I took this piece at face value--I am grateful to be an American and to enjoy access to public education, freedom of speech, freedom of protest, the legal right to be LGBTQ (it's illegal in some countries and even punishable by death in some!) and the various other rights you've mentioned.

Yet that doesn't mean I don't still want the U.S. to be even better--to prevent endless mass murders by angry/disgruntled men, to stop the over-policing of low income communities of color, to ensure no child goes hungry, to ensure that workers have a living wage and can actually afford food and housing...the list goes on.