79-11-B4

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America

Transcript This commentary is going to be a condensed version of a love letter to America by a British journalist, John Rosen, who fell in love with this country at first sight. I'm sorry time won't permit all of his article, but you'll get the idea. Mr. Rosen writes: "You Americans are spoiled rotten. You don't know how good you've got it. Here you are living in paradise--all of you--in the Utopian states of America and all you ever do is gripe. "Compare this magical country of yours to any other place on planet earth. And in every case and from any angle this country comes out on top. Way on top. "Very few of you ever realize how incredibly lucky you are to live in this marvelous, magnificent country. The freedom is simply intoxicating. There's precious little of it around the world and most of it is right here at your feet. But you Yanks take it all so much for granted. "Your cops are the friendliest, toughest, fastest and most politely deferential defenders of your freedom of any cops in this galaxy. Yet all you do is bad mouth them. Go break the law anywhere else and see what happens. "As I travel the suburbs, slums, cities, towns and farm lands of this most beautiful country in the world, people ask me what I think of the place. When I say it's the best place in the world I'm rewarded with suspicious looks. My crime? I dare to love America. "My qualifications for making such glowing statements about your country are the 85 other countries I've been to. The people here are the world's friendliest, most outgoing individuals anywhere. "People in other countries have so much less to live with and to live for. They live out lives of quiet desperation and deprivation, no hopes, no dreams. Just their stomachs to worry about. "Only in America and no place else do you sometimes get a free refill for your coffee. "Only in America can you walk across the road. In every other country you run for your life. "Only in America can you get a drivers license the same day you decide you want it. In every other country 'they' keep you waiting (sometimes years) and automatically flunk you unless you grease the man's palm with cold cash. "Only in America do the phones work, all the time. Only here do you get a bill telling you who you called, when you called and how much you pay for each call. "The minimum hourly wage is higher than the average daily wage in most countries and the average weekly wage in others. "So my American friends a word of loving advice: "Love what you've got here because there is nothing better anywhere. And remember -- 97 percent of the world's people would like to trade places with you." He's right you know. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 79-11-B4 Production Date 07/27/1979 Book/Page RPtV-462 Audio Youtube? No
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