5 Reasons That Make Me a Proud American
And you should be too if you live in the United States
Originally from Nepal, I have been living in the United States for over 10 years now. I have been to Japan and visited India and Tibet. All these travels have given me perspective on how good The United States of America is.
I am aware that America is not a country without problems. We need to address the health care system, the homeless problem, infrastructures, and many more. But, instead of focusing on these issues, in this piece, I want to concentrate on the things that make me proud to be an American.
Freedom of Speech
In 2014, Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus — An Alternative History was banned in India based on Indian penal code 295A which criminalizes, “Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs….” Not only this book, but the authorities used similar laws to ban the BBC documentary, India’s Daughter by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, which explores the 2012 brutal gang rape of a Delhi college student.
In this modern age of the internet, one might think that we can express ourselves freely without any fear. However, this is rarely the case. Only a handful of countries’ constitutions truly bestow the “freedom of speech” to their citizens. On the surface, it appears that most countries provide the “freedom of speech or expression” to their citizens. However, upon closer examination, it is rarely the case.
For example, Nepal’s constitution also allows “freedom of expression” to its citizens, but, section 47 of the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA-2008) says, “publication of illegal materials in electronic form shall be liable to punishment with fines not exceeding RS 100,000 or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both”. Government authorities have used this act repeatedly to arrest journalists who publish materials online that go against what is “right”.
Back in April of 2019, the authorities arrested Arjun Giri, editor of the online weekly Tandav News, after he reported on alleged fraudulent business practices in the city of Pokhara. As Human Rights Watch reports, in 2018, there were 98 violations of the freedom of expression in Nepal. The same year, authorities also blocked the news website newssewa.com after the website “carried an item that was critical of the senior police officer.”
As we all know, in China, websites like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Search are all banned because all internet services are required to censor information which the government deems sensitive. News is highly filtered there. By the time information reaches people, it is a completely different story. This pattern is similar in many other countries around the world.
I can go on and on about how countries use loopholes to censor their citizen’s freedom of expression. In many places, journalists have to be extremely careful about how they present certain materials. This is, for the most part, not the case in The United States. Back in September 2020, The New York Times published a report on more than two decades of then-president Trump’s tax-return data, while the president was still in office. Though there were multiple debates about individuals’ privacy, The New York Times did not have to worry about getting shut down.
Freedom of speech is not absolute in The United States either. Of course, there are some exceptions to what one can say, notably one can’t incite violence with the speech. Even then, news media and journalists in The United States mostly don’t need to worry about getting shut down or arrested because they expressed something that authorities did not agree upon. Or, an author published a book that contradicts what some powerful people believed to be true.
We hear and see many conspiracy theories, political satire comedies, and stories from news media in the U.S, which are just absurd sometimes but are mostly protected under free speech. This fascinates me that the “freedom to speech was adopted” more than 200 years ago in The U.S, and we are still leading the world.
Immigrants
When you travel to countries like South Korea, Japan, China, and Nepal you will see the majority of people belong to the same race. This means any foreigners stand out quickly. While a homogeneous population is not inherently bad, I have realized that a country’s ability to innovate may be directly related to how diverse its talented population is.
The United States has always welcomed immigrants from all over the world, this is one of the greatest strengths of this country. History’s most famous scientist Alert Einstein was an immigrant who found peace in The U.S during the last 20 years of his life. Similarly, founder of Google Sergey Brin, founder of Tesla, and Space-X Elon Musk are all immigrants. Not just these but as brookings.edu reports, almost half of the fortune 500 companies were started by either American immigrants or their children. What would have happened if these brilliant people were not allowed to come in?
Small businesses like restaurants, grocery stores, and construction companies that immigrants open also contribute largely to The U.S economy and cities’ diversity. I have lived in multiple big cities like Houston, Denver, New Orleans, and D.C. Among the things that are common in these places are restaurants and grocery stores. From tea leaves grown in China, to spices of India, you can find everything your heart desires in these American cities.
While a diverse population is not unique to The United States, as Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom also have diverse demographics, it is one of its biggest strengths.
Endless roads, access to cars, and road trips
As Zulie Rane pointed out in her article, 6 Things Living in Europe Taught Me About America, The United States is huge and we are a car-centric society. I agree with her point. However, this country’s biggest strength is also the huge road networks that connect the entire nation.
Since most Americans own a vehicle, anyone can go on road trips. Road networks of America not only work as a vital infrastructure that connects entire nations but also provide people the ability to take endless road trips and explore this beautiful country.
Recently I drove from D.C to Denver in my car. It took me 3 days to complete this trip with two full nights of sleep in between. All I needed to complete the trip was the willingness to explore and a car. Along the way, I enjoyed visiting rural America, endless plains, and small college towns. The vastness of the country baffles me every time I take a road trip. It does not sound impressive when I write that I saw endless cornfields in Missouri but believe me it is.
Driving for pleasure is not uniquely an American concept. People in other countries take road trips too. However, most countries are not as huge as the U.S and don’t have endless road networks, and don’t have access to cars. Road trip experience in the US, is thus, unmatched in the entire world.
I do understand the importance of public transportation and the negative impacts of cars. I am not downplaying this. Good public transportation would help many from a poor economic background to be financially sustainable. Nonetheless, I would be lying if I say I don’t like long road trips in my car. Who does not love to hop on their car and drive on an endless road listening to their favorite song?
Belief in Success
While researching the subject, I came across a Reddit thread where people were chiming in on why they love America. A Redditor, parky101, said it best,
“I’m a Brit who’s lived in the states for 8 years. For me it’s the ‘can do’ attitude and optimism. The English Rugby team stated that their goal this year was to be the ‘second-best team in the world’ (second to New Zealand). You would never hear an American team say something like that. They would say “we’re going to be number one!”, no matter if it was true or not. And that goes for all kinds of business, everyone has a belief in success.”
I completely agree with him, Americans have the attitude that they can achieve anything. “You can win in life if you work hard enough” is the sentiment most Americans carry regardless of their situation in life.
National Parks and public spaces
According to nationalparks.org, The United States encompasses 423 national park sites that span across more than 84 million acres’’ of land. California alone has 840 miles of waterfront that includes deserts, redwood forests, sea otters, pelicans, and much more — and almost all of it publicly accessible.
Anyone living in The U.S can visit these breathtaking sites and see wild animals. While some national parks are far, like Kobuk Valley National park in Alaska, almost all parks are accessible by road. Other countries have national parks as well, not all of them are as majestic and as easily accessible.
If you feel like seeing deserts, you can travel to New Mexico to see White Sands National Park. If you want to climb mountains you can travel to the Rocky Mountain National Park. If you want to see forests, you can visit multiple national forests near you. The ability to experience everything you can think of in the same country is just mind-boggling.
I do understand the negative impacts of cars on the environment, the psychological impact of belief in success in a person, and the complicated debate of what is free speech on the internet. Despite all that, we should take the time to admire all the great perks this country has to offer.