the biggest smile you ever saw to people's lips, and joy to their hearts."

"Around the world this was true, even in Germany, even - after September 1945 - in Japan. This was because GIs meant candy, cigarettes, C-rations, and freedom. America had sent the best of her young men around the world, not to conquer but to liberate, not to terrorize but to help. This was a great moment in our history."

Yes, we're not a perfect nation, but our blemishes are the exceptions, not the rule. I love this great country.