America: The land of free, home of the brave. There could not be a more accurate description of the country. From the powerful Maine waves to the sweltering summers in Phoenix, it’s safe to say that the US has a culture full of the diversity that makes America what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

But just like other countries, the U.S. has it’s problems. Corrupt politicians and a struggling economy make it easy to complain. There are also plenty of statistics that claim that the U.S. is no longer superpower, and that other nations are catching up to the American way of life. While these statistics may be true, they fail to show the whole picture.

For example, the U.S. education system is apparently not up to par with other nation’s. With that being said, one must remember that the U.S. has a large and diverse population. These huge numbers hide those high achievers. Also, the United States has some of the best universities in the world. What more proof of this is needed other than other countries continually trying to send their students here? In several poverty stricken countries, children are lucky to graduate high school, let alone go on to earn a college degree. Here in the U.S., almost all students have the opportunity to earn a college degree. In fact, Census data shows that a third of the nation’s 25-29 year olds have a bachelor’s degree.

One hot topic today has been the economy. The U.S. economy has in recent years been struggling. With the decline of the housing market, American citizens were thrown into a recession that the majority had never known in their lifetime. With an unemployment rate of a little less than 8 percent, it’s no wonder that the nation began to, and is still, worrying.

However, as economics would show, it is completely normal for a nation’s economy to have its highs and lows. A nation that always has a prosperous economy is a totally euphoric and unreachable idea. If this nation can bounce back from the Great Depression, the U.S. can and will recover, and the recovery has already begun.

Though healthcare is a big controversy right now, one thing for sure is that the U.S. has some of the best doctors in the entire world. Some simple proof of this lies in knowing that  foreigners are often sent here for medical treatment that their homeland cannot provide.

So yes, there are those who say that our superpower title is being threatened. However, we must remember that there is another side to these frightening facts. Maybe the scariest part isn’t our supposedly declining superpower status, but instead how quick our society is to ridicule the nation instead of showing the patriotism we were built on.