How did America Become so Great?

by  Christopher B. Kuch, PhD

If you’ve lived overseas as I have for over a decade you frequently hear anti-American speeches and unbelievable beliefs from foreigners about America and Americans.  I’m not talking about the usual brain dead moron beliefs that we did not go to the moon, caused AIDS in Africa to kill Muslims, Kennedy was killed by George W. Bush, we created cancer to kill Muslims, the earthquake that hit Turkey in August 17, 1999 was caused by the U.S. military, and 911 did not happen.

I’m talking about the belief that most Americans own a gas station, we are all cowboys and shoot each other, and half the population lives on the streets. This paper reviews why America has become one of the strongest and best countries in the world.

Where most other nationalities would have loved to be born and be able to relocate to.  Most Americans believe that although we have some problems (exasperated by our current president), our country is the best place to live, otherwise there would be a mass migration out of the country.  So how did we become so great?

Is it Because we Control the United Nations?

No Russia and China frequently veto our requests.  There are about 185 countries in the U.N., we only have one vote.  The American flag is not bigger are higher than the other flags as most Muslims believe. Typically many countries are anti-American.  It was created to resolve world problems and maintain peace.

Today, it is a big “anti-American axis block” which should be moved, to say Moscow.  We could send some 18 year old high school graduate there as our representative with no authority.  If we stopped funding the U.N. it would collapse—we pay about 22% of its budget. We could form a United Democracies with our true friends and dissolve NATO (Kuch, C.).  The U.N. has done nothing to make America great.  Absolutely nothing!

Is it Because of our Military?

America did not start out with a large military. It was very small.  Now it is the best in the world but that only makes America safe.  As a result, we can protect our country from foreign invaders until recently by Muslim terrorists.  Is it because we spend 50% on military budget. No we spend about the same average 4.32% on military budgets per GNP as most countries (The World Fact Book).

Although we do spend about $577,100,000,000 compared to the next biggest China at $145,000,000,000 we have in our arsenal huge sledge hammers that cost much more and they don’t have (Global Fire Power. Com, 2015).  It’s called our Navy’s aircraft carriers.

Is it Because of our Nuclear Weapons?

No there are about 35 countries in the world that have them.  Below is a list of the major arsenals by country (Macias, A. 2014).

World Nuclear Forces, 2014

Source: SIPRI Yearbook 2014 

Is it Because we Control other Countries?

Then why doesn’t our flag fly over theirs?  Why are they not American citizens?  Why is it that they don’t pay American taxes or serve in our military?  For those idiots that belief we control their country, just look at your governments and ask them if they are our puppets.  If they are, they should be fired, you should be speaking English, and Christianity should be the main religion in your third world country.  For those that believe we control them, please don’t travel to God’s country or attempt to immigrate here.  We have enough idiots and don’t need anymore.

Is it Because of our Big Businesses?

It was until our government decided to tax the heck out of them and mandate all kinds of environmental regulations.  As a result many American companies said enough and went overseas.  Yet, some remain.  How did they become so big? Invested in themselves and hired the best trained workers.  Attempted to get a lower tax rate so that they can invest back into the business and hire more people, build new factories, and invest in more technology.  According to Muslims, America owns all the oil in the world.  Does not look like it to me according to Wikipedia 2015 largest companies of the world by revenue.  View the chart below.

But we do have our fast food.  This is a list of the top 10 franchises according to franchisedirect.com 2015.

Rank Franchise Name Country Industry

1               SUBWAY®  USA Sandwich & Bagel Franchises 

2               McDonald’s  USA Fast Food Franchises 

3               KFC  USA Chicken Franchises 

4               Burger King  USA Fast Food Franchises 

5               7 Eleven  USA Convenience Store Franchises 

6               Hertz  USA Car Rental & Dealer Franchises 

7               Pizza Hut  USA Pizza Franchises 

8               Ace Hardware Corporation  USA Home Improvement Retail Franchises 

9               Wyndham Hotels and Resorts  USA Hotel Franchises 

10            Groupe Casino  France  Food & Grocery Retail Franchises

Is it Because of our European Immigrants?

