What does it mean to be an American? I suppose there are as many answers as there are people. It's totally subjective - you can only truly say what it means to you.
My America is a peaceful nation - not one that seeks foreign wars over fictionalized WMDs.
My America is a free country - not the America that holds Asian-Americans in interment camps and untried citizens in Guantanamo.
My America is a land of equality - not the country that values the opinions of corporations and campaign donors above that of the common man.
My America is a land of opportunity, where the hard-working can go from rags to riches, and the slothful fail - not a place where you can make a steady living by having 6 kids and collecting welfare or by becoming a career unemployment-collector.
My America is a just land - not the place where a court victory is determined more by the funds available for legal defense than by who is in the right.
My America values the truth - it is not the country that allows one company to control our media as AOL-Time Warner does. They own 95% of the media, including The New York Times and LA Times papers/magazines, People magazine, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, HBO, New Line Cinema, Dreamworks, and Newsweek. (link)
My America is the melting pot where settlers from all over Europe joined with native Americans to form a country which accepted Asians, South Americans, and anyone who had a contribution to make - not the country that declares immigration a national crisis.
My America has long been a land of invention, innovation, and progress - not the country that works to stifle scientific research and criminalize technical progress.
My America is the apple pie and blue jeans America portrayed in Jean Sheperd's In God We Trust (All Others Pay Cash).
My American not a place where elected officals are more likely to be criminals than non-politicians.
My America values free thought, free speech, and does not discourage the questioning of authority by branding those who do so as "UnAmerican".
Before 9/11, I never thought much about patriotism, or about being American. But during that few weeks of fear when our country pulled together and many of us felt a kinship for all Americans regardless of subculture, many of us began to think about it. The terms "patriot" and "un-American" have been tossed around so much since then that much of their meaning has been lost, but in the end all I can say is that although I disagree with much of what my country is doing, I am still an American, and there is still much about America that I value.