07/15/2025
Someone hiding behind anonymity asked, “What’s there to be proud of in this country?” They rattled off a list of everything broken — the debt, the taxes, the corruption, the violence, the inequality. But let’s be clear: none of that proves that America is hopeless. It only proves that we — the people — have been too quiet, too divided, and too distracted to claim what’s always been ours to fix. And I say that as a woman who’s living it. I’m a single mother. I’m in college. I live below the poverty line. But I’m not ashamed of that — because I’m doing something. I'm stepping into the storm, not to complain, but to create solutions with my own two hands. That’s what makes America great. Not the government. Not the systems. But the people like me who choose to rise anyway.
Let me go line by line — because every complaint in that post has a deeper truth. But they left out the most important one: we still have the power to change it. “Working your life away to never own a home?” Yes — homeownership is harder than ever. But blaming the country ignores the actual cause: corporate greed, foreign ownership, and a failure to regulate private equity firms (Desmond, 2023). The American people didn’t fail — Wall Street exploited us. And guess what? That means the fix won’t come from the top down. It comes from local policies, land trusts, and citizen-led housing coalitions. We’re not powerless — we’re just under-organized.
“Buried in taxes?” Yes — we’re taxed heavily. But you want to see real taxation abuse? Try living in Iran or North Korea where you don’t even know what’s being taken from you — or why. In America, the IRS doesn’t knock at your door with a gun. You still have the right to fight back, challenge unfair assessments, run for office, vote for tax reform, and keep receipts. That's freedom. It’s flawed, yes. But it’s ours to reclaim.
“Wages that don’t go up?” They’re right. Wages haven’t kept up with inflation since the 1970s — especially for working-class families (Economic Policy Institute, 2023). But here’s the part they didn’t say: we allowed that. We stopped unionizing. We stopped showing up to local elections. The minimum wage isn’t stuck because America failed — it’s stuck because we let corporate lobbyists outspend us in silence. But change is still possible — when we remember our collective power.
“College is a scam?” Wrong. College is not a scam — tuition is. Access has been deliberately weaponized to keep the poor from advancing, especially people of color (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2016). But even now, in this broken system, I’m using what I’ve got to create change from the inside. Education doesn’t need to be a debt sentence — it can be our freedom. And I'm working to build systems that make that true for every student who comes after me.
“A police state?” Surveillance is real. Over-policing is real. Especially in low-income and minority communities. But the solution isn’t to burn the flag. It’s to hold power accountable and build alternatives that reflect public safety, not political control. Protest is legal here. Organizing is legal. Change is legal. You just have to want it bad enough to show up.
“Rights being stripped away?” They are — in many places. But the fact that we can speak up, protest, petition, sue, organize, publish, and vote — that’s not nothing. It’s everything. You want a real warning? In Iran, people are executed for social media posts. In Uganda, gay people can be killed under law (Human Dignity Trust, 2024). In Saudi Arabia, women just got the right to drive in 2018. If you're in America and still breathing freely enough to post online anonymously — you’re more privileged than half the planet.
“Mass shootings?” This is real. This is a crisis. But gun violence isn’t a uniquely American flaw — it’s a symptom of untreated trauma, easy access, political cowardice, and corporate lobbying (CDC, 2023). It’s not America’s identity — it’s America’s failure to act. And again: the power to fix it lies with us.
“Mass s*x trafficking?” Yes, and it’s horrific. But it’s happening globally — and often at higher rates in other nations with no anti-trafficking infrastructure (UNODC, 2022). In America, we have agencies, laws, task forces, and public access to databases. Again — not perfect, but we’re fighting. That means there’s still hope.
“Homelessness?” “Extreme housing crisis?” Absolutely. But ask yourself why. It’s not because Americans are lazy — it’s because housing has become a commodity, not a human right. That’s not a reason to hate America — it’s a reason to take it back from hedge funds and build public solutions at the local level (Desmond, 2023). And many are doing just that.
“Extreme drug infiltration?” Yes, fentanyl is killing our people. But it’s not just a drug problem — it’s a trauma problem, a healthcare problem, a broken family system. And no government program will fix that alone. It takes community, connection, and leaders who know what pain looks like — and aren’t afraid to do something about it.
“Needing 4 incomes for one household?” That’s true for many. But again, it’s a consequence of profit over people — not a moral failure of our nation’s people. And if we’re fed up, we should stop supporting systems that exploit us and start building ones that uplift us.
“The breakdown of American families?” “Incentivizing single motherhood?” First of all — I am a single mother. And no one “incentivized” this. I stepped up when no one else would. And the fact that I can still feed my child, go to school, work, and try to build a future? That’s not shame — that’s strength. You want to strengthen families? Then support women. Support parents. Support systems that let people stay together — not punish those doing it alone.
On Anonymity — and Cowardice: The person who wrote that rant did it anonymously. That alone is dangerous. Psychologists agree that anonymous platforms make people crueler, meaner, and more toxic (Suler, 2004; Lapidot-Lefler & Barak, 2012). And historically? Anonymity is what allowed N***s to turn on their neighbors. It’s what enables abuse in the shadows. It’s not courage. It’s cowardice.
But ironically, anonymity is also something they should be thankful for. Because in dozens of countries, if they had posted what they wrote — they’d be dead. Executed. Tortured. Jailed. In Yemen, gay men were sentenced to death this year (Human Dignity Trust, 2024). In Uganda, they passed the death penalty for being gay in 2023 (BBC News, 2023). In Iran, people have been hanged for peaceful protest (UN, 2024).
That means even the freedom to complain in America is proof of something we still have that others don’t. So, what’s there to be proud of? The answer is simple: us, you and me. Ordinary Americans. Single moms. Veterans. Students. Neighbors. Workers. Fighters. People like me who don’t just see the brokenness — we choose to fix it. Not tomorrow. Now. We don’t need permission. We don’t need perfection. We don’t even need much money. What we need is unity. Integrity. And action. Because we are still the people. And it’s time we start acting like it.
