SBB, I am glad you kicked this off. I want to feel good about the nation where I live and its role in the past, present and future of the species and this planet. Right now I’m getting ready to go to work and try to generate some revenue to stay solvent for my dear wife and daughter so they won’t be helpless and lost when I croak in a few years. My take is, the United States as a nation has been slipping since overcommitting in Vietnam out of paranoia vs communism, then kept making bad decisions tinkering in the business of other nations around the world. I liked the way things went in the 90s, then we overdid it (again) in Kuwait, then later in Iraq and Afghanistan. On a parallel track was a decline in the basic quality of education and intelligence of Americans leading to “shock and awe,” Rush Phlegmball, Fox Hate World, and Trumpatollah. America doesn’t have to save the world but it needs to acknowledge there are other viable cultures and nations who, together with our help, can create a better place for all of our descendants. My parents got married on Memorial Day in 1938. They raised three children. My father served in the Army Air Corps and taught navigation (4F for the shooting war - badly set broken arm). My mother’s two brothers fought in snd survived WW2 (Navy) and Korea (Army). I salute them all. And I refuse to give up or abandon hope.