General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 16 People On Things They Couldn’t Believe About America Until They Moved Here [View all]Aristus
(72,229 posts)and I'm all for pointing them out in order to expedite the improving.
But there are also a lot of things to be proud of, too.
My own personal story - I was in the room when it happened: the family of a friend of mine was sponsoring an exchange student from China (this was back in the 80's). A great guy named Wan. We were getting ready to visit some friends in Oregon, and told Wan that he would get to see another of the 50 States. He said: "I'll need to update my passport before we leave." We told him he didn't need his passport to cross a state line, and he couldn't believe it. He thought we'd have to "show our papers" at the Oregon border.
A few years later, when The Hunt For Red October was released, I remembered that when Sam Neill's Soviet officer found out you don't need 'papers' to travel from state to state.