Your friend is exaggerating quite a bit the positives, but I’d say that I mostly share his optimistic views. Not particularly about the US, but about the world in general, of which US is a great part. The world is becoming more and more integrated, technologically advanced, democratic and peaceful. With all due respect for terrorist victims and fallen soldiers, 9/11 and Iraq are just tiny events, not even on the same scale with the horrendous wars of the past. You have to step back a bit to see the big picture, and the big picture of the world looks better than ever. And I believe it will only get better in the years ahead.
