by Joe B | Jul 17, 2020 | Is the USA the greatest country in the world?
“We rank 27th in the world in childhood education and last in the world for pre-school education. We also rank 27th in the world in healthcare and lack of access to it. We spend more per person on healthcare than any other industrialized country on earth and still millions do not have access to affordable healthcare.
We have the most expensive and lowest quality daycare/pre-school system in the world.
Americans can pay up to 67 more times for a drug than the next closest country. On average America pays four times more for prescription drugs than the rest of the world. Over the last eight years the combined profit of pharmaceutical companies was $744 billion.
So what makes America the greatest country on earth? Freedom? There are 100 countries in the world who have freedom.
The simple, honest answer to the question of whether America is the greatest country on earth is no.
That doesn’t mean we can’t once again become the greatest country on earth. We must take on the greed of the elites that run this country. We must remove the billionaires and their money from our political system.
We must move to a not-for-profit healthcare system where heath care is a fundamental human right.
There is a true class war brewing in this country that we must address before it spills into the streets.
On one end there is a movement behind Bernie Sanders and on the other is what got Donald Trump elected. The common denominator is that people are fed up with the establishment choking us in the name of greed. I hope we can make the transformational reform needed to give the treasure of this nation back to the people where it belongs.”
by The Kid | Jul 17, 2020 | Is the USA the greatest country in the world?
“This question alone is a very ‘American’ question and game to play. Yes, China, Russia, India… all these countries are also playing a similar game, but it is one we have started. Though a young country, we set the precedent for most of the rest of the world. The more we play a game of ‘America first’ and ‘we’re the best’, the more other countries play similar games. Imagine if we asked a different question instead. Something like, ‘Is the USA the country doing the most for the planet?’ This question inspires altruistic, connective, futuristic, and contemplative thought. This question re-directs the game and rating system towards our highest potential, sparking growth and maturity as a nation and as a species. Until then, we will continue playing a game of scarcity and hyper-competitiveness, decimating the earth, our relationships, our own internal wellbeing, and that of future generations.
I have long felt that the best thing that could happen to the US is that another country would take over as ‘greatest’. While this would be a right hook to the jaw of the American ego, it would end up forcing us to reflect, contemplate, and ultimately re-define many of our out-dated models. We would be like a CEO who goes through a mid-life crisis, ultimately emerging a new person, quitting his job, and starting an NGO instead. Our attachment to being the greatest country is one of the strongest hindrances to our actually being great. It is a palpable sense of constriction – the antithesis of freedom.”
by Gaia | Jul 17, 2020 | Is the USA the greatest country in the world?
“The notion of the US being the greatest country in the world has become a centerpiece in the curriculum of all ‘Americans’. Whether it is through school – the pledge of allegiance, the study of US and world history, the choice of mandatory reading material, etc. Or whether it is through the media – intentionally censoring and prioritizing certain stories over others… Or whether it is through politics – the ‘right’ interweaving its identity with true ‘patriotism’. Patriotism and a sense of subtle superiority is engrained in the blood of anyone socialized in this country. It has been for as long as our nation has existed – and even longer, in fact.
Take this a step further and see that the vision of our founding fathers, of manifest destiny, of even the European colonization of this land at all, was born out of a sense of white superiority. A disease of egocentrism born out of a disconnection from other life forms and nature. As far back as one can trace, this sense of ‘whiteness’ has been the oppressive force in almost all major conflict through history.
It is hubris to call ourselves the greatest country in the world, having not yet repaid Native Americans for stealing their land, black folks for enslaving them, various countries for manipulating them, zapping their resources, and enslaving them in debt, women for devaluing their existence, other life forms for our manipulation of the environment, and future generations for the harm we are continuing to cause each day. Until we pay reparations for these atrocities, our work will not be done, and we will have no business calling ourselves the greatest country in the world.”
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