Someone please remind me why America is so great.

[leftofthedial]

About 30 million of us can't get a job at all. Millions of those who do have a job (or three or four) work the longest hours in the civilized world for below-poverty wages and no benefits. Those anachronistic middle class people who make a "living" wage and have benefits must now work longer and longer hours and find that the benefits are often unusable or have become worthless now that the economy is in the toilet.

Our political "leaders" work for our enemies and simply ignore our votes when it suits them.

Our roads, bridges, schools, power grid and other public infrastructure have not been up to current standards since the 1960's.

Our health care system serves only insurance companies, wealthy doctors and the ultra-wealthy elite who can afford care. Sick citizen? You are fucked, pal.

Our education system is an underfunded, overly politicized joke.

Our economic system has been hijacked by a relative handful of predatory, greedy vermin who now own virtually everything, including our homes. We no longer have a viable manufacturing base. Indeed, we couldn't last two weeks without importing poisonous crap from China.

Our civil liberties have gone the way of the dodo bird; we now must shuffle through lines like a bunch of docile concentration camp inmates just to travel from one state to another. And god forbid your name (or one similar to it) ends up on the wrong government shitlist.

Our media are owned by our enemies, so the LAST thing you'll ever hear on the "public airwaves" is an ounce of truth.

How is this all that different from, say, the Soviet Union circa 1965? I mean except for the part where we don't really have health care or a manufacturing base or an education system. More to the point, how is this really any different from, say, England in the 1300's?