I. 100 million people with a highly developed sense of civil and human rights, who struggle to find ways to implement policies that will make the U.S. and the world better places -- "struggle" because this is NOT easy in the U.S. We love to talk about those wonderful people "who've made a difference" but realistically almost no one ever does.

II. 100 million people, 50% of whom are too stupid, too uninformed, too self-satisfied, too fat and lazy -- and another 50% of whom who are too overworked, too oppressed, too focused on their own and their family's survival to keep politically informed, let alone vote. (It may seem unfair to lump these two groups together but they share the same vulgar "culture" and the same allergy to voting.)

100 million people who love war, all varieties of violence but especially torture, hate dark-skinned people, dream of bigger and bigger tax cuts (that will never benefit 99% of this group, but, hey, it's fun to fantasize), have scientific beliefs almost identical to those of 11th century Europeans, think Christ is about to swoop down and carry them naked into Heaven anyway, so what do a few Armageddon's matter?  

This is why I have no patience with generalizations like "Americans are a good people" or even "America is a great nation." Well, one third of us are, but we lost our country a long time ago and we're having a very hard time taking it back.