If you were to measure the greatness of a nation by the extent to which corporate interests have infiltrated its politics, the number of people who die each year of curable diseases, the lack of any real honest and intellectual debate and news coverage on its mainstream media, and its obsession with consumerism and gluttony then yes, we may indeed live in the greatest nation on earth. At least, as far as industrialized countries go.

If, however, your definition of “luxury” is not the freedom to overpay for the latest apple product but instead to have access to affordable and yes I’ll fucking say it, universal health care than no, you may not live in the greatest nation on earth.

Why do you, you who claim to love this country so much, continue to defend everything that’s wrong with it with one simple phrase : “The greatest nation on earth.” Why are we as a nation, so arrogant that we refuse to believe that another nation, a foreign nation might have a thing or two we can learn from them? That they might handle certain aspects of their country better than we do? “The greatest nation on earth”…”American exceptionalism”…”Well that may work over there, but it would never work here in America”. It’s all a fucking cop-out. It is ridiculous to believe that all of the best ideas and thoughts are concentrated in 4.8% of the worlds population.

I challenge all of you, you who refuse to accept facts, logic, and ethics as a basis for political discussion, to put down the vague one liners, to stop acting like you fought in the goddamned civil war, to accept that maybe, just maybe, you’re not where you are today because of all the “hard-work” you’ve done to get here but because you happened to be born in the right country to the right set of parents and maybe, just maybe you might realize that blindly defending a document that was originally designed to protect the rights and the liberties of the few isn’t the best way to support this nation. Stop perpetuating the myth that this country (which by the fucking way was not an just an “unending wilderness”, there were people living here) is so great only because of the foundation put down by “old, white men.” Remember that this is a country founded upon slavery and it wasn’t too long ago that your precious constitution defended it. For those of you who believe that the United States doesn’t support slavery anymore, take a look at your iPhone. It was assembled in China by someone making less than a dollar an hour. Just because we pay them doesn’t mean they’re not slaves.

If you really love this country so much, I challenge you to make your empty statements ring true. I challenge you to accept the burden that we all share as residents of this country: to examine its faults critically, to engage in honest political discussion rooted in facts and ethics, and to shape this country into the greatest nation on earth.