This monologue from 12 years ago really sums it up for me. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore but I believe it still has the capacity to be.
TL;DW - Yes, and it's complicated.
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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Yes. Not the "adore" kind of love, as from a child to a parent, though. The "take care of" kind of lives, as from a parent to a child.
This is what I wanted to say, but you already expressed it so well, thank you. ❤️
No. The US was founded through genocide and colonialism, and while it's improved in ways, the US government has never had the well-being of it's people as a primary goal. Power, control, and the transfer of wealth and resources to a small minority has always been what this country has sought. I care greatly for a lot of the people here, but in the same way I see that same value in people all over the world, not just here.
Yes. The government? Hell no
Yes, I came to say I love my country very much; enough to want it to be healthy and prosperous for everyone, with abundant resources to welcome anyone and help them become the best versions of themselves. Right now, we have a lot of self reflection and work to do, to become the best versions of ourselves.
I am endlessly fascinated by our culture. Our food is often aggressively bad for you (McDonald's, Twinkies, etc.). We use red Solo cups at parties frequently enough they are associated with America. We put flags on lots of things that normally don't have flags (tshirts, cars, etc.). And our national bird (which I think is a pretty honest representation of our culture) takes shit that isn't theirs.
Edit: The Good Place summarized pretty well.
"In America, everyone does whatever they want, society did break down, it’s terrible, and it’s great! You only look out for number one, scream at whoever disagrees with you, there are no bees because they all died, and if you need surgery you just beg for money on the internet. It's the perfect system!"
I've never understood that.
There's a lot of things I could feel for an arbitrary geographical area, a government, a populace, or whatever other criteria make a country.
But love? Nah. Nor hate. There's nothing to love about such things. It's too much anthropomorphism for my brain to handle. Smaller groupings of people, yeah I can find love and hate. Mind you, those are not opposites; apathy is the opposite of both.
I am not apathetic to nations.
But there are things I enjoy about nations, including the us.
So it's fair to say that I enjoy some aspects and dislike others. A nation is not monolithic enough to say much more than that for me. It's like loving or hating the milky way.
Maybe if I lived in Luxembourg, that would be small enough to love or hate. However, I suspect that even at that size population and area, I'd still find myself without a distinct strong emotion.
I can't even say I love or hate my town. I like it. But it's like anything else human: fragmented. I can find that I love strolling through parts of my town. I love some of the history, and I love a good portion of the populace.
I might stretch that to bigger locations. Pittsburgh, as an example, is the one city I've ever been to that I didn't hate my stay. I can't say I love Pittsburgh, but there's a lot of parts of it that I do love. Mainly some of the people.
I dunno, what emotions do I have for the whole country? Conflicted is the way I'd describe that. Angry would describe some of the major aspects, particularly the political landscape. I think I can say I feel some joy in some of the people. And I do love the natural beauty of the country as whole. I haven't ever seen a region where the land itself wasn't spectacular, awe inspiring. That tends to turn into love eventually, and has for me.
Man, if you aren't able to explore the remaining unpopulated areas here, I don't know if I can even explain it properly. Every country has natural beauty away from population centers, I'm sure. But we just have so damn much of it, in staggering variety, for a single nation. Comes with being so damn huge.
I feel rage for what my country has become, but love for what I believe it can still be, even if not in my lifetime.
Why should I?
I just figured it would be a prerequisite to someone wanting to make their country better.
No, having to live here is really the only thing you need to have in order to care about making the place not a shithole.
What do I get for the "love"?
The most expensive healthcare in the world, Some of the worst worker protections, Massive compensating disparity, And blatantly corrupt politics.
Yeah, great things to love.
No, I don't love it because it's headed down a shitty path and being pushed there by shitty people who reject the core tenets of who we were supposed to be.
But I want to improve it so that they cannot tear it apart, and might some day be worthy of respect and love.
This country is likely done for. Time to start planning for the one to come after the fight.
No, a country won't love me back. It won't even take care of me when I'm sick or ensure I can access basic necessities for life.
I want a good place to live but I'm not going to love the place. I'll put in work and organize to get that better place but simply out of a desire to have a good life and make a good life possible for those around me. None of that requiress love for an arbitrary division of land. Besides the US exists on land stolen from the tribes folk. I'm not a fan of that either.