Frankly, I don't care much for the American government itself, whatever party is in charge, which might be another major reason why such expressions of "We're #1 in the eyes of everybody who doesn't hate us" provoke irritated verbiage from me. My loyalty to the physical land of my birth and the people I actually know is prior in my mind, then less local areas gradually increasing to the abstract nation and then the very very general Globe. Nationalism strikes me as a half-way house between globalism and localism. I think of myself as a Coloradoan before I think of myself as an American, which is very strange because I have no connections to nostalgic Southern neo-confederates.
Irrespective of the losses we have experienced in our nation away from what the founders invisioned and put in place, we are still by and large very free and have the opportunity to improve ourselves according to the dictates of our own hearts and the fruits of our own labors.
We have that liberty and freedom, IMHO, because there is a large existance of fundamental morality in this land still, despite what goes on in Washington DC, or Hollywood,. or Denver Colorado, or any other other capital...and God in Heaven still smiles on that (and I believe He will as long as it remains in place). Second to that, and paramount in its defense, is that we are free because over eioghty million American citizens remained armed with their own personal weapons.
In order to gain back the ground lost, people must become active in their own spheres of influence. That's one reason such a book as this, which speaks to these very issues, is a good thing. It will be a vehicle and a tool to help oin that endeavor...to become involved and help influence and educate.
Just my opinion.