I wish to respond to Bob Amstutz's letter. I am, first of all, a progressive, a liberal - someone who thinks neither are dirty words and someone who really sees the slow conservative drift to the right in the United States as something very unfortunate.

I do not in turn, however, think that "conservative" is a dirty word either, and I might even go so far as to say I do have some conservative views. I definitely can respect certain conservative views, but admittedly, for the most part, my views are progressive, seemingly more progressive than President Obama's and consequently I am disappointed with many of the positions his administration is taking.

He seems to be trying too hard to take the middle of the road. My response to that: Presidents Reagan, Bush I and Bush II all seemed very proud to call themselves conservative and took quite rightward leaning positions.

Why has it been so difficult for Presidents Clinton and Obama to call themselves liberal or progressive? That is unfortunate. We need the liberal voice to be a strong one-certainly one that should be as strong as the conservative voice is. I wanted President Clinton to be more progressive and now I once again would like President Obama to be more progressive.

I should also say that I was born and raised up through my high school graduation entirely in Bluffton, grew up going to a Bluffton church every Sunday, was in cub scouts and boy scouts, played sports in junior high school and high school, and sang in the high school and church choirs, and though I have lived most of my adult life in Tokyo, Japan,

I am still a proud American citizen, someone who is very proud of having been brought up in the small town of Bluffton, and proud of the values that my parents, my church, and the community and schools instilled in me.

As someone else briefly commented, we can be proud of many things about the United States even though the United States is not a perfect country. I definitely agree.

I am proud that the United States was able to abolish slavery after the Civil War even though there were already a number of countries throughout the world that had already abolished it. I am proud that the United States gave the right to vote to women in 1920 even though there were already many countries throughout the world that had given the vote to women.

I am proud that the United States was able to overcome one of its great religious divides in 1960 by electing a Catholic president even though at the time I and my family believed what was often said in the media that JFK would take orders from the Pope in Rome, and so we supported his opponent.

I am proud that the United States was able to overcome a deep racial divide as today we see many African-Americans who are highly respected in our country even so far as to elect our first, and no doubt not last, Black American president.

However, and perhaps this is because I do live outside the United States, I certainly do not like it when Americans including politicians of both parties, feel compelled to come out and say, "America is the greatest country in the world."

Frankly, it sounds foolish, like a school bully bragging to his classmates about how strong he is. Do we as a country have to constantly do this? Just as I am more impressed by the quiet strong type who does not have to brag as to how strong he is, similarly I wish the US would show its greatness by its actions rather than the bluster that its politicians seem compelled to show.

There are great things of other countries too. So just how does one measure greatness, and how can anyone say that America's greatness is greater than another country's? I am certainly proud of what I consider core American beliefs in freedom of speech and religion.

But many other countries have the same. I certainly don't like it in any country when freedom of speech is used irresponsibly to knock down someone else's religion or beliefs, and that seems to often be happening in the United States even right now.

That is, frankly, one thing I am not particularly proud of what I see happening by many "conservatives." Certainly, they are giving both conservatives and the United States a bad name. As far as something which I consider "great" where I live right now in Tokyo is its degree of pubic safety. It is practically the safest place I have ever lived. I feel as safe here as I do in Bluffton and certainly safer than probably almost any American city with a population of over 10,000 even though Tokyo has a population of nearly 13 million people.

In any case, in my mind, when it comes to safety, Japan is the greater country than the United States.

There are probably other things I could mention that I consider great about places outside the US, but I won't dwell on them now. I guess my main point in writing this is to say that the word "liberal" or "progressive" should not be bandied about as if it is a dirty word; and, if you travel outside of Bluffton, and even outside of the United States, there are a lot of great and wonderful things.

And, truth be told, there are great and wonderful people I have met all over the world who are not Christian.

Thank you,
Rick Emmert

Tokyo