The World Cup, the European Mind, and America on Sale
Thank you foreign soccer fans for making the US remember how good we have it!
Returning to the United States was the first true culture shock that I’ve ever experienced.
In 2006 I had spent several months outside of the US - mostly in Latin America and Asia - and then returned to Los Angeles.
I remember leaving LAX, driving down Lincoln Boulevard, thinking to myself, “Wow! It’s so clean! There’s no trash anywhere and the roads are so nice!”
To be clear, no American who has ever driven down Lincoln thinks that that road is nice. It’s congested, dirty, and chaotic. But relative to all of the countries I had just spent time in, the street looked great.
It took months of traveling in third world countries for my brain to realize how nice the US is.
What Are We Doing to Ourselves?
Yesterday, I took my daughter to a summer tutoring session at a local college library.
As we walked in the front door, my eyes were immediately drawn to a display of books that were impossible to miss.
It was basically a display of divisive ‘literature’ that someone in the library thought was important for all college students to be reading.
As I pulled out my phone to take the above picture, I gazed over to the library checkin counter. Right behind the counter was an office with a rainbow flag hanging over a Che Guevara poster.
It was the most stereotypical US educational environment I could think of.
The European Mind and the US World Cup
There’s this German guy named Freddy that is driving around the US to see a bunch of World Cup games.
He’s documenting his journey on X (you can see it here), and has become somewhat of a viral celebrity.
Basically, he’s blown away with all of the nice things that he finds in America. Free soda refills, delicious BBQ, enormous stadiums, safe roads, beautiful nature, and most importantly, incredibly friendly and giving Americans helping him with his entire journey.
It’s not just Freddy.
There are thousands of videos circulating right now that show tourists being completely amazed with how nice America is.
They are shocked to find out how warm and hospitable Americans are.
Check out this video of a South African guy who can’t believe what he’s experiencing. This guy should be given US citizenship just for this video.
Why are Americans focused on divisive doomer culture? Or is it just the media and a small minority that is spewing this negativity?
Are the vast majority of Americans hard working, positive minded, forward thinking, genuinely giving, happy people?
Yes.
You just don’t hear about them, because they don’t drive clicks.
America On Sale
US stock markets are overvalued, US government debt is unsustainable, and we have a declining cultural value system.
Sounds bad. Really bad.
But it’s a thousand times better than anything else in the world.
The only people who understand this are the ones who have lived and experienced everything else.
America definitely isn’t perfect, but we still have an incredibly bright future ahead.
Now is the time to double down on the core American opportunities that are available nowhere else in the world.