Outline

1. Pro-America Bias
1. Influential Americans
2. American Innovation
3. American Achievements
2. Is America Superior?
1. Pose Question
2. Present definitions on superiority
1. Is it unjust/unfair to make claims like that?
3. America Compared to Others
1. Present strengths
1. Where do we excel compared to the world?
2. Where do we excel in history?
2. Present weaknesses
1. Where do we not excel compared to the world?
2. Where do we not excel in history?
4. Survey on America in general
1. Present public opinions
2. Present opinion from personal survey
1. Does nationality influence opinions
3. Present opinion of Mr. Marx
1. Does a military background influence opinions?
5. Conclusion
1. Leave it up to the audience to decide

Final Preparations: Intro

I have started work on my presentation (Whooo!). I have narrowed down exactly how the beginning will work. I plan on slamming the audience with a ludicrous amount of facts promoting America. Then, admit my obvious bias and pose the question, "Is America Superior?" I'm hoping this will give off the vibe that even though I'm a flag waving nationalist, I am here to provide a wholehearted discussion.

I have an interview lined up with Mr. Marx, a substituent teacher who served a great deal in the military. I will get some honest opinions on him about our country and present those somewhere in the middle of the presentation. I am also going to put out some online surveys for teens of various nationalities.

Oh, and I contacted McDonald's hoping to get a sponsor for my project. It would be so hype to receive  enough Big Macs for the audience, I will update ASAP on their response, If they won't provide for free, perhaps they will at least give me a discount for buying in bulk.

Endgame

Crunch time, boys. Senior Project is due in a few weeks. It is about we start finalizing the plan for presentation. I will layout what I want to achieve:

I am going to give a brief overview of American history and accomplishments. Following that, I will present some comparisons of other countries to America. My overall point of this presentation is to shed light on America and its achievements and pose the question "Is America superior?" I will likely leave the answer to that question up in the air. And either use it as my hook or my lasting question.

I need to gather various opinions on the countries I will be analyzing first. I still need to gather some survey data. I want to also get the audiences opinion on the subject, making the presentation more interactive. This should ensure there is immersion and everyone is paying full attention.

I will begin working on my powerpoint and leave updates on my blog as I go along.

The most influential people ever born

Many of the world's most influential people are American. They have made enormous impacts on society as a whole. Take a look at a list of 100 influential Americans: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/meet-100-most-significant-americans-all-time-180953341/?no-ist

Recognize all of the names? That is because America breeds some of the most incredible men and women on the planet. From the arts to politics, we got 'em. The trouble is finding who had the greatest influence on the development of America and the world as a whole. But it is without a doubt important that we are proud of all people who changed the world with their actions. From Washington, to Michael Jordan, to Steve Jobs. There are so many heroes in this great country.

A bright future for the Eagle

Continuing from an earlier blog where I talked about the current state of modern America and where we stand looking to the future. I revisited it and tried to find more positive statistics on why our country is in a good stance. 

This article, website http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/1227/Beyond-the-fiscal-cliff-6-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-America-s-future/History-shows-Americans-have-overcome-worse sheds light on a full recovery from current economic issues as well as other problems.

But it is important to remember that there is a national pride which keeps this country running. I plan on giving a full breakdown of positive versus negative factors effecting our country today and creating a general conclusion on where we stand.

Versus the Modern World

There are many nations populating the modern world, so America has many competitors. We could go ahead and compare many statistics from everything to GDP to education. America wins some and loses some. That's just how it works. One particular interesting statistic is our staggering military budget which is shown below in comparison.

Do we truly feel like it is us against the world? With crippling numbers of aircraft carriers and technology that would embarrass many other countries most advanced materials, America has taken a strong emphasis on saying "don't mess with us". But is this really our best course of action? Is it right to live in a world where my guns are bigger than your guns? But perhaps, we have the total right to stockpile defenses as long as we are not instigating. It is a very controversial topic that I plan on covering in great detail in my presentation.  

Modern America

Today America looks a lot like it always has. While many things have drastically changed, our ideals and belief in a free nation will always stay. The American dream, is no longer about owning property. This article highlights the change in the American dream, which looks much different today. Have we improved or lessened in our success?

It is clear that we are one of the top nations in existance. And if you view our history, it wasn't always like that. So over the course of our existance, we have been steadily improving. Is our modern day society still on the rise? Well currently, despite a few issues economically, we are stronger than ever and we will most certainly make it out of this on top. I believe we are continuing to grow and lead by example to the rest of the world. However, how does our modern society compare to the rest of the world?

