When I was a young boy, we had one of those spinning globes at home. One day my mother asked me if I knew where our country was, and told me to point it out after spinning the orb. As it began to slow down and Europe came into view, I stopped it and placed my finger over France. Howling with laughter, she corrected me and guided my finger over the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean and placed it on the US.

I share that because I've always been a patriot proud of my nation and aware of our place in the world. When I traveled overseas a few years ago, I took no less than four American-flag t-shirts along with me. These are not things I wear only on the 4th of July, but year round. I currently have six shirts like that and am planning to pick up a seventh. Upon asking my classmates among the international students in Germany if they had any national pride, I was usually met with shrugs or comments like "It's alright, I guess." This surprised me, more so when I asked my friend from Liverpool, England and got the same response.

Not only was he dismissive of his country, as a Tory, he hated the monarchy as well, which I'd have thought had broad support there as well. In fact every UK student said the same thing, so something must be brewing in the young British mind, and it ain't tea. When I look at England in particular, I see a country that has accomplished so much, while building an empire that just 100 years ago, controlled more territory (not contiguous, like the Mongols) than any other nation in world history. It was only when I pointed that out to my three English classmates, that a hint of pride finally wrote itself on their faces in the form of a smile.

The Flag

My family has always been patriotic and we flew the flag every Independence Day and Flag Day. We were taught the U.S. Flag Code in school and given little booklets on how to properly dispose of it (ironically, by burning or burying it) and how to properly display it, with the Union always upper left. This was not unusual as everyone in the neighborhood did the same.

These days, it may be popular to bash this great country, but what would the world be like if we weren't here at all? I was reading recently of the nervousness of many countries in Southeast Asia at China flexing it's military might in the region. Attempting to claim the entire South China Sea, using the Nine-dash-line, while claiming resources from others. Stationing militia members posing as fishing vessels in the economic zone of The Philippines, building man-made islands and ordering a troop buildup on the "contested" border with India.

Then we have Russia planting the flag at the North Pole and claiming most of the Arctic as its own, The Crimea, and adventures in The Donbass region of The Ukraine. If the USA slipped beneath the waves tomorrow, who do you think would be able to restrain these two behemoths? Even The Philippines under Duarte, who was so eager to expel the US military from his country, has now done an about-face, in order to have our support if conflict with China breaks out.

Japan is also worried and want to beef up it's military along with Australia as well. More and more nations are beginning to see the "Belt and Road" for the financial noose that it actually is. So to those that hope for the destruction of America, be careful what you wish for! Despite all of that bad things we've done as a nation, there are at least as many good things on our ledger as well. Those are what I'm most proud of. We're always the first to step up when a country has a national disaster and needs assistance. It's not something we have to do, we do it because it's good to help others in need.

I guess in reality, there's two Americas. The evil war-mongering empire that is always overthrowing governments it doesn't like. Salvador Allende in Chile, which gave them murderous Dictator Augusto Pinochet. Saddam Hussein of Iraq, which after his overthrow, turned a stable, progressive nation over to the Iran. Muammar Qaddafi of Libya, who'd actually begun doing everything we asked, but was ousted and murdered anyway, resulting in Libya becoming a breeding-ground for terrorists, slave markets and human smuggling of refugees. I could go on and on, but you get the point.

“Well boys, Britain’s broke; it’s your money we want.”

Contrast all of that with the blood sacrifice we made to send our boys over to save Europe not once, but twice in WWI and WWII. Today, we seem to get almost no thanks or appreciation for that from these prosperous European countries who wouldn't enjoy such prosperity without the security guarantee provided by the United States. Many of these European nations don't have to spend on a large military budget and can afford to build up their own economies, because we are spending our own taxpayer money protecting them. The above paragraph quote about Britain being broke, was made by British Ambassador to the US, Lord Lothian. He had arrived to inform President Roosevelt that England would not be able to pay for supplies anymore and that the situation in Britain was dire. Neither world war was a contest that we had to get into and many were the voices quoting The Monroe Doctrine advising us to stay the hell out. However, when called, we sprang into action and did the right thing for our European brothers.

Lend Lease aid and The Marshall Plan for Europe

YouTuber Lav Luka uploaded a response video commenting about just how much we did to help the UK, Europe, and the Soviet Union, defeat the Nazis during the war. I had no idea we'd donated that much equipment, food, and supplies as part of our Lend Lease aid program. Even China received aid from us. Without such help, they never would have been able to hold back Nazi Germany and world history would have turned out very differently. After the war, Europe was in shambles and aid from the United States continued in the form of The Marshall Plan beginning in 1948. Some say the aid to Britian was wasted, but there's no way we would have let our British brothers hang out to dry. That "Special Relationship" endures to this day. $15 billion dollars in financial aid or the equivilant of $250 billion dollars today, was donated to countries in Europe to help restore their economies, by the generous people of the United States.

A Marshall Plan for America

I laid all of that out to show that we've done our part and have always been there whenever necessary. We've done plenty for others, now it's time to look after our own.

It seems we spend a lot of time concerned about other nations and it might just be time to focus attention on Americans right here at home. We need a "Marshall Plan" for America. With over One trillion dollars wasted in Afghanistan, yet we can't be bothered to forgive student loan debt.

Crumbling infrastructure and even food insecurity is rising in the United States. I know, as I volunteer in the homeless shelters and food kitchen and get to see it first-hand. What is surprising me is the increase in the number of families with children needing assistance, along with the elderly. It is all fine and good to show concern for other countries, but we must not forget the suffering going on right here.

So it's one of those things where nuance is called for when considering why I love my country so much. Despite everything that's happened since it founding 245 years ago, I think the US has had an overall net positive influence on the rest of the world. The hope is that we keep learning from our mistakes and become a better nation both for us and this little blue ball we all call home.

Thank You So Much!

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We Need a Marshall Plan for America