Here is some interesting news, as we U.S. Americans begin our annual weekend of getting real drunk and shooting off fireworks, due to something we read in a history book about America but can't quite remember. (Muskets were involved.) Did you know that, according to 53% of Americans, our country has a "special relationship" with God? Take THAT, 195 other countries in the world, you all are just acquaintances with God, whereas He is taking US to the prom, and is going to ask us to gay marry Him any day now, WE JUST KNOW IT:
In total, 53 per cent of 1,000 people surveyed agreed with the statement that God has a special relationship with America; a figure that rose to 67 per cent of evangelical Christians.
As it happens, it's not just evangelicals who believe that we are Favored Above Other Nations, as the study says that 62% of African-Americans and 59% of Southerns also believe it.
Now look, we think America is pretty great (GOD BLESS AMERICA ETC!), but we, as liberals, are open to the idea that God might like other countries too, even though they are full of foreigns. And we also think that maybe if we hadn't constantly had that whole "American Exceptionalism!" thing crammed down our throats our entire lives, we as Americans might be better equipped to handle the actual problems this nation faces, instead of just assuming that our healthcare and our educational system and our baseball and our BBQ are the best. (Factcheck: Our baseball and our BBQ are the best.)
And also, we think just MAYBE this is why a lot of Americans don't lose too much sleep over things like bombing the fuck out of other nations, or exploiting them for oil, or [liberal words redacted for the sake of America's feelings].
Anyway, God Bless America, You're A Grand Old Flag, and let's make America's gay husband Jesus very proud this year by supporting healthcare and not killing each other and caring for the least of these and shit like that, ooh, gay husband Jesus likes it when you talk like that. Yeeeeah.
[ Christian Today ]
I have always wanted to be a world traveler but unfortunately a lifelong shortage of disposable income and the demands of work presented a stiff barrier to that. The only foreign soil I have ever set foot on were the two largest provinces of our neighbor to the north. I haven't even see all that much of the US yet, including parts that are relatively nearby. Outside of New England and the rest of the Northeast (and Michigan, where I grew up) the state that I have visited most is Florida. Been there many times, and not even once as a snowbird. I have only been west of the Mississippi once.
Foreign travel requires two things that are in critically short supply for most Americans: money and time. International travel is a nice goal that is quite difficult to achieve for the great majority of US citizens. It is well out of reach for a fair number of us. I disagree with you on this point; I feel that most Americans sincerely DO wish they could travel overseas or even visit other countries in the Americas. It is simply unattainable for most. The United States is quite properly regarded as a rich country but we all know that in truth only a handful of Americans are rich. A typical Western European has far more disposable income than his or her counterpart does in America, as well as utterly mind-boggling (to Americans) quantities of free time. (We have cheaper gas (petrol) though and, in some regions, bigger houses because of cheaper land and lower building costs in those areas.) The only hope that most Americans have of encountering people from overseas are via chance meetings with tourists when they come here.
Back during the Cold War the Iron Curtain kept most people from Eastern Europe from ever setting foot outside of their countries. In the 21st century, the Wage Curtain is doing the same thing for Americans.