How great is America?

Desperate people do desperate things. Good people can be led to believe things that are not true. Decent people can be convinced to support indecent things.
In recent years, these facts have weighed on me. How could, why did so many people join the KKK in large numbers? How could, why did the German people support the Nazi's? We often focus on the leaders and the specific actions of these organizations but they were supported by many, many ordinary people very much like you and I.
Could you, are you supporting the types of ideas that give rise to the types of things organizations like the KKK and the Nazi's did? Are you? Could you? Do you?
How prone are you to a need for power and control? How far will you go to pursue an ideal?
On the left side of equation, Marx, Lenin and Castro started with lofty ideals. But power, control and suppression took over with them as well. Greed and corruption took hold of them and magnified the flaws in their theories of system.
We need to develop systems of society that applaud and support exceptional achievement while tempering greed. Greed may lie at the lowest and highest levels.
We need to adopt an expectation of equal treatment while rewarding exceptional character, ethics and effort. Some will achieve much with little effort. Others will achieve much with major effort. We need to know the difference and reward it accordingly.
What has made America great for over 200 years, is that we found those exceptional people and exceptional efforts and lifted them. We have had a moral compass that, over time, squelched greed and corruption. (or at least attempted to slow it)
We learned from the depression that allowing 10, 20 or 30 percent of our population to flounder has a crippling effect on us all. Now, with a global economy, we need to learn that allowing 10, 20 or 30 percent of the world population to flounder has a crippling effect on us all. These are the fertile grounds for groups like ISIS. Or the KKK. Or Nazi's. Or Marxists.
What has been great about America is that we have navigated those waters and squelched greed, corruption, and power grabs when they most posed a danger to our existence as a democracy. Power, greed and corruption are threatening us now. They are burning us apart from within. Desperate people are doing desperate things. Good people are let to believe "alternative facts".
Have we, will we now cross that last bridge where decent people are convinced to support indecent things? Therein lies that question that will determine just how great America can be.