Is America a “Good” Nation?

Watching the Presidential Debate tonight I heard some interesting rhetoric about America. I heard both Candidates’ John McCain and Barack Obama say “We are a nation of ‘good.’” Dictionary.com defines “good” – as morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious. I would really like to know what qualifies America as a “good” nation.

Is it the fact that we give more to foreign aid as a percentage of gross domestic product than any other developed nation?

We do not.

According to Brian McLaren in his book Everything must Change, “The 2006 budget showed that US military expenditures were twenty-one times larger than diplomacy and foreign aid combined, and that the United States was dead last among the most developed nations in foreign aid as a percentage of gross domestic product.”

Is it the fact that our nation promotes peace for the world at all cost?

We do not.

According to Michael T. Klare’s well researched article, Arms Transfers and Trade at Answers.com, “By the time Clinton left office in early 2001, arms transfers had come to be seen in Washington as a normal, legitimate aspect of U.S. foreign policy. The United States completely dominated the international market, providing about two-fifths of all weapons transferred to developing countries in the 1992–1999 period (measured in dollar terms).”

Is it the fact we protect the gift of life at all cost?

We do not.

According to the Guttmacher Institute in America, “In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred.”

I do not want anyone to think that I am anti-American. I feel very blessed to be a citizen of a country that gives me freedom of religion and freedom of speech…but I am realistic too. I do not see America as a “good” country. I think we fall very short in the “good” department, just like every other country in the world. I see America as a nation of a variety of different kinds of people, with different values, different religions, different hopes and different dreams. But at the end of the day we are a nation of human beings.

The Apostle Paul quotes Psalm, Ecclesiastes and Isaiah when referring to the state of humanity in Romans 3:10-18, “As it is written: ’There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.’ ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’ ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”

According to Paul, no one is “good.” Paul goes on to say in Romans 3:23, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” At the core of human beings is a rebellious spirit against God and other humans. Without fixing our relationship with God and others, we will never be “good.” And even if we do fix our relationship with God and others it is still not “our goodness” that makes us “good,” its God’s son Jesus’ “goodness” that makes us “good.”

So am I glad I’m an American? “Yes.” Do I think that my fellow country men,

women and I make up a “good” nation? “No.” “Good” is for God to decide and He already has.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/good

Mclaren, Brian D. Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. Thomas Nelson, Tennessee, 2007. pg. 165.

http://www.answers.com/topic/arms-industry-1

http://www.alanguttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html#2

The NIV Study Bible. Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1995.

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