by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor Although I find plenty to complain about with the United States of America, and I'm convinced this nation's freedoms, economy and leadership could use some major reforms, there's still a lot to like about the USA. I'm dedicating this essay to the top things I think are really great about the United States of America.
wish to believe. It's a remarkable freedom, and it's crucial that we preserve that freedom. It's one of the best things about living in the United States today.
protecting the environment, and a much more relaxed attitude about everything from hemp to intellectual property.) The health products industry in this country is fantastic, too. We have nutritional supplements readily available in every health food store that can literally treat, prevent and even reverse chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease. If you have the knowledge of what works, you can walk into any store and buy potent herbs, homeopathic remedies or nutritional supplements that can help reverse these diseases. That's a great freedom to have in this country. By the way, that freedom may be increasingly under attack because of the FDA's desire to regulate nutritional supplements. If you want to keep your health freedoms intact, stay alert. Pay attention to what's going on and act to preserve those freedoms. You can do that by joining the Alliance For Natural Health.
#9: Signage
Continuing on, the next best thing about America is signage. That's right: Signage is a big deal here. This may sound silly at first, but let me explain to you why this really matters. Signage comes in two parts: Road and navigation signs, and the limiting of commercial signage. One of the things that makes America pleasant is the fact that you can get where you're going by following road signs. If you've never toured much outside the country, you might take that for granted, because there are a lot of countries in the world that don't necessarily believe in the idea of telling you where you're going when you're traveling. America does a great job with road signage. The Department of Transportation keeps the signage in place and updates it quite frequently. Armed with even a simple map, you can usually get to where you want to go in this country. Other countries don't necessarily believe in that. You have to ask the locals where you're going, or you have to know the roads yourself. We have a lot to be thankful for in terms of navigation in this country.
Now let's talk about commercial signage. In America, we typically do a pretty good job of keeping commercial signage sufficiently suppressed, which means limiting the extent of signage that is of a commercial nature. Now, you might disagree if you're driving down the interstate and see one billboard after another, but there is actually some merit to the concept of billboards on some highways: they provide a public service. Sometimes you're looking for a hotel or a restaurant, and if you didn't have those billboards, you'd probably be out of luck and wouldn't be able to find them. But that's only in the interstates and highways. I'm not a fan of billboards in cities or communities. I've noticed a trend in America over the last ten years, where communities are requiring commercial entities to keep their signage more discreet. It's great to drive through a community and not see a giant yellow McDonalds arch polluting the skyline. If you want to find a McDonalds, they're easy enough to find. All you have to look for is a 4-foot tall sign close to the ground that's subtle enough to keep the sky clean, yet informative enough to let you know there's a McDonalds. This is also something you might take for granted if you haven't lived outside the country. Go to Tokyo or Taipei or Shanghai, for example, and you will find that the Asian cultures don't agree with this concept at all. To them, more signs are better, and simply opening your eyes in one of these cities can be quite disturbing, visually speaking. It's as if every business in town is screaming at you, trying to get you to notice them. That's what happens when you don't have signage laws. The commercial signs get completely out of control and you end up with a polluted setting where you really can't find the business you're looking for in the first place. It turns out to be nothing more than what I call "sign spam."
#10: Inventiveness
The next best thing to like about America is its inventiveness. Let's face it: We have a rather creative, highly innovative population here in this country. Per capita, we create more patents than any country in the world (not that I'm a fan of all the loony patents or anything, but at least we're good at dreaming up new ideas). We're inventive people! We come up with all sorts of new ideas and contraptions that ultimately advance our knowledge base and make our lives easier. Now of course, I'm not a naive promoter of technology, nor do I think that technology is the answer to happiness or any of the more important philosophical questions. But I do believe that science and technology can be one tool in helping us better understand the universe, and here in the United States we are great inventors of technology. We invented the personal computer, the internet, radio, television and even cold fusion technology, which is now being explored as low-energy nuclear reactions (and despite what you may have heard, cold fusion is quite real and replicable. In fact, cold fusion is being duplicated right now in more than 80 laboratories around the world, including many in Japan, where low-energy nuclear reactions are being used to heat water.) We are also great inventors of software and web-based application services. I think America produces the most innovative software in the world. Of course, Germany produces the most robust software -- software that works without crashing. If you ever want a software engineer that builds reliable applications, hire a programmer from Germany. They will cost you three times as much, but the software will be ten times as stable.
