250 Reasons I'm Still Proud to be an American







America has issues. It’s more than a trend for Americans of all kinds to discredit American greatness. But the United States of America is my home, and I still love it. What follows is a celebration of America from my perspective. I tried not to list anything that I don’t personally love. There are some items on the list that I am aware are complicated. I’m writing another post called “250 things I think America should improve or change” to discuss some of those complications. I’m also aware that not all of these things are UNIQUELY American, though I tried to include plenty of things I think are. I’m also aware that some of these items may seem redundant, though I tried to minimize that effect in my list as well. A few items I will elaborate.  Most I will just let stand. 


I’m curious what you agree with, what you disagree with, what you think I’m missing. What’s on your list? 

The People I Love

This is my top reason that I still love America, and I think it’s a category  most of America’s internal critics forget when they dismiss the country wholesale. The U.S. is home to almost all of the people I directly know and love. Even if I hated every U.S. policy and despised U.S. culture, it  would still be true that America has the people that bring me the most meaning and joy. 


  1. My Mom

  2. My Dad

  3. My  Inlaws

  4. My siblings

  5. My extended family 

  6. Daniela

  7. Atticus & Huxley

  8. The Community of Moapa Valley 

I miss it most on the 4th of July

  1. Madisonians 

  2. People I met on my mission

  3. People I met in college

  4. People at work

American Geography

I love this land. It’s home to me, and none of the things worth disliking about the modern American political landscape will change the fact that the literal landscape is so important to me. 

  1. The Mormon Mesa

  2. Valley of Fire

  3. The Great Lakes

The ocean, as far as my kids are concerned. 

  1. Yellowstone

  2. Oceans

  3. Farmland

  4. Interstate highways

  5. The Mississippi River

  6. The Rocky Mountains

American Amenities 

  1. Dryers

Have you ever tried to dry your clothes in England? 

  1. Air conditioning

  2. Big box stores

  3. Showers

For some reason 75% of the showers I’ve used in other countries haven’t had a door. And I thought maybe they had sloped the floor in such a way as to prevent water from flowing out into the hotel room, but they did not! 

  1. Central lighting

  2. Rideshares

I’ve been in cities across the pond where these services don’t exist, and the alternatives really suck. 

  1. Airlines

  2. Streaming services

  3. Plentiful water fountains/water bottles

American Food

  1. BBQ

  2. Burgers

  3. Pizza

We may not have invented it, but we definitely perfected it. 

  1. Fast food

  2. Tex Mex

  3. Buffet

  4. Seafood

  5. Fry Sauce

Central to my testimony. 

  1. Mormon/midwestern food

I know that funeral/RS/company potatoes is true. 

  1. American Bread

European bread is better than American bread UNLESS you want something softer than a cloud and warmed to perfection. And my homemade sourdough would beat the EU fancy stuff any day. 

  1. American Snacks

  2. Culinary Fusion

  3. CHEESE 

The American Economy 

  1. American innovation

During the industrial revolution, Americans started building machines out of wood because they were changing so fast they needed parts to be easy to scrap for the latest and greatest. I think a similar spirit still permeates American innovation today. We update, we patch, we dispose. Out with the old, in with the new. Are there drawbacks? Of course! But we crash through them and continue up and up. 

  1. Rapid vaccine development

Credit where credit is due: Trump’s Operation Warp Speed got us the vaccine development and deployment we needed to get ourselves and much of the world out of a crippling pandemic. 

  1. The dollar

The United States Federal Government issues its own currency, which makes the U.S. economy incredibly resilient. It is literally impossible for the government  to go bankrupt on debt issued in dollars, and the dollar is the world reserve currency, so literally every other country needs it, giving us incredible advantages. 

  1. Agriculture

~80% of total agricultural product in the U.S. is produced by family farms. Food standards in the U.S. are underrated and ensure that we have abundant, safe food to eat, and we export billions, helping feed a growing world. And American produce is delicious. 

  1. Tech industry

  2. American education

The American public education system allows historical equality in educational access, and our higher education institutions are elite (though expensive). 

  1. Epic

The most important part of the Economy for me personally. In my biased opinion, Epic has a more ethical, productive, innovative, and globally impactful business strategy than anything else I've encountered. 

  1. Free market capitalism

  2. Free trade

I also like the global interconnectedness that results from free trade. 

  1. Upward mobility

American Movies

  1. Hollywood

  2. Disney

  3. Star Wars

  4. Comic Book Movies

  5. Book movies

At least once a year, I like to read a book before its movie comes out in theaters, and I always enjoy the experience.

