Is america becoming a bad country to live in?

I honestly don't why Americans have turned into such pessimistic creatures.

I can only comprehend why most Americans are like this is because many of them have not ventured outside their borders. The world outside your border isn't a Utopia my American friends.

Honestly, this whole current unrest with all the politcal parties in the US is very similar to what happened in the European Continent during the 1800s.....I wanna say 1850-60s?

But in reality the US is still a pretty decent place to live...I mean....I doubt the people living in Niger are saying thank God we don't live in America, our phones aren't being tapped by the Government.

Becoming?

Trololol

There are many negative aspects of our country today such as Obamacare, political correctness, celebritry culture, etc. but our country is still the best place to live IMHO.

We just need a complete overhaul of our government. Gettings rid of PAC's would be a good place to start since they're basically bribery.

I suppose you could move somewhere much nicer and saver. You could also go many places far worse.

If you ask me you should live where you feel at home or where you feel needed.

America is turning into the stupidest country ever. No, it isn't the worst, but I sure as hell don't like it.

Yes! If I could I would move to Europe, give up my citizenship and never look back.

No, a lot of things just get blown out of proportion. It is no worse now compared to any other time in history. Just different, and in some cases better.

There's always someone willing to complain. Everyone should be more positive. GOOOO AMERICA!

Its a small little bubble unaware of the world around it. Also, they seem to be quite funny themselves

I'd say the U.S. is still a better place to live than almost anywhere else. But we aren't living up to our full potential. As long as we have a president and a congress (and democrats and republicans are both complicit in this) that think they can ignore the constitution, monitor phone calls without a warrant, compel every American to buy health insurance as a condition of citezenship, run trillion dollar deficits and massively raise taxes during a recession, we won't live up to our full potential. The bipartisan welfare-warfare caucus needs to be broken up, and Rand Paul is the only potential 2016er who I have faith will do it.

Rand Paul 2016

Yes, I am sooo scared! And my parents won't let me leave the US so I'm pretty sure I'm doomed!! NOOO!!!!!!!

Americans are stupid.

Cause of America's death: Politicians

I think most of us Americans take American for granted. Remember, most of the nice places you see in the world are vacation spots or suitable for rich people to afford to make life outside the United States pleasurable.

I didn't quite know how to answer this one, because I don't think my opinion fits either of the answers. I don't want to say "NO!", because I don't believe that, BUT I don't wont to choose, "Yes! Get out now!", because I don't think we're at a point that people need to be fleeing.

So, I suppose my answer is: Yes, somewhat. But, not past the point of redemption. Please let me further explain myself. I have a few points I'd like to address.

-First, I'd like to say something about some of the previous answers, specifically the ones coming from other countries. Of course I don't speak for ALL non-Americans but, as a general rule, you need to take their criticisms with a grain of salt. I don't mean to imply that any of you are stupid, but a lot of foreigners I talk to tend to have this image of all Americans being redneck, racist, trigger happy, assholes. Not to say that we're innocent of this, though. It's very similar to how a lot of Americans have an inaccurate image of Middle Eastern peoples.

Now, on to the discussion.

-I think there are a few key issues at play here. First is simply, poor leadership. I know, I know, "It's all Bush's fault! Obama's just trying to fix everything!". Now, not that I like Bush at all, but Obama is no better. In fact, he's not much different at all except that he's a whole lot sneakier. In five years, Obama has brought our deficit from $6 trillion to nearly $17 trillion, not to mention the estimated $9 to $11 trillion that will be added to that with the new immigration laws. Our debt makes us weaker, and this is a HUGE factor.

-Bogus wars. The War on Terror is ridiculous. We armed and created Al-Qaeda when we gave them a bunch of weapons and training during the cold war. Then, when it turned out they had the resources our government wanted, we started a war we couldn't finish. The War on Drugs is another one. Let's be honest, it's the war on Marijuana. We've been jacking up punishments on it with mandatory minimum sentencing laws and such, when we shouldn't be fighting it at all. I don't even smoke it(or anything else, for that matter). Never have, never will. But, it shouldn't be a criminal activity. All these laws accomplish is putting otherwise law abiding, non-violent citizens in prison. What we SHOULD do, is switch from criminal enforcement to taxation. Take it off the Controlled Substances Act, let states decide if they want to legalize it recreationally or not, and tax it like we tax alcohol and tobacco. Boom, that's two birds with one stone, it would add over $100 billion to our national budget AND end the War on Drugs.

-We're too heavily involved in foreign affairs. Nobody likes it when America tries to police the world, and it only ends up biting us in the ass. Like, take the situation with the Syrian rebels, for example. Obama is going to go ahead and arm them, thereby giving weapons to people who want us dead at the same time as pissing of the Russians, too. Do we really want to take this road? What we should be doing is backing up the U.N. on some de-escalation campaigns, not giving weapons to a bunch of random people and making their government even more unstable.

-Our Government is making a power play. If you haven't noticed, the Constitution and Bill of Rights are sort of being put through the shredder at the moment. All our rights are being challenged. The NSA can now dismiss our right to privacy. It is now illegal to protest on government soil, so there goes the right to petition the government. Did you hear about Jared Marcum? They tried to give him a year in prison for wearing an NRA t-shirt to school. Then there's also the whole gun rights battle, that I don't really feel like getting into. Also, now that the media is completely controlled, we've seen several attempts in the past few years to censor the internet, or control it, by the government. By the way, what happened to our right to a fair trial? That's gone with the Patriot Act. Then, they add in the National Defense Authorization Act, so even if you DO have a trial, and are proven INOCCENT, you can still be held by the government. Think that wouldn't happen? Did you know that 86(approx. one half) of the prisoners still in Guantanamo Bay have been cleared of all charges already, yet are still being held?

Yea since prop 8 was struck down

I don't know, I don't live there.

From an external view, I think there are many countries far worse to live in. You only need look at life expectancy, infant mortality rates and average income to work that one out.

That isn't to trivialise the problems faced by the average American, but you should always keep things in perspective. Learn the advantages you have, not only the disadvantages.

Most definitely, yes.

Maybe, but there are worse places.

For someone who currently lives in a third-world country, I consider America to be a huge upgrade.

Well, I live in a bad area, also it's downtown so you got fucking gangs walking past my house, which isn't safe. =/ i'm hoping to move somewhere nice uptown quick.