I’ve never been a big soccer fan. So I can hopefully be forgiven for not really even being aware that we were hosting the men’s soccer World Cup. But I quickly became aware, as social media posts from European visitors began flooding in. What made it especially noteworthy, for a nation that is so often criticized by friends and enemies alike, is how the comments were fairly universally positive.
As the Euros wandered our 50 states and took in all our food, sites, and customs, they were about as shocked to discover they had been lied to about the United States as Soviet leader Boris Yeltsin was when he visited a Houston-area grocery store in 1989.
For those unfamiliar, while on a diplomatic tour, Yeltsin demanded to make an impromptu stop at a normal suburban grocery store to see how people lived outside the major cities he had been visiting on his official itinerary. According to the Houston Chronicle coverage at the time, Yeltsin “roamed the aisles of Randall’s nodding his head in amazement” at the options available.
On his flight from Houston to Miami afterwards, his aides said he was speechless for a long time before finally saying, “What have we done to our people?” A biographer said that this was the moment “”the last vestige of Bolshevism [Soviet communism] collapsed” within Yeltsin, and it played a major part in Yeltsin deciding to disband the Soviet Union.
Yeltsin later said: “When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people…” and that if the people saw what he saw, “there would be a revolution” because nobody from peasant to Politburo member has these choices, “Not even Mr. Gorbachev.”
GLOBAL SOCCER FANS HAVE THEIR OWN YELTSIN MOMENT
Over recent weeks, many others from overseas have had similar experiences to Yeltsin while wondering around our small towns and big cities and seeing what everyday life is like here. Little Berlin Walls were falling in their minds as they realized what was possible in a free-enterprise system (or more likely, they just enjoyed themselves and now have a more positive image of America). Either way, this should make all of us proud and extremely grateful for the things we have.
The things visitors were most impressed by might fall into a few categories. The first, like with Yeltsin, was just the absolute convenience and bounty that our capitalist economy is able to provide.
THINGS ARE BIGGER AND MORE CONVENIENT IN AMERICA
Largely by getting the government out of the way, we allow people to build and grow their businesses and to compete with others for market share — then amazing products and services emerge naturally. This can lead to businesses that visitors from Europe, Japan, and other parts of the world simply cannot comprehend, like Walmart, Costco, Golden Corral, Bass Pro Shops, Chik-fil-A, and Buc-ee’s.
A LAND OF FREEDOM AND PATRIOTISM
Americans also have more freedoms than much of the world, and we’re proud of it. Many visitors wanted to go to a firing range to take advantage of our right to bear arms, for example.
In some countries, like England, it is often discouraged to display the Union Jack (the UK flag) or the St. George’s flag (the English flag) for fear of offending immigrants or encouraging nationalism. But visitors loved the bold, unapologetic patriotic displays in the United States, especially things like Air Force (and bald eagle) fly-overs, fireworks, and loud singing of the Star Spangled Banner. Even if it’s not their country, some (like these Scottish soccer fans) enthusiastically joined in singing our national anthem.
As Ronald Reagan once said, “America is great because America is good.” And probably the most common sentiment from foreigners wandering our 50 states was that everyone was incredibly welcoming and kind — “nice” is too weak a word for what they described.
Wherever they went, if they looked lost, or needed a recommendation for where to eat, an American was there to help with a smile on their face. And many of them enjoyed those food recommendations:
From barbecue down in Tennessee. To delis up in New Jersey.
As our 250th anniversary approaches, two weeks from tomorrow, this is a perfect reminder of just how fortunate we are to live in this country and to never take it for granted.
