Since when was America great? I hear too many Americans thinking this way, that somehow America is this powerhouse of ideologies when it comes to freedom, that we are somehow the last stronghold of liberty, that only we have come up with a government based on democracy.

Give me a break. America is not special. We are not brilliant. We are not all that smart. We don't rule the world. We don't have dibs on whatever land or resource strikes our fancy. We are behind in the technological race. We have failing schools.

What does make us great?

• Freedom? No, other countries have that (Japan, Germany, Liberia, Greece, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, ...).
• Opportunity? Of course not. There is opportunity wherever you work hard; you don't need America for that.
• We're rich? That's undeniable, but that doesn't make us great.
• Diversity? Surely not. Diversity is only as powerful as our willingness to accept it. There is still a lot of racism in our country--us passing wrongful judgment onto others of a different race without cause.
• Laws? We have a lot of them, but that doesn't mean we're great.
• Health? Nope. We flunk the class in first world nations.

Here. Enjoy this clip from Jeff Daniels in the first episode of the TV show Newsroom:

Celebrate our country, but don't forget what we came from. We were a country founded on the ideas that hard work and freedom would bring about change and greatness, not a politician in Congress levying a new law against us, a businessman on Wall Street choking his employees, not a Supreme Court Justice deciding the tie breaker vote on a law.

America is a nation of the people. Don't forget that. You are what needs to make America great. You can't sit back and watch (or hope) for some person in Washington to make America great for you. Get out and get into action. You create the America of the future.