Shinning city? Hardly, more like the butt of international jokes. We are a laughingstock, a country to be pitied, not followed. Half the country does not even believe in democracy anymore, instead they clamor for a fascist dictator. -- Well, one point in favor of a fascist dictator is that the first move will be to confiscate all the guns in America--got to consolidate that power. Probably the only way we will ever get gun control in the U.S.