Moving on to the next best thing about America: National parks. That's right, we have been wise enough in this country to set aside large tracts of land for the enjoyment of the public. Once again, this is not something that's routinely practiced in other countries. Here in America you can visit the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park or any number of other national parks across the country. If it weren't for the efforts of those who support the national parks effort, these areas would have long since been exploited for commercial or industrial use ("Hey, let's mine the Grand Canyon!"). They would have been destroyed through commercial exploitation. But thanks to some forward-thinking government officials and private supporters, they are now preserved for your enjoyment and that of future generations. That's a visionary strategy on the part of Americans, and it's something that will serve us well for many generations to come. Along with national parks, there are also enjoyable state parks and other areas of nature that have been set aside for limited use by citizens. It's important for a population to keep in touch with nature. We shouldn't build roads and houses on every single piece of available land, you know. We have to set aside some of it as a preserve. To a large extent we have done that in this country, and we've done very well compared to many other countries in the world. Certainly there are improvements that could be achieved, but we've done a great job so far.
is a reasonably good destination. In fact, I believe it was Winston Churchill who said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all other forms of government." I think that's quite true. No form of government is perfect or even close to it, but if you have a choice of what government to live under or what jurisdiction to live under, the USA is a pretty good choice, even today. Even with what was lost in the last four years, in terms of civil liberties, it's still a good place to live. It was also Winston Churchill who said (paraphrasing), "America always does the right thing, after first exhausting all other alternatives." Needed improvements are especially obvious in the pharmaceutical industry today. Over the last 15 years, Big Pharma has over-exaggerated and over-marketed its drugs, and now we're seeing the backlash of the harm caused to Americans and the harm caused by directto-consumer advertising. Now things will probably swing the other way, and Big Pharma will once again be relegated to a more limited role in conventional medicine. Things will change in this country. It may take time, it may be frustrating to see this slow rate of change, but in the end I think we still have the sensibility and the level of activism necessary to eventually do the right thing.
Stay informed
So what can you do to keep this country great? Stay informed. Be an activist for something you believe in. Vote with your dollars: if you don't like something that a company or a government is doing, then don't buy that company's products. Let your dollars be congruent with your beliefs. Be active in politics. Vote every chance you get. But more than that, speak out and talk to people about your beliefs. Start a blogging site and write about your beliefs. Or if you feel strongly enough about a subject, get out there and rally with others who share your beliefs. Be active -- if you aren't part of the system, then you have no right to complain about it. Help move this country in the direction that you think it should be moved. And take care of your health; improve your nutrition and watch your diet so that you can maintain a healthy, sharp mind. You can stay mentally sharp all the way to 100 years of age or beyond, but it's up to you to make the lifestyle choices that keep you healthy. If you stay healthy and sharp, you can remain an active participant in shaping the direction in which this country is headed. As long as we can all do that, we will continue to have the best country in the world. It is only when we disengage -- when we abandon the country and throw up our hands in despair -- that we turn over power to those who would seek to change the course of our country for their own selfish gain. As long as you and our other fellow Americans stay engaged and recognize what's valuable in this country and seek to protect it, then we will all be well on our way to not just maintaining America as a wonderful place to live, but making it even better. Who knows, with enough activism and information, we may be able to return this country to fiscal sanity, meaningful public education, decent health care and qualified leadership. All it takes is people like you and me getting engaged with the process of change. If you aren't affecting change, change is affecting you.