America is more than just a nation, united years ago by the wisdom of great men and made stronger by the contributions of men and woman of all color and creed. America is more than a union being made more perfect. America's contribution to this world cannot be summed up with phrases like "world policeman" or even "shining city on a hill." America is not just a nation but a mentality, a set of principles, a culture, a people, and one of the greatest if not THE greatest experiment in the history of man.

I debate often, with friends and teachers, discussing the role of America's government and dispelling the mentality of a fix-all government with socialist programs. I can handle the idiocy of believing in a broken system, but one thing that really gets to me is when people don't understand the nation they live in. It doesn't matter if we're talking about military or health care, freedoms or rights, when I say America is the greatest country on earth and a friend says, "No, we're not" it affects something in my very soul. They don't understand we're more than just a nation.

On the first day the ill-fated Wide Awakes Radio began broadcasting, I had a great opportunity to talk to Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House about the idea of American exceptionalism, the idea that this nation is not just part of the global community, but the pinnacle of freedom and innovation. It's a topic Rick has written quite a bit about. We agreed that many factors were involved, from the formation of our nation to religion to freedoms to the refining process over the last 230+ years. It was that conversation, back on Independence Day 2006, that gave me the inspiration for the poll that is running and will continue running here on ROTR. The best answer I received thusfar was from a friend on AIM, who said there needed to be an "all of the above" option. It's more than even that. America is more than a nation, and for the next couple weeks, we're going to define what makes this country what it is, and what makes it great. I invite my fellow bloggers to get involved, and see if we can't show some of my generation why this country has made it this far, and will continue to shine.