I like some of what you write, particularly that the freedom to move creates the danger that those left behind get to form an echo chamber of hate.
It is extremely hard to fire a unionized government employee. But it is a racket. Bad teachers are shuffled around rather than let go. Federalizing education will only make this more difficult.
I agree that educating our young about the nation's sins is vital to understanding who we are and where we came from and how to avoid mistakes of the past.
But you also write America was never great.
This suggests to me that you need much more saturation education in why others would state that is not the case.
I recently saw the musical "Hamilton" and was amazed. I am ashamed to admit all I knew of him was that he was killed in a duel. And that was... dooohhh... because of the Star Trek episode "Squire of Gothos". Much of the show amazed me due to it reminding me of things I knew. That our Founding Fathers were pretty sharp people. That they created a radical state where one could legally say what they wanted. Even against the state. That is radical. I promise you, there are many who do not want people to have these rights anymore. Their project was far from a certainty. Until the War of 1812, England acted like the US hadn't even won.... The English just didn't feel like continuing to fight for a while. We were that out matched. Dang. Now I gotta look up more on 1812 because the US wouldn't be a global power for another 100 years so I'm not sure how we got out of that one.
Global history is full of incredible savagery. But in the USA we have a lot of exceptional stuff we dare not lose. And we didn't get here from nowhere. And that's something I think is lacking in our current educational environment. I just really hope I can acquire that cat that barks because it may take some Federal elbow grease to make it happen.
Do you know what makes a burger great?
A nice fresh bun. Fresh and ripe tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce. Not to sweet but not too tart ketchup. Spicy Brown Mustard. A touch of mayo. A perfectly seasoned (I prefer garlic and onion powder, a touch of salt, black peppercorn pepper, white pepper, with a splash of Worcestershire sauce.) and thick patty, medium rare.
That's a great burger to me.
If someone attempted that burger, and gave me mold bread but had everything else, that's not a great burger.
If they gave me all the other fixings but gave me rotted meat, that is not a great burger.
The only thing that can make it great is all the elements that I consider a great burger to be. I have no need to make compromises. Nor do I expect anyone else to do the same.
America is a country. It is a country I am used to. It's the same country that lies and criminalizes my people to the fact that if I don't hold myself in just such a way, I can be throw in jail for resisting arrest without doing anything wrong, and some people on these forums would gleefully look into my past to see if I did anything wrong to warrant how much of a danger I was and it was a good arrest.
It is a country where the President can be recorded that this virus that has crippled the world is very dangerous and more lethal than anything we're letting on, admit that he has constantly downplayed how lethal it is, and STILL HAVE PEOPLE BACK HIM AND PARROT HIS LIES.
Where police brutality is met with anything other than righteous indignation.
Where the ripping apart of families and sticking kids into cages isn't met with universal feelings of betrayal to a Country's reported principles of family above all... just because we can label the families 'alien' or 'illegals' .
A country that still dictates what rights a woman has over her own body.
A country that reports religious freedom but then will place restrictions on the wrong religion because we labeled it a religion of hate.
A country that will allow their poorest citizens to have water tainted with frack run off or rusted iron from corroded pipes.
A country that will give most of its federal money to the already richest schools.
A country that will allow citizens to go into Reservation land... rape women, destroy property, and terrorize the rightful owners of this land... just to have them giggle to themselves while they cross into American soil so they can free of charges.
Gorfias, I literally don't have enough time or human memory to list all the things this country has done to even its citizens. We're not talking about foreign policy. We're not even touching about the past. Even just right now and with people in our own borders, I am jam packed with examples of what not great this this country does on the regular.
There's beauty here. To be certain. But that doesn't erase the bad it does. The best it can do it bring it near to neutral. But it even fails to do that.
You like this country, Gorfias. It might have been good to you. And believe it or not, I am actually glad if it was. I do want people to thrive. But this country picks and chooses who gets to thrive. And those who thrive are usually ok with excluding others who do not have their pedigree. There's nothing great about that. An imbalance system can only be great to those who benefit from it.
I judge a country by not how it gleams on a pedestal, but by the way it treats those who didn't make it to the gleaming pedestal. Those who suffered through bad luck, mania, or by design. And this country's image is tarnished by such a reflection. Look at the minority, the female, the LGBTQ+ members of this forum, have them tell you how they've experienced life in this nation, and then see if you have to over look their experience to still say America's a great country.
Nothing can be great and allow such suffering if it is in its power to change it.