Tonight the State of the Union address will take place. For most college kids this signifies a rare Tuesday night occasion for a drinking game. A fun one, too, for those of you that haven't played it.

Before I get set to worry if Bush's tie is red or blue (two shots depending on what color you guess), how many times he mentions the word terrorism (one drink apiece), or how many times the audience stands to applaud (one drink apiece), I want to take time out and give my State of the Union address.

America seems in a pretty rotten way these days. War, natural disasters, racism, uncertainty in the economy, homelessness and a monstrous gap between the rich and the poor all hit our front pages daily. But I'm standing by our country this time.

This is a pretty great place to live. How many other countries could have handled a war in the Middle East with as few casualties as America? In 1,047 days of occupation we've only lost 2,242 soldiers according to www.icasualties.org. That's a little more than two soldiers a day. No army could hope to do better in three years of wartime.

Since June of 2003, unemployment rates have steadily decreased. We're currently under 5 percent unemployment in the country. We've also watched the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grow by 3.5 percent this year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Homelessness is an issue everywhere, but no country does more to help its homeless population than America. Between shelters and advocacy groups, we do everything we can to make life easier for the homeless. You never hear that side of the story when people get down on the country.

The gap between the rich and the poor is definitely widening. The poorest 20 percent of the country saw a 19 percent raise in their incomes ($2,660) while the richest 20 percent saw a 59 percent raise in their incomes ($45,100) according to an article published in the Olympian on January 27. But this is America. Every family has a chance to do better, a chance to make more money. We don't live in an unchangeable caste system. We live in an economic system that does not prevent anyone from success.

I wake up every day and I am able to wear what I want, eat what I want and buy what I want. Nobody tells me what to think or how to think it. That's more than I can say for people in a lot of other regions in the world.

No, this country isn't perfect. But show me the country that is. If this place is so bad then why have 7.9 million people come to America since March of 2000 according to the center for immigration studies. Almost half of those people wanted to be here so badly they came illegally. They understood the value of a "city on a hill."

We're fighting a war on terror for the world. We're a growing economy. We give every citizen the same freedoms and opportunities to succeed. That's a place I'm proud to call my home. So I have to say, the State of our Union is strong. Let's hope President Bush echoes my sentiments tonight — with a red tie on.