Honestly I'm pretty proud of how well turned the ship around on gay rights. Like in the span of a decade there was like a 40% opinion swing on that. We're still not where we need to be and it seems like it's getting worse though tbh. I think Europe overtook us on that front because I feel much safer here in Germany being gay in public.

How (generally) genuinely nice and outgoing everyone is in the states. (Outside of the south where it tends to be a very fake in my experience.) In the states I'm mildly introverted, in Germany I'm usually one of the most outgoing in the room.

Our multicultural foods and stuff. You're never more than a stones throw from really good Mexican, Chinese, Thai, etc. food anywhere in the US.

Turning right on a red light, the European mind cannot comprehend it.

Air Conditioning.

Handicap accessibility.

Our national parks are unparalleled.

Probably a few other American gems I could think of if forced to.

All that being said I'm immigrating to Germany right now and the grass is very much greener over here. I have no desire to live in the US again. I'm definitely not proud of America anymore, but I am proud of a few things about America.

Ironically many Americans are proud to be [pick any European country].

Which I always found is considering they nor their parents nor grandparents had every set foot in that nation.

You should only be proud of the things you've done.. Same with shame

What do you have access to that most of the rest of the world doesn't? Certainly not free health care?

Yeah, I've never understood it. Especially when that location gives you privilege over people in other places. You're proud because you were born in a wealthy country due to no control of your own? Fuck your pride, there are people starving to death. Feeling lucky you're not one of them, fine. Being proud of it? That makes you an asshole.

What's your alternative? Other countries have similar one-word names for their citizens, "Italians," "Japanese," "Mexicans", etc. United-Statesians? Then we might get the complaint that many other countries are made of smaller states too! Let's go for "citizens of the United States of America," that's nice and short. I get that Central/South America exists, but let us have the word, there's nothing else which sounds good.

You're crazy if you think there's not a bunch if young generation politicians who are more than happy to cater to the whims of corporate lobbyist bribes, lol

Abolishing slavery, ending Jim Crow, giving women the vote, becoming one of the first dozen countries on the planet to legalize gay marriage, helping win WW2, helping support Ukraine, donating more to foreign aid than any other country on the planet, the Marshall Plan, everything about NASA, best national parks on the planet, entertainment capital of the world, first country to land a man on the moon, the whole "nation of immigrants" things making us one of the most diverse countries on the planet.

And of course, none of that excuses the dark parts of our history, the slavery, genocide, imperialism in Latin America, among many, many others. But that brings me to the thing I love most about American: with the exception of the loud Republican minority, we're a country that actually reckons with the dark parts of our past and tries to make up for them instead of sweeping them under the rug. And then we get to work fixing them.

We've made so much progress even in my relatively brief lifetime-- in agonizing two-steps-forward, one-step-back fashion, for sure, but that doesn't make it not count. I'm so excited to see where we go in the future.