It's a big and sometimes scary nation, and it honestly feels like that's never been more true than right now. There are an abundance of issues with the nation that the majority of you reading this will already be well aware of, and as a result, we're going to try and take a somewhat different approach to what can only be considered an extremely touchy subject.

There's a lot of passion and emotion involved when it comes to discussing the state of the country, and we're not going to try and sugar coat that. Some folks will fall on the hill that is being a great patriot, and while we can respect the reasons why, that doesn't make them correct.

We don't have all the answers by any stretch of the imagination and we aren't going to pretend to, but we have a right to voice our opinion just like everyone else (which is something we'll come onto later). There are quite clearly some lovely parts of the country that deserve to be recognised and appreciated, but not quite to the same extent that most folks do now.

If you've got any complaints about the list we've put together then we'd honestly love to discuss the matter with you all, mainly because there are so many factors behind it. Contrary to popular belief not everything is black and white, and it's about time that people realise that - before we all end up resenting this once brilliant country.

25 Substantial Arrogance From Residents

Any foreigners reading this will understand what we mean, but allow us to expand.

While we can appreciate the fact that you’re patriotic and you’ll live and breath by the flag, that doesn’t mean we need to hear about it all the time.

There’s a certain attitude of ‘we are the best’ in the general culture, and that needs to change. Beyond that, though, we just tend to think that manners don’t really cost anything, and locals could certainly benefit from being just a little bit less rude.

That’s not a demand, just a very good suggestion.

24 Opinions Have Never Been More Scrutinised

I’ve got an opinion, and everyone else reading this has an opinion. That shouldn’t be something that is vilified all too much in our not so humble ‘opinion’, and yet, here we are.

People are so quick to jump down your throat and claim that what you’re saying is factually incorrect, and we’re just a bit tired of it. You may not necessarily agree with someone’s opinion but freedom of speech is extremely valuable, mainly because it can also open your eyes to what some individuals are really like.

The line that we’ve always been taught is honesty is the best policy, and we believe in that.

23 Price Of Healthcare

It’s something that we’ve all been over and we’ll all continue to go over again, because let’s be honest, it’s just a bit of a joke at this point. So many countries around the world have free healthcare and they seem to function just fine, and then you’ve got, well, you know.

Recent studies have shown that 62% of bankruptcies are caused by the high cost of health bills, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Case in point: my little brother passed out and hit his head, and after spending just a few days in the hospital, his dad was charged five figures. Ridiculous.

22 Poor Geography Skills

Is it really that difficult?

Geography is a subject that 90% of us will do at some point during our lifetime, even if you’re someone who dropped out of school. With that being said it really does baffle us that so few locals are aware of the nations not only around them, but in Europe, Africa, Asia and beyond.

If you asked them to point to a country on a map then we’d guess that they’d have a pretty difficult time of things, and that’s a shame.

It’s not the most important thing in the world but it’s nice to be educated on this sort of stuff.

21 The Clear Gulf Between Laziness And Exercise

It’s almost like there’s absolutely no in between.

Either you’re lazy, or you’re fond of exercising and do it regularly. It’s almost like marmite, in a way, as if you either love it or you hate it. That may sound extreme but these two ends of the spectrum are often on display more so than anything else, as if there’s nobody in the country that is in the middle.

We aren’t suggesting that everyone should be fitness freaks and we also aren’t suggesting those fitness freaks should go to the extremes that they do, but it’s just something that is worth thinking about.

20 Too Much Pressure On Kids In School To Succeed

Speaking of education, we come to the real ‘issue’ at play here: the pressure on kids who happen to be a bit smarter or more athletically gifted than the rest.

So many parents are just overbearing to the point where the kids aren’t even given a second to breathe.

It’s an exhausting process which usually involves some long-lasting effects for the children involved. While we understand why the parents want to push them to do the very best that they can in every single thing they do, we’re not sure that’s a good enough excuse.

In fact, we’re certain it isn’t.

19 Reliance On Fast Food

We all like to indulge with a bit of fast food from time to time, but there are levels to this and this country passed the highest of those levels many, many years ago. Every single year there are hundreds of new fast food restaurants opening up across the country, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to slow down anytime soon.

It’s a profitable business but we shouldn’t be encouraging people to eat so much rubbish. It doesn’t matter if they’re a teenager or if they’re in their 60s, because it’s going to be bad for you one way or the other.

18 Too Many Boring States

Even if you can’t name all of the states in the country, the odds are that you’ve at least heard of them on some level. Even if that’s the case, though, it doesn’t mean all too much, because most of the time there’s nothing to pick apart from at least 15-20 of them.

Every single state should feel different and important in one way or another, because if they don’t, then what kind of quality of life do the residents have?

We know that we couldn’t possibly understand what it’s like to live in all 50 states, but that isn’t really the point here.

The point is we want a reason to be proud of all 50 states, instead of just using them in a game where we see how many we can actually name.

17 The Cities Are Overpriced

You don’t need us to tell you this, do you?

It’s a pretty common theme for cities to be really expensive no matter where you go, but the States seems to take things to a whole new level. As a quick example, in New York City, it costs $52 just to take a taxi from JFK Airport to Manhattan.

On top of that, if you want a refreshing beverage once you arrive, the majority of bars and pubs are probably going to charge you around $10 – and most of the time, even more.

