One of the primary jobs of a community newspaper is to be a cheerleader.

In these COVID-19 times, it’s a little more difficult to find something to cheer about. More so since our mainstream national media is intent of telling us all that is wrong with our nation, and pushing the narrative that every single bit of it is the fault of the Republican party and President Trump.

I don’t think Joe Biden will win in November, but if he does, I fully expect much of the negative hate-spewing by the national media “news presenters” to cease, and suddenly the rioters and tantrum-throwers will go away. Then we’ll only hear about the great things that are happening in our nation’s capitol with our new “progressive” team in place “investing” additional trillions of our borrowed dollars.

Regardless, we did a little research and put together a top 20 list of only some of the things we do right in America. So, here’s a little good news.

1. Oil Production. The US now exports oil; something unheard of a decade ago. The horizontal driIling/fracking boom we witnessed here in Kingfisher County led the way to a pre-COVID-19 production rate of approximately 12 million barrels of crude oil per day. There is currently a glut of oil worldwide, but that will undoubtedly change when the world economy gets back up and running full speed.

2. Beef Production. America is the world’s leading producer of beef, which translates to around 12.7 million tons and the industry exported almost $9 billion last year.

3. Aerospace And Aviation. The US is the world leader in space exploration, aerospace and aviation, hands down. In addition to pioneering space travel, the US leads the planet in the manufacture and sale of aircraft engines and parts, jets and helicopters and more.

4. Healthcare. Both per capita and in total, the US spends more money on healthcare than any other country. Although there are problems with the system, if you are ill, or if you need to have a surgery for a life-threatening condition, the US is the place to be for accessible and professional medical care and excellent surgical procedures.

5. Medical Research. America dominates the field of medical research. The US spends more than any other country in the world on medical research and development with a total expenditure of well over S500 billion annually.

6. Nuclear Power. The US is the world’s leading producer of nuclear power and our country accounts for over 30% of the world’s demand for nuclear-generated electricity. America’s nuclear reactors generated 809 billion kilowatts last year, and two more reactors are in the making. The industry is estimated to be worth over $37 billion.

7. Natural Gas Output. America overtook Russia in 2009 to become the world’s number one natural gas producer. Although there is a glut of natural gas currently across the globe, the oil and gas industry provided 9.8 million Americans with above-average income jobs in 2019.

8. Technological Innovation. The US remains the world leader in technology. Although Switzerland and China are gaining ground, American companies continue to dominate the global tech industry.

9. Robotics. The US is also ahead of rival nations in futuristic technology. A study published in 2017 reported that the US has invested $732 billion in automation stocks, which is more than any other nation.

10. Artificial Intelligence. Years of public and private investment and research have put the US leagues ahead of other countries in the artificial intelligence race. In 2019 President Trump signed an Executive Order launching the American Al initiative, demonstrating that the US will continue to be at the forefront of Al in the future.

11. Chemical Production & Exports. The chemical industry is one of America’s largest manufacturing industries. The US is the world leader in chemical production and exports, with sales exceeding $765 billion last year, and employing more than 529,000 workers.

12. Services. Services are actually the top dollar producing US export, with total foreign sales of $778 billion last year. The US had a $243 billion trade surplus in services last year.

13. Higher Education. America is home to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), considered to be the planet's best university MIT and other higher education institutions take the first three spots on the QS World University Rankings list for 2020.

14. Arms Exports. America is the world’s biggest exporter of weapons by a long shot, accounting for 36% of global arms exports. In 2019, the US sold 76% more arms than Russia, the next closest competitor. The US sells military hardware to 96 nations.

15. Movies. Hollywood leads the way in box office receipts, with over $11.45 billion in 2019.

16. Automobiles & Automotive Parts. Although no longer the leader in automobile exports, so far for 2020, the US ranks third behind Germany and Japan. The US ranks second behind Germany in automotive parts exports.

17. Reserve Currency. The US dollar has been the unofficial world currency since 1944. Today, an estimated 61% of the world's foreign banks have their currency reserves in the US dollar, and 40% of the world's debt is denominated in US bills.

18. Stock Exchange. Founded in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange was not the first of its kind, but over the last 200 years, it has grown to become the world's largest in the world in terms of market value. The NYSE had over $25 trillion worth of equity in March of this year, and even with the COVID-19 pandemic, is again reaching new highs today. Its value exceeds that of the next three largest stock exchanges in the world, combined.

19. Billionaires. The US is home to the highest number of billionaires on the planet. Currently America has 614 billionaire residents. China is second on the list with 389, followed by Germany with 107.

20. Charitable Giving. Finally, Americans are the most generous people in the world. In 2019 Americans gave away almost $500 billion to charities.

I realize that some of my left-leaning friends will single out the categories that they feel are “bad” areas to lead in. To this I respond that there are evil people out there, and they don’t play fair. They also covet what we have, and they want to take it. Unfortunately, there are those outside and inside our nation that want to completely destroy our nation as we know it.

Despite all we see and hear to the contrary every day on our televisions and laptops at home, the silent majority across this nation continues to do what we do best. We get the job done, and we collectively do it better than any other nation on this planet.

Why? Because even with this very small minority of nut jobs, communists, socialists, spoiled rotten adult brats and misfits out there rioting and getting their screen time projecting their version of destruction, toxic venom, division and hate, the form of government gifted to us by our founding fathers, and our free enterprise system have allowed us to have a great 244 year run of prosperity and freedom unknown anywhere else in the history of mankind.

Despite what the radical left tells us, all of us in the US still have a chance if we’re willing to look for opportunities and work. That’s much more than billions and billions of poor souls out there in many other nations can say.

I’m not sure I understand what “white privilege” is. But in our case it means inheriting little or nothing, working 60 hour weeks, managing debt, paying at least a third of our income to federal and state taxes, with a spouse that does the same. At the same time we do all we can to raise our kids to be critical thinkers who won’t fall into the radical far left’s hope-killing, work ethic-destroying, ambition-sucking socialist/communist trap of envy, hate and entitlement.

And I truly believe there are millions of black, brown, red and yellow freedom-loving Americans doing the same thing.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. told us: “We may have all come here on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”