What Makes A Nation

Whenever I hear the excuses some "Liberals" and many "Latinos" use to defend corrupt and ineffective leadership that is proliferating throughout South America, I have to remind them of Japan, South Korea and Israel. All of these countries were poor when compared to major world powers.

Japan: Japan is a nation of few natural resources. The Japanese people have always been afraid of poverty, so afraid in fact, they developed a work ethic that is so intense and remarkable that it has propelled them from a poverty stricken nation to a world power. They were a world power in World I and World War II and they are an economic power today.

What international agency helped them? What UN mandate? What foreign agency loaned them money during their rise from poverty to riches? How many of them are illegal immigrants anywhere in the world? The answers are few or none. The Japanese have earned everything they have.

Even in America, few Japanese; if any, have ever been convicted of a major crime. Few. if any, Japanese are on subsidy programs they didn't earn. Even though they were horribly discriminated against in this country, they went to war as Americans and fought and died with honor. They are and always will be one of the greatest nation of people on this planet.

South Korea: Let's turn to the South Koreans, another great nation of people. South Korea was virtually decimated during the communist incursion into southeast Asia. Yet in less than 30 years, using natural and human resources, they raised themselves from the bottom to an economic powerhouse. To date, there are few, if any, South Koreans in American prisons, on undeserved government subsidies or can be called an illegal immigrant.

What did these third world nations, that are now first world, have that many nations around the world lack? The answer in 3 words is honest, dedicated, leadership. Their governments were not engrossed in corruption, ineffective and/or self-serving. Their people were committed to each other. They worked together as a nation. All for one and one for all.

What makes America great is not our natural resources, its our people. What makes any country great is its people. If natural resources were the key to greatness, Russia would be the greatest and most powerful nation on this earth and they are not.

Finally there is Israel: Israel is a tiny nation that is no more than a strip of land. It is surrounded by millions of hostile Arabs. Yet this nation of people whose ethnicity has caused them to be butchered by the millions is one of the most successful nations on earth. The Israeli Defense Forces are among the world's elite and their air force rivals our own. They took a barren wasteland and turned it into an oasis.

I could talk about 50 countries or more where people are struggling and dying rather than coming together as a nation. The answer is always the same. What makes a nation great..the people and those they choose to govern them and lead them.