Thanks for that perspective. It's so easy to find a reason to hate or denigrate the U.S. I went through a period of doing so during the Vietnam war, provoked by the hard realization that my childhood "John Wayne" vision of my country was flawed, that my country did evil in the world as well. There is no perfect country, very powerful countries have tremendous temptations to do wrong, and in the balance the U.S. hews far closer to my values than any other world power now or in history.

We do wrong, we try to do right, and we reflect on our past and present actions, something that autocracies NEVER do. And as you point out, the American people often help and rejoice in each other's successes.