Thanks for a well-written response.
I am an immigrant to the US from India and have been living here in sunny California for over 25 years.

My admiration for this great nation came about from what I had gleaned from selective information that was available at the USIS and from news media and magazines.

While I believe that there was a sense of patriotism from army personnel who fought in the two world wars, what has devolved from US foreign policy has been nothing short of extremism. From Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, I hear the justifiable cry of Kissinger who said, ‘we reserve the right to invade any country if it serves our national policy objectives’.

Yes, I have great respect for our troops and the job they do, but when they get exploited by our political leaders and when most of them have their lives and minds changed from the killing fields US policy creates, I take exception to what Mr. Estes says.

‘My country right or wrong’ is no longer acceptable because we know that being wrong and doing it anyway is the hypocritical standard we have come to abide by and some of us have even come to accept. Corporations now rule our policy agendas and the general public is rather naive about their influence.

In light of the context of this article, I will not comment on how Israeli interests influence US foreign policy in the Middle East, and where US actions have been overwhelmingly wrong and extreme.

1. “We’re no longer a Christian nation”
America was never a “Christian” nation. There is no mention of Jesus Christ in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or other founding documents. Just because about 80 per cent of Americans allude to God in some generic sense, does not mean we are “Christian” nation. The idea of “freedom of religion” expressed in the Bill of Rights was a recognition that there were already many different forms of religion already being practiced in America. So it was necessary to treat them all equally in order to avoid the religious intolerance and outright persecution that plagued many European nations.

2. “America is arrogant”
America is arrogant. America has over 716 military garrisons planted all over the planet. The belief that they are stationed there to spread democracy or save it inhabitants from evil would be naïve. They now have plans to occupy a UN heritage site in Vicenza, Italy with more soldiers and weapons storage areas they have no concern what this will do to the local inhabitants. America threats and interests, real or perceived, continue to be the major reason this country has been militarily engaged in more wars than any other nation. It’s what America has done for generations at the expense of other nations, not for reasons of saving them. Vietnam only became prosperous again because US troops left and stopped bombing and spraying toxic chemicals on the Vietnamese.

President Obama is not the reason for the failures we see in America today, although the right-wing conservatives like to think so. Obama is not the reason Estes thinks “America hasn’t lived up to her ideals”. Like many left-wingers these days he seems to have forgotten recent history, how the Bush administration left America in smoke and ruins. What I have to say in response to Estes could fill 800 pages but I don’t have the time.

Perhaps he should look at GW Bush’s military service record as well as the Dick Cheney’s.