How Often Do You Show SUPPORT For Our Great Country ? And Why Was It Necessary For A Canadian To Remind Us ?

Question

Written in 1972-1973, the following is likely to be a shocker for our younger participants . It's long, yes, but it's necessarily long because that's how important it was for a Canadian, Gordon Sinclair, to remind the entire world of the great accomplishments of the Americans .
I'll try to find an audio made by Gordon Sinclair or Byron MacGregor .

Do You Think Our Youth(and some adults) Should Be Required In School To Learn About This ?

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did.

They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon?

You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.

When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

The U.S. didn't help us after our earthquake. When i say the U.S. i refer to their government. All they have done to my country is make is worse. They bombed our ports in Corinto, they killed over 30,000 of my people, they sold weapons to Iran (and smuggled drugs to L.A.) in order to fund their illegal war, they came into my barrio (neighborhood) and raped woman while they shot the men in front of them in the streets, they committed human right violations, they killed the poor people in the countryside because they thought they were "communist", they backed and supported a DICTATOR who ruled my country for over 3 generations. Those dictators forced people to work and paid them absolutely nothihng, when they were in power the illiteracy rate was over 50% and after the revolution the Sandinistas brought the illiteracy rate from 50% down to 13% in only 3 months.

The U.S. is a disgrace, they have a high poverty rate, their economy will tumble and i hope they go through another depression, i want the world to place an economic embargo against them as they have done to other countries, only chaos will come when you people have to use your little resources to ration off food to over 300million people. Those in the government are are corrupt money embezzlers.

Anonymous · Answer

NeoCons are always happy to hammer away at our country when a Democrat is in office.

If NeoCons can be this patriotic when a Democrat is in office, then I'll be impressed.

It's not likely.  It's likely in 2010 we'll be talking about impeachment proceedings for either Obama or Clinton.

Yeah, it's wrong to be angry about an impeached president, when the impeachment was a SHAM.  Oh yeah, they hammer at him when he's out of office too.  See: Jimmy Carter.

Would have been better?  So the truth is a bad thing now?

Anonymous · Answer

I think I'm going to gag. I've seen the video of this speech and the guys right. I give him credit for speaking out. There are still two sides to every coin and we now seem to be on the flip side of that coin...you know, occupying Iraq and all. Oops, did I type that? Sorry, my fingers slipped. I meant we're still spreading democracy to this day. The problem is we defend a memory of what America once was, not what it is today. I'm about to become a senior citizen, I'll be damned if I ever listen to someone trying to tell me about my patriotism or to be told I must salute, praise or otherwise mindlessly and blindly listen to everything my government presents to me...and agree. When my country starts acting like my country, I will salute it, till then, I'm not to proud to be American at this point in time. Foolish Americans indeed.

? · Answer

I noticed hardly anyone actually wanted to answer the question, simply landblast it. 
Kinda sad. Really. 

I've often failed at patriotism though I like to think I'm not the greatest failure in this regard. It used to astound me in my youth that one of my friends, a woman I had and still have great respect for was so eager and so easy with her patriotism. She was often put down for it, maybe because she was of mexican descent I don't know. But I always admired her and learned from her. 
This country is worth our respect and worth our support. I hear tons of complaints about how bad we have gotten. Law suit happy, war happy, economically unbalanced, overidden with criminals. And some or all of it might be true. But if you care about your country at all you will do everything in your power to change this not just sit and complain about it. 

As for supporting the Dems. I had respect for President Clinton. I've had respect for every president we have had, agree with them or not. I respect our current president, one of the hardest things to do because of how unpopular he is and how many mistakes he has made. But I say if you can do better go into politics and become president. I hope that answers Bearkat (the Stutz Bearcat was an awesome car btw).
Our country is important, its the most important thing we, collectively, have. It would be nice if we would start acting like it. 
Congress needs an overhaul. The country, itself, is beautiful.

CanadianFundamentalist · Answer

I can name one time when someone else raced to America's trouble.

9/11... 

Hurricane Katrina...

What about the wars they're waging at the moment?

Sorry, that speech is out of date.

I, am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing about my country being kicked around. They call us "Communists", "hippies", "weak-minded slaves", "America's b*tch", "America's hat". 

We have raced to America's aid countless times, despite what this man says. We have fought wars, spilt blood and lost loved ones for them. We have opened our doors when Americans were in need after the twin towers were destroyed. The Griffon helicopters flying over New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina? They were Canadian helicopters.


Oh, and people beat on America because of the things they've done. Not the good things, the bad ones...

The US has done a decent amount of incredibly evil things in this world...


So yes, you can teach me about the good things America has done. But at the same time, teach me the BAD things. Tell me about the genocidal wars, the massacres, the oppression. Tell me about manifest destiny. Tell me about the abduction of foreign citizens on trumped up charges of "terrorism". Teach that alongside the good they've done in the world, and THEN you can make your speeches.

Bumpers · Answer

Thank you.  I hope that we Americans never lose this spirit.  Lee Hazelwood (?) also gave a similar message in his song, Proud To Be An American.  At time I think that foreigners get the idea that all Americans are rich because of the generosity of the American people.

Anonymous · Answer

I show support by never bashing our country, president or congress.  I am quite positive that the people in the know know what they are doing.

Lou · Answer

Our Great Country is not so great anymore. We have mega loads of criminals and never-do-wells that we have support one way or another. The wealthiest is taking advantage of the middle class. Our rivers, streams, lakes, oceans, grounds, and air are being ruined by corporations and greed and people that don't care. 
The ones of us that do care are vastly out-numbered and it is getting worse every day.

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How Often Do You Show SUPPORT For Our Great Country ? And Why Was It Necessary For A Canadian To Remind Us ?

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