Americans Share 43 Things They Believe Their Country Is Doing Right

National and state parks

National parks are beloved destinations for both citizens and visitors from around the world, even more people visit the state parks.With sweeping vistas, stunning forests and incredible wildlife, amazing hiking and camping adventure, parks are one of the brightest jewels of America.

It’s not just an American thing but we have very beautiful national parks.

I was very young when my parents and I immigrated here, and I have far more opportunities here than I would in India. So I’m very thankful for that.

Wheelchair accessibility. As someone who uses a wheelchair for all ambulation, I can say the US has a leg up on that compared to the other countries that I have been to.

I like the diversity of the landscape & natural world. I’ve been to mountains & deserts & mountains in deserts. Been to the ocean with a sandy beach, to lakes with sandy beaches, to lakes with rocky beaches. Been to the woods & to forests. I’ve seen so many different native plants, all kinds of animals, & bugs. It’s pretty cool.

The people here are actually very nice. There are a few bad apples that make us look bad, but most people are friendly and helpful.

In the words of the mentally handicapped kid I tutored my senior year when asked what makes America great _It is where my family is_.

I can wear what I want. Sure I have strict parents at the age of about to be 21. But coming from the middle east. Most people don't realize the blessing we have here to be able to wear shorts or jeans or tank tops.

I’m posting late so I don’t expect a response but being in The United States is not as bad as it’s made out to be.

We have wonderful nature and geographical diversity, a far above average job market, an admittedly corrupt but also relatively stable democracy, land borders with a country we are very close with and another that we have no real problems with, one of the most stable currencies, and an extremely diverse culture and demographic.

I know that it’s really screwed up to say, but this country is really great for people who do generally well but can be brutal for those left behind. We have to fix our healthcare system (although it’s good if you have insurance) we have to fix our minimum wage/education system (also good or bad depending on where you live)/ and political corruption. We need to fix our tax code and stop catering to the ultra wealthy and corporations, and should probably stop sticking our noses in everyone’s business.

All in all the US is pretty cool, contrary to what Reddit says. Yeah we’re probably not the best, but we’re doing alright.

In my early twenties, on a whim, I turned my back to the region I had lived in my entire life and set off on a great American journey with nothing but a backpack full of clothes, some meager belongings and a handful of cash. For the following couple of years I traversed this country and it's diverse, awe-inspiring landscape. Along the way I met all kinds of people with varying degrees of beliefs and philosophies, people from different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures. Many were kind and generous, some not so much, and some were filled with the same kind of wanderlust that encouraged me to travel. This experience revealed to me the great diversity belonging to this country, in it's terrain *and* it's people.

With a few exceptions, we can treat red lights as a stop sign if we are turning right.

Honestly, if I had to pick the #1 thing I'd say the open space.

the USA has so much open space that we've carved off enormous parts of the continent to permanently be just open space. The US National Park system is the crown gem of the nation.

Despite our stereotype for being xenophobic and racist, I think Americans are by and large an incredibly friendly people.

Many of us would happily give the shirt off our back to help our neighbor (at least on a 1-1 level, not sure why that hadnt translated to the national level).

AC during the summer.

Free refills.

I love reading all of this because it gets pretty tiring reading all the Anti-American comments. The thing about us is that we don’t hide what we love and we don’t hide what we hate. I think many of us are naive to what we actually have (something like only 40% of Americans have a passport).

Not American but for me, the economies of scale. Almost everything here in Australia is more expensive (even digital downloads but that's another story).

I'd like to get into metalworking, woodworking and fixing up old cars. The US population in 1960 was seven times today's Australian population and so there were a similar number of cars. As a result of the US war effort, there is an absurd amount of surplus machinery.

It seems that now, you can drive into any random barn in any US state and find a classic car, lathe, bandsaw or whatever that belonged to someone's late grandparent.

e.g. Just had a quick look for "monarch lathe" (classic US-made unit) on ebay. $3000-$7000 USD. Similar size lathe here is $10,000 and it's second hand Chinese import :(.

I'm not American, but when I was there it was undoubtedly the food. At no given point was I more than a ten minute walk from good food. Contrary to what Reddit would have you believe, it's not all fast food either(though Whataburger is insanely good). There's alot of good little places to eat and you're never far from one.

The geographical diversity. It's unmatched.

The food. Think about it, this place is a melting pot from all over the world. That’s brought us some pretty incredible food and the country is so big it’s impossible to try it all.