From July 4, 1776 — when America’s colonies announced their independence from Britain — until today, the US has survived major crises, including a civil war, two world wars and the 1929 financial collapse.
After 245 years, a short period of time in the history of nations and peoples, the US is considered the most powerful country in the world.
In its relatively brief existence, the US has had a direct impact on much of the planet and is seen as the leader of the free world, which explains why most of its citizens are proud to be Americans.
Nobel Memorial prize winner Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish economist and sociologist, famously presented a detailed definition of the US, explaining that American identity is built around a constellation of ideals — individualism, liberty, equality, hard work and the rule of law — that comprise the national creed.
For centuries, Americans have defined themselves by their common values and adherence to individual freedoms instead of racial, religious and ethnic identity.
It was no accident that the constitution of this great nation began with the phrase, “We the people.”
However, US society is far from perfect, and there are unresolved problems that citizens are still suffering from and trying to overcome.
US society is a reflection of the country itself, which is constantly developing and changing.
For example, who would have expected 50 years ago that a man of African origin would be elected to lead the US, or that a woman would occupy the second-highest position in the country, especially since women had no voting rights until 1920?
Watching today’s news on US domestic affairs, we see that crime rates have risen significantly, while street murders and looting have become a frequent occurrence in major cities from New York City to San Francisco.
In October, the National Center for Health Statistics of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the country has just recorded its highest increase in rates of homicide in modern history.
Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at NCHS, told US media that the increase was the largest in 100 years. “We had states being added to what we refer to as the death registration areas, so we were counting deaths in more areas over time. We did not have all states reporting until 1933, Anderson told CNN.
The US magazine Foreign Policy warned earlier this year of the possibility of civil war breaking out due to several factors, the most important of which is the division of national identity.
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