It's not without its shortcomings, certainly. But the American venture capital system, which over the past decade has been adopted as far away as Israel and Japan, has been a great exporter of Americans' willingness to take risks and innovate. (It's right there in the name.) We may not have many frontiers left, but capitalism itself can be a great adventure.

93.) Willie Nelson

A quintessentially American songwriter who has embraced every genre from Tin Pan Alley to bluegrass to grunge to Aerosmith-style cheez metal. He changed the Nashville sound permanently—then left it all behind for more space (and better marijuana) in his home state of Texas.

94.) Wrigley Field

Old, obsolete, unforgettable.

95.) Rivalries

Coke versus Pepsi. Red Sox versus Yankees. Musk vs. Zuck. In America, rivalries never go out of style.

96.) Bob Dylan

He is a sage, a whisperer of the times. From "Like a Rolling Stone" to "Murder Most Foul," he is able to capture things about society in a way that only American folk music can.

97.) Yard & garage sales

This American tradition is not only climate-friendly—repurposing things!—but it's cheap and fun.

98.) U.S. higher education system

Sure, the financial aspect is a bit…funky, shall we say. (Fortune is, ahem, a family publication.) But the United States is still the uncontested best place in the world to get a college or post-collegiate education. For now: Continuing cuts to public university funding, the increasing parsimony of well-endowed private schools, and restrictions on the ability of international students to come here are looming existential threats to one of America's most singular advantages.

99.) Streaming video

Netflix. Amazon Prime. Disney Plus. Hulu. We wouldn't be watching British crime dramas, or Scandinavian murder mysteries, or Japanese yakuza shows, were it not for this American innovation. America brought it to the world—and now we need it to survive the pandemic.

100.) Linguistic optimism

Most languages have far too many tenses—those dedicated to hypotheticals, conditionals, and different times. Americans easily get by with the big three: past, present, and future (and usually just the latter two). It's a stripped-down confidence no nation can rival.

101.) The stock market

No other country in the world offers the opportunity to make money as easily, and with as little risk, as the United States. You could put all your savings in U.S. stocks, leave them there indefinitely, and come out significantly richer by virtually doing nothing, proven over nearly every medium-term time period.

Contributors: Megan Arnold, Kristen Bellstrom, Daniel Bentley, Maria Carmicino, Lee Clifford, Geoff Colvin, Scott DeCarlo, Mia Diehl, Josue Evilla, Nicole Goodkind, Robert Hackett, Armin Harris, Matt Heimer, Alison Klooster, Verne Kopytoff, Michal Lev-Ram, McKenna Moore, David Z. Morris, Sy Mukherjee, Andrew Nusca, Brian O'Keefe, Aaron Pressman, Rachel Schallom, Jonathan Vanian, Bernhard Warner, Jen Wieczner