Europe vs. America, the Rematch

So it struck me that yesterday's analysis was in fact extremely biased so I thought I'd put more thought into some of the things I appreciate about the United States. Lo and behold, wasn't that hard. My thinking was crystallized and epitomized by this morning's drive to work. With one turn of the dial, the radio went from three mainstream radio hosts joking about the sad state of porn today to songs of praise on "The Family Life Network: your christian companion." Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the U.S. of A., land of extreme diversity and diversity of extremes.

So hear me out. With the possible exception of India, I don't think any country in the world incorporates as much diversity as the United States does. Whether it's in politics, ethnicity, music, business, education, dress, lifestyle, wealth, culture, technology, one is hard pressed to find such a rich combination of different (often opposing) approaches, attitudes, perspectives, outlooks and styles.

This richness makes the United States the envy of the world but there's a catch. While everyone else looks up to and tries to emulate the most powerful nation on earth (I have a hard time hearing German music on German radio), who is the most powerful nation on earth to look up to? I've been reading the Kitab-i-Iqan, Baha'u'llah's Book of Certitude, written in answer to a question about the truth of the Bab's mission, and it is becoming so clear to me how much we need divine guidance in every age, what a deep and far-reaching influence it has on the course of human affairs. I'm not doing a very good job of expressing this idea so I'll come back to it later.