I have seen recent international polls that identify the US as the greatest threat to both world peace and the environment. It's getting more and more difficult for those choosing to ignore the evidence that the US isn't so great anymore.

@Piratefish I used to understand our motives and actions. The politics is also us or them (I'm NEITHER-I only want good governance) - if you don't agree you are automatically "un-american". If I was considerably younger as @Rudy1962 states I would certainly think of other locales. Most of the other industrialized nations appear to solve the citizens concerns amicably. There are NO utopias-but there is only dysfunction lately.

@think-freely

If I spoke Icelandic, I would seriously consider moving there. Of all the places I have read about, Iceland seems to be the best match for my personality and philosophy. I love how they handled the 2008 financial crisis, and the fact that the majority of the population are humanist, agnostic, or atheist. In fact, I read last year that 100% of Icelanders under the age of 18 are atheist or agnostic. I also admire Scandinavian countries, especially after having hosted foreign exchange students from both Norway and Sweden for a year. I think they have better priorities, and aren't as into greed and selfishness as the average American seems to be.

I wish I could hit "like" 10 times for this one. The self-hate and USA-hate on this site is disgusting.

No flag is large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. Nothing is worse than people's indifference to it either.

As for advancing "Democracy" that is laughable, because for one, the USA is not a "Democracy", it is a Republic, and, if Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, or Syria are examples of advancing democracy, then you have been drinking far to much of the Kool-aide they have been serving up.

@THHA The United States is held to the highest standards of collateral damage. Only 1 in 5 air strikes have led to a single civilian death. Please compare that to any other fighting force.

The U.S. is both a Republic and a Democracy
[blog.prepscholar.com]

Yes. That part of the world has been a C...F.... and we should have never put our hand in that hive.
However....
[pewresearch.org]

Pew Research . . . . funded by the Templeton Foundation . . . . . [en.wikipedia.org] Yea, like that is not biased.

As for the "highest standard", it is nearly the only standard, because the vast majority of countries do not use drones over countries other than their own!

As for it being a "democracy" . . . [cia.gov] This is the CIA AKA our own governments definition of what we are . . . Government type:
constitutional federal republic

@THHA Pew Research is biased...and I'm guessing so is empirical data. That's biased too.

Collateral damage standards. Not standards of using drones.

Yes for simplicity you can say that we are a Constitutional Federal Republic. It's like calling the US Capitalist. Truth is more nuanced than that. But don't take my word for it. However two completely different sources both describe that nuance I've stated.
[ivn.us].

From an approach simply relying on empirical data, and common sense, the USA is clearly NOT a democracy . . . a democracy would mean that one man's vote is as good as another's, and we all (at least those of us who are actually awake) that that is far from what it is . . . money has more power than votes, corporations, (yes, corporations are people, don't you know!) AIPAC, NGO's and Delegates, gerrymandering, and just plain old gangsterism also have a part in it, and anyone who thinks it is a democracy, just because that is what is written somewhere, is living in La La Land.

@THHA you obviously didn't read the section under local and state. The United part isn't s Democracy. It's the States part and as you get more local it becomes one. Or do you live in a shitty state thst doesn't have local elections with direct popular votes for you district.

Gerrymandering is an issue, corporations aren't full people (they don't have all the rights of a natural person), anyone who thinks we live in an Oligarchy is a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorist.

That is a pretty shoddy come-back, I would not even classify it as a good try.

@THHA Then we would have to wonder what you would classify your responses as. If you were honest.

Wonder away.

Unfortunately, it stands well as it is, given that there is not enough opposition in the citizenhood to prevent it from happening, and in fact, lots of support for it. Not saying we do not have plenty of people who oppose it, but we have far to many who either support it, or go along with it as if it is acceptable.

@THHA I don't think most know what to do about it. Especially since they have all of us so divided over race, religion, political party, gender, sex, etc. Anything to keep us bickering and ineffective toward real change.