Reflecting on America

It is American Independence day today and I am in a mood to reflect about America.

Nothing is either white or black, everything has shades of grey.

America is not an exception. After getting independence, America has brutally eliminated the native population and expanded westward. And America bullies other countries and has gone to war under flimsy contexts for power, resources or markets. Government is very much influenced by big corporations, especially the war machine wherein war are created to sell more weapons. This said, America has been the best hope for the modern world of democracy as every country tries to emulate US. Things which I love in US are

1. Google :
 Yes I literally love it. Imagine a company doing so much for an individual consumer. May be there is lot of money doing this, but  I am sure, it doens't have to do all this for free.GMail, Gtalk, GVoice, Blogger, Picasa, YouTube, Google Docs, Google Sites and more than that, Google is the company which has brought the 'free' and generosity model mainstream and I love google for that.

2. Interstate Expressway System: 
If America has companies all over the country, the main reason is the Interstate Expressway system. Princeton is not a big city nor is Basking Ridge but each of it has big companies in it. Can you imagine companies in your town or my town in India? It is because each town and city is excellently connected with the highways and with 24X7 electricity and internet, there is no big reason to be in the city and pay huge rents. And that explains the prosperity

3. Obama: 
People might say he hasn't done much, but he is putting one plan after the other for action and I am sure he will be able to achieve what he promised. His speeches are amazing and arousing. I would love to have such a leader in India.

4 Attention to Detail: 
Here all the public works are done with a lot of attention, Initially I thought it was paranoia but after seeing how the number of accidents is very very less, I understand their strict process and attention to detail in public works. To illustrate, if there is road work, they put the notices from 2.5 miles ahead alerting the rider. In Walmart, near a mirror a warning will be there. On plastics bags, a warning will be there that they might suffocate small children. All this shows, how much attention to detail each thing they do has.

Now  only these things come to my mind, but I will add to this list as I am impressed more. Happy Independence day from America to all Americans..