Paul: Why the USA is a superpower RESPONSE

I am a 48-year-old man from Southern California.  In my business, I have the unique opportunity to have become acquainted with people from virtually every country in the world who have immigrated here, where immigrants make up over half the population. I also deal with economic strata from the wealthiest to the poorest. I have two Russian children and enjoy the Russian people that I know and have met. 

After 15 years of observing, I can give your readers a fairly good idea of what makes America a super-power from my own eyes. 

Most of the wealthy people that I deal with have become wealthy in their own lifetime, starting from a middle class or poor background. They are intensely honest people (not naпve) who deal only with other honest people (All of my business with them is done with a handshake over work of several thousands of dollars.) They are also precise and demanding of precision from themselves and others. They are creative and artistic in their manner of living and tend to be innovative, especially when it considering how to produce more of their work. They encourage and help others, no matter how lowly, whom they see making an honest effort for a better life. They are interested in everything around them and are therefore not the least snobbish or conscious of their station as wealthy people. They work very hard at their professions and rarely consider the hours required to accomplish what they desire. Th! ey give no thought to what others think of them, especially when it comes to achievement. 

I point these people out to contrast them against poor Americans and immigrants who have trouble getting an economic foothold in the U.S. 

There is a line from a book by M.M Kay who grew up in India during the British occupation. One of her father’s friends (and Indian officer) described the difference between Asians and the English thus: ‘An Asian will lie and wonder if he should have told the truth. An Englishman will tell the truth and wonder if he should have lied’. 

It is difficult to come to America from a country where one is accustomed to guard everything one says. It usually takes about fifteen to twenty years to make the adjustment in thinking and become comfortable knowing whom you can and cannot trust.  

It is interesting that those areas of America where lying and cheating in business is prominent, and criminal thinking is high (the east and some parts of the south) also have the most economic trouble. 

The basic postulate of American government is that at it’s very best, government (and government workers) is (are) a joke. It is a necessary evil, which will attract the evil and the incompetent and the stupid. It postulated that Americans should be reliant on themselves, their families and their groups. It is also interesting that the areas of the country where reliance on government and regulation are the highest, have the worst economies. 

I believe that America is a super power, simply because there are enough Americans with the qualities I mentioned above to allow for a rapid production and exchange of goods and services. We are no smarter than anyone else nor better educated. 

It may sound too simple, but quite often, good principals are simple.  

Freedom in America only exists, where one can trust what another person says. Where one cannot, there is much despair, confusion and crime.

Paul