I read the Washington Post this morning and I saw an opinion piece from a Canadian historian named Paul Pirie. It’s titled “The American Revolution Was a Flop.” In this article are a number of fine observations noted by our friend from the North:
As for the pursuit of happiness, Americans are free to do just that — provided that they aren’t rotting in jail. But are they likely to find it? Most Americans work longer hours and have fewer paid vacations and benefits — including health care — than their counterparts in most advanced countries.
and
A report co-authored last year by the economist Jeffrey Sachs ranked the United States 10th in the world for happiness — again behind Canada and Australia. The Sachs study found that the United States has made “striking economic and technological progress over the past half century without gains in the self-reported happiness of the citizenry.
Okay. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I didn’t know “happiness” is somehow rated objectively. This means I can rate my own happiness and compare it to those of Canadians. For instance, I might be unhappy because I only own three cars instead of four, but a Canadian might be happy because they have a heated home … something they need 10 months a year.
Here’s how I see it: I’m happy I’m an American. I’m happy because we get and are open to criticism. There are a lot of countries NOT open to criticism. There’s a lot of countries that won’t do the things the United States will do. Most of the America haters want to focus on military interventions, or so-called “snooping” by intelligence agencies. Fine, but the United States is the greatest humanitarian in the history of the world, bar none. There are millions of people alive on almost every continent who owe it to American interventions. The United States has given humanitarian aid to nations that hate it, like Iran and Pakistan. Go ahead, hate those ideals which America stands for, but back in Reality, no nation has been as generous as the United States. Here’s the bad news, rest of world: We are who WE BELIEVE WE ARE: Generous to a fault, but willing to use all our tools to give you a richly deserved ass-kicking if need be. No exceptions. We can be above the board, or get in the mud with you. Cope with it.
As for Canada, are you kidding me? If I said Canada is inferior to the United States in virtually everything except producing hockey players, that entire nation would just weep. I like Canada and Canadians but they need to shut up if they’re going to judge us. We didn’t ask you for Bieber.