  1. Rom Coms

  2. Horror

  3. Movie theaters

  4. Movie stars

American TV

  1. Sit coms

  2. Dramas

  3. Cartoons

  4. Cultural phenomena 

Somehow I often miss these until later, but it’s neat when everyone at work has been watching the same show. 

  1. Food shows

Sometimes when I cook, I pretend I’m hosting one.

  1. Nature shows

MAYBE the BBC has us beat, but America does produce a lot of great nature shows. 

  1. Late Night 

  2. Public debate

I think this is the best way to get televised  political commentary, even though it’s harder to find well-balanced crossfire these days. 

  1. Travel shows

  2. Real estate shows

When there are literally millions of choices on TV and all of them suck, HGTV is always there. 

  1. YouTube

American Identity 

  1. National pride

Part of the point of this post is that I think there are still good reasons to have this. And while it is a bit in decline, ‘mericans can always be counted on to demonstrate national pride when it really counts. 

  1. The American Bento  Box

At first I wrote “melting pot” but I watched some of the explanatory speaking finals for the National Forensics League tournament this year and one speaker compared America to a bento box: multiple discrete elements, not homogenized entirely like soup, but side by side and all equally valued. It’s an ideal we don’t always live up to, but I think one of our greatest  strengths is our  diversity. 

  1. Shared grief

There are events in U.S. history that have caused us to collectively mourn, and in these moments we often show what  I think of as our true colors. 

  1. Protest and civil disobedience

These are essential parts of a thriving modern democracy. 

  1. Rugged Individualism

  2. Self-criticism

If you've read this far I predict you've disagreed with more than one of the items on my list so far. And I think your criticism of your own country is part of what makes America great as well! 

  1. Regional identity

The very name of this country implies the importance of regional identity. We are not just Americans. We are Wisconsinites, Virginians, southerners, midwesterners, valley girls, New Yorkers, desert rats, and many more regional identities. 

  1. Bald Eagles

  2. The flag

I forget how much I like it until I spend a few weeks in another country. When I see the flag, I feel like I'm home. 

  1. Patriotic music

Sometimes foods for me, but in the right setting, and used sparingly, I really enjoy this kind of music. 

American Politics

  1. Term limits

It shocks me how long someone can be prime minister of Canada, or (in theory) the UK. I don't think we realize how good we have it with term limits. 

  1. Election rates

We have a lot of elections, which push voters to think about politics more often than otherwise, and we have opportunities to oust leaders who don't live up to expectations. 

  1. Disability accommodations (ADA)

  2. Jury of Peers

  3. The 19th Amendment 

  4. Checks and Balances

  5. The 14th Amendment

  6. The Civil Rights Act

  7. Federalism

We’re called the “United States” for a reason. Federalism is the balance of power between federal and state governments. When it works, it puts the power  to solve problems closest to the source of those problems, and creates 50 democratic  laboratories for working out the problems that should be solved at a national level. Federalism also has an important global impact through international modeling. 

Public Institutions

  1. Public radio

Media comfort food for me. 

  1. Public TV

  2. Public libraries

  3. U.S. Postal service

  4. U.S. Park Service

  5. Firefighting

Socialized firefighting is a great privilege in America. 

  1. National endowments  for the arts

  2. Historic sites

  3. Capitol Buildings

  4. DNRs

  5. DOTs

Publicly funded road projects are part of what allowed Antebellum America to modernize, the North moving away from an economy that relied on slavery. And while there’s plenty to be annoyed by, we need publicly maintained roads to do all the things we want to do. 

American Wildlife

  1. Birds

  2. Fish

I caught my first bass this year, and almost caught an enormous carp. But even catching the little guys (pumpkinseed and bluegill) thrills me. 

  1. Fireflies

  2. Alligators

It is crazy to me that literal dragons just roam free in some parts of America. 

  1. Deer

  2. Snakes

  3. Rodents

  4. Bears

  5. Wolves

  6. Spiders

American Sports

  1. Excitement

Admittedly, I’m not a sports fan, almost at all. But I love how excited sports people get about it. And when I do go to a game or something, I enjoy getting excited too. 

  1. Apolitical unity/factions

The fact that if you know about the most popular sports team in a region, you can strike up a welcome, engaging conversation with so many strangers is amazing. And it’s cool to have something that unites us or even pits us against each other that’s not SO serious (I think)

  1. Olympics

  2. Football

I love that it means something totally different here and it’s literally the biggest thing to us. 