The greatest upset in history...

March Madness 2015, who is the underdog? The ragtag Colonial Army, team name? The Patriots. They managed to make it past the first few rounds against the Natives, now they are in the finals against the #1 seed, The Redcoats. Everyone has placed their bets, nobody is favoring the Patriots...

But it doesn't matter. We have home court advantage. We have a reason to win, rather than just overpaid basketball players...

1st half, the Redcoats take a large lead. They are flaunting their superior ability and trying to crush Patriot spirits early on. But they have no motivation. No reason to keep giving their all to win. They become careless at the start of the second half. The Patriots get some sponsors from the Baguettes and with a little extra help they start a comeback. They begin dominating the ground game. And the game was within 2 points with 10 seconds left. The Patriots gave the ball to the point guard, Yorktown, who sprinted down the court and threw up a duck, and as the bell expired, victory achieved and the Patriots pulled off the greatest upset in history.

But seriously, to put the American Revolution in perspective, its like the PT Tennis Team beating the Miami Heat at a basketball game. It was an unbelievable win which is what started the legacy of the greatest country on Earth.

And our flag was still there!

All in all, we are still a young nation. We have only been around for a few hundred years which is nothing in comparison to some European nations. The question is, how will America stand the test of time? Countries can be destroyed in only a few short years, due to war or internal collapse. Is it too early to state that we are a great nation when we haven't even had enough time to prove ourselves?

My opinion is no. In fact, the truth that we are so young, yet have still achieved so much is even more impressive. We have risen faster than nearly every other nation, so from the looks of it, we are here to stay.

We have been incredibly close to collapse in many instances. The Civil War, where we were literally torn apart, the Great Depression, where the economy collapsed, and even the Cold War where we almost got involved in a global scale nuclear war. America endured every time. We aren't your ordinary, run-of-the-mill country... By viewing history, it is clear that we will undoubtedly face conflict in the future but will always have the strength to overcome it.

Unfortunately, organizations like The Planned Collapse of America aren't going to be needed. Give this website a look and don't make too much fun of it!

We the hipster trend setters

Skinny jeans, glasses, pumpkin spice latte, and a Macbook Pro, sitting in a Starbucks acting like your normal hip self. That would be America if all countries had personalities. There is no denying it, America starts the trends.

Pop culture flourishes in America. Other countries use our music, our movies, and much more. Hollywood dwarves any other industry like it on the planet. It is something Americans take great interest in and other countries follow. This article nicely explains how we run the movie system.
http://www.businessweek.com/1998/49/b3607069.htm

It's not only movies either, America is constantly pushing the tech industry forward, and while it is not the only contributor, it strongly influences what technology looks like today.

Better dead than red.

Communists. We all know them. We all hate them. Communism is the fugly counterpart to democracy. It was invented by the philosopher Karl Marx in his work called "The Communist Manifesto." Why did he do it? Because he's a dirty commie.

I apologize for how rash that last statement was but in my personal belief, communism is one of the worst things ever concieved. Essentially, communism removes the free market and brings society down to the same level. Then it focuses on giving power to working class. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? Except that in every case where this system was implemented, it has failed miserably and resulted in massive violations of human rights. It restricts freedom, which is why it will never work. America has gotten into a lot of conflict over this political system, so it makes us all ask, "is it worth it?"

Here's the thing about freedom....

This blog is like really late. But you know what? That's okay because I live in America which means I have the freedom to turn in work late and the freedom to lose points if I want to. But while we are on the topic of freedom, why don't we discuss how awesome it is to have freedom.

America literally "invented" freedom for the modern world. While democracy was in existence all the way back to Ancient Greece, America was the first country in the last few centuries to implement it to the great extent that it did, and do so successfully. In fact, countless countries adopted our system after we introduced it. What is so great about freedom? Is democracy the "best" method to governing?

Actually, America makes uses of a more republic system. Pure democracy is too unruly and our founders knew this. They wanted to provide a system with as much human freedom possible while still protecting and governing effectively. The Bill of Rights outlines basic freedoms that they believed should be available to all citizens. The rights are only considered "rights" in our country, and many of them are not prevalent in other countries. So, if a democratic republic such as America provides so much freedom, what is the catch? Well, I will look at downsides of this system and even compare it to the dreaded "communism" in future blogs. Until then, stay free patriots!