I have criticized America and its institutions on many occasions and for many reasons, but not because I hate her, but on the contrary because I dearly love America and for that which it truly stands. The thing is there isn't any real point in criticizing the lame, the inept, the weak, and the feeble-minded, because you know that their overall potential is rather limited, so you owe these people instead your compassion and your care; whereas for the strong, the mighty, those of superior intellect and abilities, when they disappoint you and fail to live up to their heritage and their potential by their pettiness, by their short-sightedness's, by their cheating, and by their lying, these you will criticize, because you have expected so much more from them and they haven't yet delivered on it. So that when you study America, you are distressed at all the mistakes that she makes, in its unnecessary middling in foreign affairs and wars, in its' shameful spying of its own citizens, in its over-incarceration of its own citizens, and its unwillingness to lift the lamp at its golden door.
Yet through it all this is still the greatest country on earth, because at its foundation, at its very being, is the rock-core principles that this is a country that has been gifted with the knowledge that indeed all men are created equal, and through its long history, America has walked down this path of true equality, during which there have been times that she has stumbled, backtracked, veered off the true path, but also she has inexorably through the bravery and the vision of so many, walked the path, that no other country has walked, and has lived the creed, that embraces all men, of all colors, of all walks of life, in a way that brings honor to this nation and has proven that those that have died defending her, have not died in vain.
America too is a nation of liberty, allowing its people to live lives of their own choosing and of their own desire, to worship in their own way, to think their own thoughts, to do their own deeds, and to become what they dream to become. In far too many countries, where you are born, and who you are born to, sets the limits on which you will become, whereas in America, one has the liberty to break free from such constraints. Certainly, we do not all start with the same attributes, but each of us is given the opportunity to be the master of our own fate, or the captain of our own ship.
Finally, in America, we can pursue our own happiness, because we are given the freedom of choice to do so. For some, that happiness that we pursue may be instead an illusion, or a dead-end, or rife with perils that we had not anticipated, but nevertheless it is our pursuit, it is ours, because we have made it so with our free will, rather than being forced to be or do something by the dictates of the State. For Americans, our happiness, our liberty, and our freedom, is held within our own hands, within our own efforts, our own blood, our own labor, our own sweat, our own tears, and may it ever be so.