Quote Originally Posted by rockzmom View Post
When you have a dream, any dream big or small, you can at least try to achieve that dream in the U.S. There is always someone willing to help you. No one stops you from praying to whomever or whatever or not at all. You have a choice of schools, jobs and where to live. You're not forced to marry someone. You can rise from your own bootstraps (if you even have enough money to have them) and if you have the determination and desire, make a very comfortable life for yourself and family.

It may be FAR from perfect...
Replace in this paragraph U.S. by "Sweden" or "Russia" or almost any contemporary state and you will get essentially the same. It is a slogan to believe, an ideology. The "Truth", which contains no facts. When someone tries to decipher what is so special in US in terms of measurable values, it usually turns to average number of dollars consumed per person per unit time. This is really nice but somewhat different.

It is like an advertisement: "all your family will be happy forever with our world best toothpaste". Yeah, they found a decent formula for white teeth and, maybe even fresh breathe. Well, maybe consumers of that toothpaste really dream to be happy forever with all family and believe that it makes their toothpaste the world best one. And teach their children at school to be happy forever with the world best toothpaste and all family...

But it sounds a bit like... "propaganda".