I am a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. Even though my ancestry is Chinese, I consider myself an American. This is where I lived most of my life and this is the culture that I identify with. I drive a 15 year-old American car with a push-rod V8 in it, I own firearms, I listen to Country and Rock music, I have voted in all of the major elections since I turned 18, I have enlisted in the military and have ambitions of law enforcement.

I believe being American gives me opportunities I wouldn't get in many other countries, including the country of my parents, China. In America I can work hard and hopefully one day achieve the American Dream. That would be living in a nice home with a white picket fence with my wife and kids. I don't need any fancy living, "bling bling," or any of that silly garbage. A loving family will be all the riches that I need. I would LIKE to have a lot of money, but it is not required for happiness in my opinion.

I also like the fact that America gives me the right to own firearms and to use them if necessary to defend myself. And while I know not all states allow for this, the federal government does not prevent those things. I am fortunate to live in a state that does grant me those rights and I hope the next administration would not be one that would pass more meaningless and ineffective gun laws.

I believe to be American is to be able to express yourself and to have any interest or hobby that you desire, as long as it does not involve anything that exceeds the limits of our laws, lol. People all over the USA complain about how this is wrong, or that is wrong, but what they fail to realize is the fact that they wouldn't even be able to make those complaints in a lot of countries because they would probably be arrested for it. Then there are all of these anti-military people. They don't realize that the very people they protest against are the people who have fought and died for their right to do so. Talk about ungrateful.

Lastly, I think to be American is to be diverse. If you go to France, what type of people do you see? You find a lot of French people. There are people of different ethnicities, but they are all basically born in France. You go to England, you find English, you go to Egypt, you find Egyptians, etc. etc. etc. In America, you see people from all different countries of all different races coming together in one country. Out of all the countries in the world for them to converge into, which country do they pick? That's right, America. So the next time someone tells you how bad America is, just think about how ironic it is then that everyone wants to be here.