Because we created this nation in a bloody struggle against one of the greatest empires on the planet. And since then we've been fighting and struggling and doing wonderful and terrible things all at once. We had a thriving economy built on the use of slaves, but we also had massive underground movements combating said use of slaves. And when it finally ended, it wasn't done by some king's "decree," we had to fight for it and send half our population against the other half armed with rifles. And our country is better because of it. We created thriving businesses in industries where the right risk-takers could make a fortune in a lifetime, while simultaneously giving workers the right to protest and unionize, even if they often had to fight for it. In fact, we've had to fight for everything: for women to vote, for blacks to vote, and in some places we're still fighting for gays to marry. We fought on the winning side of both world wars. We stood against the Soviet Union and Stalinism, even while we struggled with our own civil rights movement at home. We stood (and still stand) against Islamic terrorism, even while making grave mistakes by torturing and spying domestically.
And since that first shot was fired in Concord, MA, we've been rebelling against authority. We got hammered drunk on principal alone when the government told us not to. And we still get high as shit even when the government tells us not to. Blacks married whites even when the government told them not to. People opened businesses even when the government told them not to. And we still cherish our rights as human beings. Every citizen from a young champion of civil rights to some piece of shit member of the KKK has the same right to think or say whatever they want and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who would dare take away that right.
This is a land of lofty heights and terrifying lows, a place where you can make a million dollars off an idea just as easily as you can starve to death in the street.
I live in the wild, wild, West. And I wouldn't have it any other way.