"Love it [meaning don't criticize it] or leave it" is only one of the dodges used by anti-freedom patriots. Another is to inflate any criticism offered to absurd levels. Thus, when America is called to task for its governmental and other collective sins, the anti-freedom patriot speaks of "those who blame America for every evil under the sun."

America is not, of course, to blame for "every evil under the sun" and I know of no one who has ever suggested to the contrary. America is not to blame for overpopulation. It is not to blame for the existence of Neo-Nazis. It is not to blame for female genital mutilation practiced in certain African cultures. It is not to blame for the only slightly less extreme sexism practiced in some Muslim countries and many other parts of the world. It is not to blame for the Chinese occupation of Tibet. It is only partially, and not primarily, to blame for the inhumanities committed by the state of Israel. And so on. I could list a great many more "evils under the sun" for which the U.S. is either largely or entirely not to blame.

However, there are in fact logical positions that one might take between saying that America is to blame for "every evil under the sun," and claiming that she is not to blame for anything. For example, one might acknowledge that America is a nation-state, and shares with other nation-states the characteristics of being run always by fallible and often by wicked people, and that her collective hands are not clean.

One might also point out that the phrase "greatest nation in the world" is vague and in need of definition; the observation that Russia is the "greatest" nation in the world (measured by land area) points this up.

Personally, I don't care if America is or isn't the "greatest nation in the world." All I care about is whether she is as good as she is capable of being. The answer, alas, is clearly in the negative. And I would like to see something done about that.