  1. Hockey

  2. Basketball

  3. Chess

  4. Speech and Debate

What is a sport? It’s competitive, not just recreational. It’s physical, not just mental. Speech and debate checks the boxes. Back in my day, those were literal boxes we had to heft up flights of stairs every tournament!  


American literature

  1. Walt Whitman

Look for him under your bootsoles. 

  1. Emily Dickinson

Forever is composed of nows. 

  1. Kurt Vonnegut

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

  1. Toni Morrison 

The most emotionally impactful writing I’ve ever encountered.

  1. Mary Oliver

What will you do with your one wild and precious life?

  1. The Pulitzer Prize 

  2. Phil Klay

  3. Spoken word

  4. Comic books

  5. Children’s literature

American religion 

  1. Freedom of religion

  2. Pluralism

  3. Maryland

Did you know it was kind of founded as a place to put all the catholics? Mary-Land? I’m not joking

  1. Rhode Island

Founded as an early experiment in religious freedom. 

  1. The Bible belt

  2. African American spiritualism / the black church

  3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

  4. Mormon Pioneers

  5. American revivalism

  6. Religious diversity 

  7. Atheism

American healthcare 

  1. Healthcare workers

  2. Healthcare innovation

  3. Healthcare quality

  4. Healthcare I have received 

RIP my appendix. 

  1. Healthcare software

MyChart, therefore,  Myam. 

  1. Medicare/Medicaid

  2. Obamacare

A great example of state laboratories (Romneycare) leading to positive federal policy. 

  1. The decline in rates of smoking

  2. U.S. Health standards

Surprisingly good, despite what some would have you believe. 

  1. Health research


American Music

  1. Jazz/Blues

  2. Rock n Roll

  3. Country/Western

  4. Rap

  5. Pop

  6. Taylor Swift

  7. Broadway

  8. American Classical

  9. Crossover

  10. Singing competition shows

  11. Music in schools

  12. Hymns

American kindness

  1. Midwest nice

  2. Southern hospitality

  3. New York blunt

  4. Whatever the equivalent is for the above in the west

  5. International aid

  6. Service / rush to help

There are people whose politics is so hateful and exclusionary,  but who will climb into their pickup trucks and rush to the aid of everyone and anyone facing a tragedy, regardless of their differences. 

  1. Environmentalism

  2. Civility

  3. Changes in childrearing

Gentle parenting and authoritative parenting > Permissive parenting and authoritarian parenting

  1. LGBT progress


American Weather

  1. Dry Heat

  2. Polar vortex

  3. Snow

  4. Tornados

  5. Fahrenheit 

  6. Waves

  7. Blue skies 

  8. Rain

  9. National weather service

  10. Wind

American History

I like learning about these, not necessarily that they happened the way they did. 


  1. Native American history

  2. Revolutionary War

  3. African American history

  4. Civil War and Reconstruction

  5. Westward expansion

  6. World War II

  7. Immigration history


American Historical Figures

  1. James Madison

  2. George Washington

  3. Alexander Hamilton

  4. Benjamin Franklin

  5. Sojourner Truth

  6. Abraham Lincoln

  7. Ulysses Grant

  8. Joseph Smith

  9. Brigham Young

American Celebrities 

  1. Taylor Swift

  2. Prince

  3. Michael Jackson

  4. Dolly Parton

  5. Robert Downey Jr. 

  6. Barack Obama

  7. John & Hank Green

  8. Billy Collins

  9. Lin Manuel Miranda

  10. Robin Williams

  11. Chuck Norris

  12. Bill Gates

  13. Dax Shepard 

  14. Jad Abumrad 

American Language

  1. Slang

  2. Southern 

  3. Appalachian

  4. Utahn

  5. ASL

  6. Loan words

  7. American spelling

  8. Idioms

  9. No national language

America’s global impact

  1. Constitutional modeling

  2. European alliances 

  3. Asian alliances 

  4. North American Alliances 

  5. Nation building efforts

  6. English language ubiquity 

  7. American cultural spread


American Recreation

  1. Fishing

  2. Hiking

  3. Watersport

  4. Skiing

  5. Hunting

  6. Rodeo

  7. Dogs

  8. Explosions

Miscellaneous

  1. My little passport quote book

  2. Fortune cookies

  3. Street signs

  4. Miles

  5. Ice Mountain/Arrowhead water

  6. Gas station convenience stores

  7. County fairs

  8. American cars

  9. American quilting

  10. Generations (greatest, boomers, gen-x, millennial) 

  11. Joshua Weissman

  12. Sally's Baking Addiction

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