I live in America. I like it here. It’s the day for expressing that, so, here goes.
The First Amendment
Freedom of speech, both as norm and as law, is very good. It’s also rare. That autocracies don’t have it goes without saying, but many democracies aren’t much better:
Until 2019, blaspheming could get you two years of prison in Greece.
Denmark is currently floating a law to ban flying foreign flags.
A proposed Canadian law would punish hate speech even retroactively.
I’m pretty sensitive as far as speech goes, and there are many things I prefer not to hear. But the dangers of censorship are massive, and I’m glad America is against it.
Strong Care for Nature
My wife works in government conservation, and has spoken before a state board. American officials - and the public - care a lot about the beauty of public land, and are dedicated to preserving it. The concern is remarkably nonpartisan, too: lots of hunters and fishers show up and speak, as do environmentalists with direct concerns about animal welfare. There are beautiful parks all over the place in the USA, including some of the largest and most majestic in the world. And in general, public land is free or extremely cheap to spend time on; everywhere I’ve lived or my family has vacationed you can go ride an inner tube down a river at low cost, for example.
Career Optionality
There are a lot of ways to make a living in America, and qualified private citizens are mostly free to pick whatever works for them. Our intense, technical full time jobs pay better than anywhere in the world, though you may lose some hair at crunch time. Government jobs tend to have good work-life balance and it’s less likely you’ll be fired, but they don’t pay as much. Gig work gets a bad rap, but America’s generally high level of wealth means it’s not too hard to eke out a living as a freelancer: I was a test prep tutor for a while and did fine, and I know one science writer who got a Master’s degree in the subject, found she disliked full time work, and supports herself on very few hours of work per week (and a low budget). And for people who really want to shoot for the moon, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco are right there.
Of course, many places in the world have terribly dysfunctional job markets, but even places generally considered good don’t have as much variety. European labor protections have their advantages, but they tend to squeeze salaries closer together; if you want to work fewer hours for less money, or push yourself hard for more, government regulation may make this difficult. I like being able to choose from a wider range. Personally, I’ve worked as a freelancer in multiple fields, in high-intensity corporate jobs, and for the public sector. I appreciate the variety.
Federated Culture
Of course every place has a culture, and one’s own culture feels invisible from the inside. But I think it’s actually true that America’s culture is pretty broad. We’re one of the most diverse places in the world: I love that America keeps winning global sporting events by just accepting the best athletes in the world as immigrants. It’s true that there’s such a thing as “American food”, but even a small city will have pretty good restaurants from dozens of different international cuisines. In various other countries I’ve visited - Switzerland, Hungary, and Trinidad, for example - I had a stronger sense of a “main culture”, a basic way of doing things that people presumptively have in common. America has some of that, but it’s pretty weak; hanging out with Smash Bros players, tech job strivers, or psychology grad students all feel socially distinct. Again, I appreciate the variety.
Money
It feels trite to say, but America is the richest country in the world. There are countless talented immigrants trying to move here all the time, often making great sacrifices to do so, in large part because of the fortunes one can amass. A middle class income in the USA is an absolute dream for many people throughout the world. It’s easy to be a contrarian about this, and hand wring about how things are expensive here, or money doesn’t go as far. But it does go pretty far - just look how many people want to be here at all costs, high prices and all!