What's Right With America?

We hear much today about the evils of America.  Liberals in Hollywood, academia, the news media, and government portray it as a terrible country.  They present it as historically evil and the problem of the modern world.  Even President Obama seems to have a negative view of America, seeing it as an oppressor.  First lady, Michelle Obama said she was proud of her country for the first time when her husband, Barack Obama was elected.  

On the other hand conservatives talk of American exceptionalism.  So is America exceptional?  Yes, if it is understood correctly.  America is indeed the exception and not the norm historically.  The freedom, prosperity, and high living standards in the United States are unprecedented.  In America the average person is well off.  Even the poor in the United States are much better off than the those in other countries.  Most nations throughout history have been ruled by tyrants or monarchs.  This is not so in the United States where there is a Constitutional Republic.  

But why is America an exceptional country?  Are Americans better than the people of other countries?  No, not at all.  It comes from the ideas and beliefs that form the foundation of the country.  America has had at least somewhat of a Biblical worldview as a foundation.  This has shaped the greatness of America.  The Biblical worldview has provided the form needed for the freedom we have in this country.  The problem with most countries is the foundation they are built upon.  

America's economic system has been capitalism.  It has provided unprecedented prosperity.  The free market system has done more to help the poor than socialism has ever thought about doing.  The free market system is the most beneficial to all people.  It has been said that capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth while socialism is the equal distribution of poverty.  

It must be said that America is not a perfect country.  Things like slavery and segregation are terrible blots on the history of America and the West.  It must be pointed out that slavery did not begin with Western civilization but abolition did.  American foreign policy has not been perfect either.  But it has not been an aggressor taking over other countries even though it is a super power.  

Our founders who though not perfect were brilliant men who provided us with the best form of government, laid out for us in the U.S. Constitution.  A Republic based on a Biblical worldview has made America probably the greatest country in world history.  The nation has been greatly blessed by God.