"America Sucks"

I recently got into an argument with someone when they very quickly, in trying to be smug, spat something nasty like, "America sucks." It surely wasn't the first or the last time I'd hear such words, but something didn't sit right in the quickness of such a remark. I never thought of myself as having any national pride, but The Denver Post's photoblog reminded me how much I appreciate our history as a nation (as messy and wrong as it may be), and how often I tend to pull from Americana in my taste for music, food and thinking (within good reason). Say what you want about her, but America is nothing to scoff at. So hold your tongue, sir. I don't believe you know where you came from — surely not these fine people featured here below: