In your personal opinion, what is an American? what does it mean to be an American?

Question

what does it take to be an american or american citizen?what do you view about americans?

Answer 1

American means to be free and hated :]

Answer 2

The word American is used casually to refer to a citizen of the United States of America. Technically speaking, an American is anyone who lives between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and between the North and South poles.

To me, a citizen of the United States is an individual with rights and responsibilities. The rights to life, liberty and property are well known, the responsibilities are often shirked.

To me, those responsibilities are

Protecting our own rights and the rights of our "guests" to the same protections.

Maintaining a safe environment through diligence on the part of all citizens, not entirely depending on the Government. We depend on the government to keep our food and water safe, but we also have a responsibility to avoid eating meat that has begun to stink.

Securing a future for the next generation. They may not want it, I've had a very depressing conversation with a young lady who told me that her generation only wants to get away from the US, before it turns into a police state. I think we have a responsiblity to stop this trend on the part of our government, reaffirm our belief in the Bill of Rights and stand behind our convictions.

The extension of civil rights to strangers is something I feel pretty strongly about. There's an old movie, made while the world was watching Hitler roll all over Europe, called Meet John Doe. This film focuses on a grassroots organization taken over by a powerhungry politician who wants to exploit it for his own fascist agenda.

Jimmy Gleason is talking about this plot, and drinking a little too much, and starts talking about Washington and Lincoln, describing them as lighthouses on a dark and angry sea. These men who placed such a high priority on preserving the constitution, and the rights it protects, were a sign to the rest of the world that our "noble experiment" as George Washington called it, can succeed.

And that's the way I see the United States, we're the lighthouse. Its up to us to keep the lighthouse lamp burning and try and guide the rest of the world into a safe harbor.