What exactly is so great about the USA?

Individual Freedom.  Checks and balances type of government.  The right to choose new leaders.  The right to oust old leaders who do not perform as promised or as you were led to believe they would.  A Justice System that works well.  Citizens who genuinely care for their fellow-man.  Educational opportunities for all. Intelligent, forward thinking scientists.  Industrial Giants who change(although slowly) with the times.  A free Press.  An informed public.  A moral and religious society who is not afraid to think and protest and bear arms if necessary.

Well now let me see:

We have a Declaration of Independence which states our rights as individuals.

We have a Constitution that keeps us free of Dictatorships and Tyranny or at least it used to when our reps had the balls to enforce it.

You can say what you want without fear of being arrested, put in a Gulag or what have you for now.

You can have a gun to protect your family and yourself for now.

You can live out your dreams and go as far as you want without fear of being arrested or stopped.

You can own property and you can build and you can do anything your abition drives you to without fear of interference by the government for now.

You can practice any religion you want without fear of being killed, imprisoned or mutilated for now.

Why are so many people coming into America and so few going out to other countries?  Ask yourself this question.

Lordy Lordy God save us because we are in deepest of shit here.

That anyone should ask this question.

Lady Darko

There are a lot of truly great things about the US, but mostly it's own potential. A potential that is blocked by pride and hubris.
There are also a lot of things lacking. And blinding ourselves to those imperfections and mistakes is what keeps us from moving on and fixing them.

We will be in deep shit if Romney wins and goes back to Bush's failed policies that got us here in the first place. Republicans want 2 classes of people the rich and the poor. Just like it was before the new deal. The uneducated low income far right extremist single issue voting social conservative teabaggers will cut their own throats to help them.

An interesting little fact from ScienceandReligion.com
In humans, mirror neuron activity is studied by a scanning technique called functional MRI. A person is awake with his head in a specially designed MRI scanner while he does an experimental task. The MRI detects how much blood flows to different parts of the brain as different tasks are done. Increased blood flow indicates more activity in that part of the brain at that moment.
With all this as background, consider what happens when you look at someone’s facial expression. If you have normally functioning mirror neurons, you immediately feel the emotion expressed in the other person’s face. The mirror neuron fires and sends its impulse to the emotional (limbic) circuit, just as if you had made the expression yourself. This capacity is the basis for empathy and the awareness that other people have feelings and points of view. [RiverCityMalone.com]
Religious scriptures emphasise voluntary cultivation of these qualities, and the brain, being a plastic instrument, responds to these efforts. Religious genius therefore has been in tune with these natural principles, and religion, when seen in this light, is an expression of a healthy evolutionary practice taking man away from the animal and towards a future in which ethical behaviour and altruism is the biological norm.

 Religious genius is in tune with natural principles, and religion, when seen in this light, is an expression of a healthy practice taking man away from the animal and towards a future in which ethical behaviour and altruism is the biological norm.

Ethical behavior and altruism....the biological norm....then there will be Peace On Earth....(and let it begin with me...)

Albert Einstein said:   " “It is very difficult to elucidate this cosmic religious feeling to anyone who is entirely without it..The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma... In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.”..

Those words do not sound like an atheist to me....which some say he was...No, I don't think so....not at all..

Religious genius is in tune with natural principles, and religion, when seen in this light, is an expression of a healthy practice taking man away from the animal and towards a future in which ethical behaviour and altruism is the biological norm.

Ethical behavior and altruism....the biological norm....then there will be Peace On Earth....(and let it begin with me...)