At the beginning yes.  But in the last 100 years we have seen a change to Asian and Hispanic countries migrating to the US.  America has always allowed immigrants from every country.  Some have went on to become famous inventors, innovators, business leaders, and scientists.  It is only natural for people to want to live and pursue their dreams in a country that will allow them to.

Some immigrants come for jobs, others come because of suppression, while others come for the ability to act and behave the way they want without an overreaching government dictating what they can and cannot do. As long as we continue to restrain the government from reaching into our personal lives, this country will survive.  Immigrants have contributed to the advancement and sustained greatness of America.

Only recently have we had a terrorist problem within our borders.  It has never came from European, Asian, or Hispanic ancestors. It is our increase in allowing middle easterners, mainly Muslims immigrating to the U.S. One only needs to look at the explosive volatile chaotic region for our present day internal terrorist problems.

White 79.96%, black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%, Amerindian and Alaska native 0.97%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.18%, two or more races 1.61%.  Hispanics, and about 16% are counted within the White population as they are from Mexico, Cuba, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rico, etc. (World Fact Book, July 2012 estimate).

Is it America’s Resources?

No, yet we are blessed with an abundance of all natural resources, we buy many resources from other countries. Countries that have nothing to sell to feed their people but sand.  We give away millions of dollars of food to third world countries every year.  More so than any other country.

If we owned the oil in the Middle East, why are we paying so much for it?  We have plenty and perhaps should shift our foreign import oil to South and Central America.  Leave the Middle East to swim, bath, and drink their oil.  Finally, we have lots of fresh water.  It’s called the great lakes.  So that argument falls short.

Is it Because of a Christian Religion?

No we are a secular country. Yet, in the opinion of the author the underlining principle is Christian beliefs.  That all men and women are equal under God.  For over half the population we believe that by example we live our lives in order that others will see the glory of Christ.  That as a predominately Christian population we are taught to love others including our enemies.

The fact is that in many Muslim countries churches are forbidden to be built. Furthermore, in these Islamic countries there are religious police or agencies.  Frequently non-Muslims are not allowed to hold high public office, serve as high ranking military officers, and be in a high ranking public positions. Some so called “moderate Islamic countries” do not even allow non-Muslims to work in the public sector in low ranking positions.

However, in America we have laws that are enforced against religious discrimination.  Furthermore, in our government there are persons of many faiths. In summary, it is our Christian heritage that permits other religions to build places of worship, pray, and practice their beliefs in an open manner.  The opposite is true in most Muslim countries.

Answer:

So, why is it that America is so great?  Even brain dead morons from other third world countries can google and see that we have the strongest economy, strongest military, ranks very high on social happiness scales, and has more freedoms than any other country.  How can our great country be called racist, “religist”, and selfish when we support Arab countries and Israel equally?

Where we give more humanitarian aid to foreign countries than any other country. Maybe it’s just America is the best we can do in the world by allowing all people of different races, ethnicities, and religions to live and pursue their dreams with a limited government—the key is limited government and limited laws.  Where people can protest without fear of being imprisoned. Maybe it’s because we have a free press—albeit mostly liberal and anti-republican.

Perhaps, it is because we have limits on our government and don’t trust it.  Maybe it’s because millions of Americans have weapons that any future overreaching government cannot afford to suppress.  It’s just called the American constitution and people in our government should not pick a fight with it including our empirical president and the legislative creating liberal Supreme Court.

Global Fire Power.Com. “Going to War is never a Decision to be Taken Lightly,…” February 17, 2015.

Kuch, Christopher B. Coalition Partners Not! Creating a United Democracies.  Forthcoming.

Macias, Amanda. “Nine Nations Have Nukes-Here’s how many each Country has.” Business Insider. June 17, 2014.

The World Fact Book. “Country Comparison: Military Expenditures”, “U.S. Ethnic Makeup.” 2012-2014. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html   https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

Dr. Kuch holds a PhD, MA, and MS in criminal justice. He has spent most of his career as an adjunct faculty member in social sciences.  He has written about a variety of local and federal police issues.   He lives in Istanbul, Turkey and is on the adjunct faculty at Galatasaray University.

____________