Happy Fourth of July everyone!
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Along with reveling and reflecting this holiday weekend, we’re probably doing some grousing too. Yet even with all the pain and disruption this year, it’s easy to overlook how much we have to celebrate in America.
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Back on July 4, 2010 when I was editor of Fortune, we put together a list of the 100 Greatest Things about America. Pretty much anything could be on the list — national parks, TV shows, favorite foods — subject to just one rule. People could be included, of course, but we decided only the living. (Ditto for dogs, cats, etc.) A group of us brainstormed and in short order, we had our 100. In fact we came up with many more than that. No worries, we could and did create another list the following year, (which led to another rule, no repeats.) So, we listed 100 more great things about America in 2011, and then again in 2012, 2013 and 2014, until I decamped to Yahoo pastures.
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Now after a six year hiatus, it seems especially fitting this year to remind ourselves about America’s positive side. Same rules apply: Only the living and no repeats from previous lists.
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One measure of our country’s greatness: Even with 500 items already identified, it was pretty easy to come up with 100 more.
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(NB: A few people from previous lists have passed away over the years. Also picks from older lists may have not “aged well,” as they say, but we aren’t going to edit previous years’ lists.)
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Here then, without further ado and in no particular order, (no judging), are Yahoo Finance’s 100 Greatest Things about America 2020.
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100 Greatest Things about America
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1. Voting
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2. Poll workers
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3. Dwayne Johnson
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4. Triple Berry Pie
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5. Water parks
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6. “Friday Night Lights” (the book, the movie, and the show)
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7. Our flag
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8. “Shark Tank”
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9. Ava Duvernay
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10. Neil Diamond singing “Coming to America”
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11. Eddie Murphy starring in “Coming to America”
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12. Frontline workers
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13. Hip hop
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14. Meryl Streep
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15. Tom Hanks
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16. Southern accents
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17. Brooklyn accents
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18. Charleston Chews
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19. Roadside diners
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20. Sandra Oh
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21. “Hamilton,” the musical (and the book too!)
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22. Fireball
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23. Black Lives Matter
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24. Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Falling Water”
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25. Second-line parades in New Orleans
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26. Reed Hastings
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27. Deviled eggs
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28. Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich
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29. Whoopi Goldberg
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30. Plant nurseries
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31. Queer Eye’s Fab Five
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32. Kellyanne, George and Claudia Conway
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33. Banana bread
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34. White Claw and the spiked seltzer trend
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35. Matthew McConaughey
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36. Pennsylvania sweet corn
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37. Speakeasies
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38. C-SPAN
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39. Elmo and Elmo’s dad
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40. “The Office” 41. Promposals
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42. Tax refunds
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43. Dude with a sign meme page
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44. Block parties
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45. Mike Trout
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46. First Black Bachelor
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47. Peloton
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48. Innovation
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49. Potlucks
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50. Spike Lee
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51. John Roberts
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52. Kentucky bourbon
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53. Mirror
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54. Ozark
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55. Spider-Man
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56. The McElroy Family
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57. Laverne Cox
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58. New Jersey’s official Twitter page
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59. Landscape Arch at Arches National Park
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60. Pacific Crest Trail
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61. Alcohol to-go
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62. Lobster rolls
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63. The Pumpkin Spice Latte
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64. Sarah Cooper
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65. “Succession”
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66. Megan Rapinoe
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67. Strand Book Store
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68. Live video messaging services (Zoom, Webex, Google Hangout, Microsoft Teams, Blue Jeans)
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69. Watermelon
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70. Americana music
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71. Amazon Prime
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72. Etsy
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73. Disney+
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74. Farmer’s markets
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75. Larry David
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76. “Love Is Blind”
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77. Guys still “selling” CDs in tourist hotspots
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78. The Central Park Dance Skaters in NYC
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79. Supper clubs
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80. Acai Bowls
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81. Good pizza
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82. Allen’s Coffee Brandy
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83. “The Sopranos”
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84. Vermont’s Mad River Glen ski cooperative
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85. Beanie Babies
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86. “Tiger King”
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87. Stephen King
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88. Regina King
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89. Tater Tot Hotdish
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90. Podcasts
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91. Impossible and Beyond burgers
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92. Same-sex marriage
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93. Mad Magazine
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94. Razor clams
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95. Mac and cheese and Country “gravy”
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96. Parents dancing with their kids on TikTok
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97. Cities banning (or charging) for the use of plastic bags and plastic straws
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98. Best Buy
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99. Ad boycotts
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100. Jhumpa Lahiri
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To view The 100 Greatest Things about America lists from 2010-2014 click here.
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Contributors: Dan Roberts, Tracey Marx Bernstein, Rick Newman, Olivia Cross, Adriana Belmonte, Brian Sozzi, Amanda Fung, Andy Hoffman, Julia La Roche, Stephanie Asymkos, Mckenzie Stratigopoulos, Hannah Smart
Commentary by Andy Serwer, editor-in-chief Follow him at @serwer
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