Are you proud of our country?

I've got to vent here about this whole thing that Michelle Obama said yesterday, and also in an earlier speech within the last week.

First off, I do not think it's some huge misunderstanding. Her husband is running for president of the Untied States of America. She's an incredibly intelligent woman; educated at Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She has speech writers. She repeated almost the exact same words in two separate speeches.

If she would have said something along the lines of the fact that she is proud that America is finally to the point where a man of color and a woman are running for office of president; I would have applauded. I, too, am proud of these facts. I'll never forget an incident when my middle son, who is now 15, was 7 years old. We had some plastic place mats at our dining table and he was looking at them. The particular place mat that he was studying intensely was one which depicted all of the presidents of the United States. After a few moments he looked at me questioningly and asked: "Mommy, how come all these people are white men? How come no one is any other color and there's not any girls?" I can still remember thinking how happy I was at the time that our country had changed enough that he even asked the question; I never did growing up in the early 1960s.

However, that's not what Michelle Obama said. In both recent speeches she said that finally, for the first time in her adult life, she is proud of America.

My frustration is that this attitude, one of putting down America, is a prevalent one I've been observing for several years.

I think it's healthy to recognize that some things are really wrong in our country and to work together to change those things. But I think it's sick to put down our country.

I'm stunned that the wife of a man who could be the next president of the United States would say that for the first time in her adult life she is proud to be an American.

Just off the top of my head, here's some things about America that make me very proud to be an American:

We give more money to humanitarian efforts than any other country in the world.

We have a constitution which protects our right to free speech and freedom of religious practice.

We have free, public education for all children. (I'm not saying the school system does not needs lots of improvement, I could give you a list at any given moment, but I am grateful to live in a country where everyone has access to an education.)

We fought against the Kaiser in WWI, we fought against Hitler in WWII.

We have a very large middle class (unlike third world countries where you have the extremely poor and the extremely rich).

These are just 5 reasons I'm proud of America and that's without even spending any time pondering the many more reasons I could state. I find it terribly disappointing that a potential first lady of this great country hasn't been proud of America until now.

Of course, then the question arises - why now? It is because Barack is now running for office? Is it because no men of color formerly ran for office so everything else that is good about our country is negated? Is it that once he gets into office he'll change all wrongs?

I think this is just and example of something I've been observing for a long time. There's this sick, underlying, let's say how bad America is mentality that I seek lurking in the subtext of liberals. I see this theme repeatedly, especially in the public university circles. This attitude both angers and saddens me. So I just wanted a chance to vent.