Well, you should have gone to the trouble of stating such conveniently semantic distinctions a month ago, then.
You were left wondering, so I responded in turn. I asked for your definition of a patriot for compare and contrast after explaining my own, and you turn around and insult me yet again.
So, I'll try again:
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I do not often see people expressing a desire for the country to fail, but rather jabs at various parts of the country that, in their opinion, they dislike. Seeing as you've expressed interest in seeing the government side of the system gone, I can only guess that you do not like that part of the country. People like and hate different parts, and express those beliefs as people do.
Freedom, being a key part of this country's idea of how democracy should run, seems to entail every person with his or her beliefs as long as they are within the bounds of the law when acted upon (while that seems to disregard the definition of freedom... I digress).
But, when someone calls themselves a patriot and someone else unamerican for expressing an opinion or belief I can only point out the hypocrisy in the situation. As a patriot, by some definitions, is some who upholds the foundations of the country it seems odd that the idea of freedom, a key part of the country, would be pushed aside to say something like "you are unamerican" or "get out of my country" for expressing a belief and using their freedom.
It implies their opinion is less, and it is so far below them that the person does not have a place in the country. It implies that people outside of the country are somehow less than those within, which is to some degree racism, or rather prejudice... or simply nationalism. By proclaiming yourself a patriot, or someone else a patriot, it would seem to imply that not only are they a better American in some way, but that their actions and possibly beliefs reflect upon that of the foundations of the country.
But, again, using the words "patriot", "unamerican", and so on would seem to imply that not all men are created equal, not everyone deserves the freedoms in the country due to their own opinions, and so on. The use, and hell even the existence of the words seems to play contradictory to the message.
Not only that, but like "liberal", "conservative", "left", "right", "commie", and so on it can be used as a label, and seems to exist primarily as a label. But, in order for one to be a patriot there must be those who are unamerican for the title to mean anything, which brings me back to prejudice.
As someone with friends from and in many different countries, lines to speak to them through, and lines to interact with places outside the country... I find the words to be tasteless and, to some degree, dangerous.
I will call someone a better person than me, and someone a lesser person than me. I'm only human. But I'll call them a person and not an American because that somehow implies that "American" is something that everyone should strive for. And this goes with any country that proclaims patriotism/nationalism.
As far as seeing the country fail, I prefer to put my vote down and watching the events unfold. I'm one vote within 300 million people, and the country determines the direction of the country. If that direct is into a hole of failure, then let it be so. Perhaps we'll climb out of it and grow stronger from the experience. Or perhaps we'll wither away and grow into something else. It is the nature of things, as no country can simply be #1 forever.
Does that mean I want to be at the helm and drive it into the dirt? No, that would be stupid. I'm skeptical, but I'm not suicidal. And even with the comments and mockings of the country, it is far more feasible that they, like you, do not like an aspect of the country and rail on it instead of being determined to take the entire thing down. The entirety of the country is doing that well enough ourselves.
Who is and who isn't a patriot, an american, a liberal, a republican, and so on are just scare tactics and labels used to distinguish people from one another to make them easier to hate. I'm guilty of it, and so is everyone else. Its just how the human mind seems to organize things. But by giving into such concepts so completely, we only split the country into pieces and, in the end, are just hurting ourselves.
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I apologized for my actions, and have been taking a break. I responded to your comment in a fashion I thought was acceptable, and asked for your opinion for conversation. You decided to open a wound, insult my opinion, and disregard my question which can really only be seen as a flamebait.
I'll ask again for your conversation, but please respect my opinion and respond in kind.
I would love to, if I didn't think that I would merely be enabling yet another repetition of what is obviously nothing more than a classic abuse cycle.
Your numbers seem a bit off. No, I'm not off.
2.8% of the population has used cocaine within per year. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_prevalence_of_cocaine_use)
Alcohol just rank by consumption per person per person.
Smoking was ranked by prevalence to smoke. Like I said, the study only used adult males.
I listed this all where I showed the ranking.
You said users, so I will say that your numbers are off. If you want to change your answer to 73.6% of Americans have tried tobacco, then the number may be somewhat rational. However, if 73.6% of Americans were tobacco user do you really believe smoking bans would be happening? For the record, I sell life and health insurance. We don’t just take the insured’s word for Tobacco use. We test them to know if they will be surcharged or not.
Same goes for Alcohol, there is no way 91.6% of Americans are regular Alcohol users.
To be able to claim it's lack of healthcare we really have to see a breakdown of CAUSE OF DEATH for the infants.
If you would read what I wrote: Infant Mortality Rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country. It says that on the very CIA website I linked. Never wrote that it was caused by lack of health care.