Ever since the United States started fighting in Iraq, and even long before, we have found ourselves the victims of a different kind of war, the war to prove who is the best. From people who identify themselves as being anywhere from moderate liberals to hawkish conservatives, you tend to always hear them utter the phrase "America is the greatest country on Earth". From people who tend to be on the far left side of the spectrum you tend to hear about how "America is the most corrupt country on Earth." I would comment on how they should really be saying "The United States of America is ...", but at a time when we are afraid of developing "nuculer" threats, I feel that any attempt to comment on American English would be futile. But back to the point. Each side always has evidence to back their claims. For example, conservatives usually say, "its the only place where I can be free". This comment is usually greated by the liberal retort of "you are just a slave to the machine and the man, man". In either case, I feel that everyone is wrong. I firmly believe that we live in the greatest country on Earth, but not because of things like gauranteed freedoms, tax shelters for the wealthy, theft of elections, or even an SUV in every garage and driveway and the cheapest gas on Earth to support it. No, none of these are what make our nation so great. Our nation is the greatest country on Earth because of two things: free refils, and free public restrooms.
Why free refils and free public restrooms? I'll explain why these things were brought to my attention. Recently I went to In-N-Out with one of my roomates who is visiting from Germany to study at UCSD for one quarter. While we were chomping on our food that came in wrappers that had Bible passages listed on the back, my roomate said that his favorite aspect of American culinary culture is the free refil policy. Every time that we go somewhere where he can order a soda, he makes a point to get as many refils as possible. Since he also studies economics, he tries to explain to me the rational of driving down your own cost per liter of soda by drinking as much as possible for a fixed price. Being one who enjoys getting "sumpt'n fur nutt'n" I had long ago calculated how to drive the cost of a soda down to some $0.25/large cup. But this was not what intrigued me. His fascination with free refils reminded me of when I was in Europe. When I ate at a pizzeria in England (home of crooked teeth, bad food, and inbred royalty) I remember the manager making a point to count each time we filled our cups at the soda fountain so that he could charge us for each cup. In France (home of soldiers that are incapable of fighting, stinky cheese, and women with legs covered with more fur than mine)