It’s a nationwide theme and while some places are worse than others, we should be allowed to moan about it.

16 You're Apparently Only Allowed To Have One Favourite Sports League

What ever happened to being a fan of all different kinds of sports?

It seems as if there’s this brand new culture in which we all need to choose one or the other. As is the case with other aspects of sport (which we’ll get onto), you tend to see a lot of back and forth between fans of different organisations.

The NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB are perfect examples, and it’s almost as if they’re subconsciously bullying each other.

Every single sports fan should be given the chance to pick what they want to watch, and how they want to watch it. This doesn’t seem like a difficult dilemma to us.

15 The Over Exaggeration With Everything

This one is kind of frustrating and when we say kind of, we actually mean very.

It’s natural, in some circles, for people to have an over-enthusiastic personality. It can be because of what you watched on TV as a child, what your family is like, or perhaps even what part of the country you were born in.

Over in the States, though, it’s turned up to the highest possible temperature imaginable.

The locals can just be so loud, and everything just has to be this larger than life tale. Newsflash: sometimes, it’s perfectly fine to just say hello to someone and then carry on with your day.

14 Sports Rivalries Taken Too Far

We’re back to the big, bad world of sports, and not a moment too soon. It doesn’t matter what sport you follow or even if it’s a professional league or a college one, because the passion that these fans have for their team is incredible.

We aren’t entirely sure if incredible is meant as a compliment, either, especially in the context of rivalries. There are people out there who will legitimately choose to not be friends with someone, or even start a fight with someone, if they discover that they support the rivals of their own team. It’s absolute madness.

13 The Tipping Culture

Look, if a waiter or a waitress has done a really good job, then I’m probably going to give them a bit of a tip. However, if they’ve done nothing more than the bare minimum, then why on earth should I be required to give them more money for simply doing their job?

Sure, it’s not a great job in the general scheme of day to day life, but we’ve all had to work in jobs that we don’t like before.

The average tip that is expected from any and all people is around 15-20% of your overall bill, which we find to be absolutely outrageous. We’re taking a stand!

12 Division Between States

You can go to one state and have a fantastic time with a series of great interactions, and then you could go to the next where the locals are telling you how bad the residents of the first state are. They’ll you’ll go back to the initial state, and you’ll notice that they do the same thing.

This division between states is a problem, and in some cases, it’s kind of startling how different the locals can be up north in comparison to down south. We aren’t suggesting one is better than the other but what we are saying is division is a problem in society, and that’s never been more accurate than when discussing the 50 states.

11 The Poison Of Social Media

The manufactured nature of social media, especially on Twitter, FB and IG, is really starting to impact the world – and can you guess who's at the forefront of that? There’s this brand new culture which has developed that seems to be running wild on the web, and it involves people airbrushing themselves and altering different photos to make their lives seem more incredible than they actually are.

That can cause a ripple effect that leads into a minor obsession for a lot of people, and we aren’t exaggerating with that. Black Mirror has even examined the risks that social media has in the current era, and it isn’t pretty.

10 Unpaid Internships

If you’re ever offered an internship, don’t believe the phrase “it’s the experience that counts” – because it isn’t. What counts is you being paid for your work, and we find it absolutely terrible that many interns still don’t receive the kind of pay that they deserve.

They’ve earned it through their own hard work and dedication, and the idea of an unpaid internship being beneficial is a lie. Sure, if it’s a big enough company then employers may be impressed that you went there, but you need to take a stand by letting them know that you deserve some kind of reward for your efforts.

9 Not As Much Desire To Travel

It’s not a requirement for people to travel at any point during their lives and we aren’t trying to suggest that everyone needs to do it. With that being said it does open your mind up to a world of new possibilities and opportunities, and it feels like too many locals sit back and want to just carry on with their day to day lives.

There’s being proud of where you’re from and then there’s having too much pride, and there’s a very obvious difference between the two. You don’t have to commit to it, but just entertaining the idea is a huge step in the right direction.

8 Need A Closer Relationship With Canada

Canada has its own faults but we tend to believe that, for the most part, it’s a pretty great country. From their healthcare scheme to the levels of satisfaction from the locals, it feels like the Great White North is a much friendlier place to be.

We can’t understand, then, why there’s this constant need to go back and forth with them instead of choosing to work together. Many people will even go out of their way to mock Canadians as if they’re the bigger, more knowledgeable older brother. It’s just weird, and we’d like to hear someone explain the dynamic a bit more to us.

7 Athlete Wages Are Far Too High

Aaron Rodgers recently signed a $134 million extension with the Green Bay Packers over four years.

While we understand that he’s one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, you have to question when enough is enough. He could donate half of that fee to charity, which we’d imagine he would consider given that he’s a nice guy, and he’d still be getting paid too much.

The money involved in sports is absolutely ridiculous, and we’re not entirely sure how, or even if, we can do anything about it.

It’s a very notable problem, and we need to think about how to combat it.

6 Sports Teams Are Called ‘World’ Champions

You’ve won a sports league that involved either one or two countries. You are not the world champions. Even if you’d walk through any teams that challenge you from other countries, that does not qualify you as world champions.

Case in point: the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl last year. They were instantly declared the world champions, and to put it as bluntly as we possibly can, that’s just incorrect.

We appreciate the hustle and we appreciate what it takes to get to that stage, but come on now, let’s be a little bit sensible about this.