I grew up hearing on the news, hearing in church, hearing in school and conversations around me that “The United States of America is the greatest nation in the world.” Never before have I really questioned this notion instead blindly accepting it as truth. But recently I’ve stumbled across several statements that offer a different perspective on the “greatness” of this country and have me wondering how do we really measure greatness? Is greatness measured by our educational system? Is greatness measured by the quality of life in both longevity and care? Or perhaps greatness is measured by our freedoms?
I decided to take a look into our “measurables” to see just how great of a nation we truly are by the numbers. This is what I found:
» Health Care
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), of all the countries in the world we rank a paltry thirty-seventh (37th) behind countries like Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Iceland, Malta and France. (France is the top country in the world for health care). In regards to life expectancy we fare slightly better ranking twenty-fourth (24th). However, as a country our overall health performance plummets to seventy-second (72nd). This quote from The Guardian helps to sum up the state of our health care system:
“Despite spending $230million an hour on healthcare, Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed country.”
Not quite the statement you’d expect about the “greatest” nation in the world.
» Education:
As a product of our educational system, it’s not hard to believe that we don’t rank at the top, but what surprised me more than anything is we (the United States) don’t even crack the Top 25 in Reading, Math or Science. Canada, our neighbor to the north, ranks in the top 5 in Reading and Science and the top 10 in Math.
Not quite the statistics you’d expect about the “greatest” nation in the world.
» Freedom:
So, if education and health care don’t make you the greatest nation then it must be our freedoms, right? As the purveyor and champion of freedom in the world, it would stand to reason that we experience the greatest amount of freedom in the world. However, according to Freedom House (who provides the US with the benefit of the doubt) we tie for 21st in Freedom of the Press behind a slew of countries like Finland and Denmark, Iceland and Germany. Or take this stat for instance: The United States of America “enjoys” the greatest rate of incarceration of any country in the world at 5.6 million, or 1 in 37 adults… which doesn’t include many white-collar criminals like Bernie Madoff. (Sidenote: Why do we have so much crime in this country compared to all the others?)
We are, however quite free according to Freedom House, but not the most free. We simply reside in the upper tier with 50 other countries like France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Poland, Malta, Slovenia, Micronesia, etc. So, then if we are the “greatest” nation in the world and freedom, education, and health aren’t a part of the equation then what is it that makes us so great?
In a word: Military. We are the undisputed (undisputable) #1 country in military strength/might/power. Our defense budget is a whopping $515 billion dollars, or more than 10 times higher than Russia—the #2 country on the list.
Is this really why we’re the “greatest” country in the world? (“Agree with us or we’ll blow you up?”) Perhaps its time for us to stop saying we’re the “greatest” country in the world and start living like we are… start shifting some of that massive defense budget towards investments like health care and education—could you imagine a $200 billion infusion into our educational system?! It wouldn’t hurt our military standing in the world but it’d certainly revolutionize our children’s education!—and instead of “protecting our freedom” actually create systems and structures that promote freedom within our borders instead of working to incarcerate 1 in 37 adults.
When is enough firepower enough? Is it when we continue to stockpile it to the detriment of our children’s education? Is it when we continue to add more and more weapons of mass destruction to our arsenal to the detriment of our own health and well-being? Or is it enough when we’ve incarcerated more of our citizens than any other country?
I suppose more than anything our “defense” (offense) spending shows where our true priorities sit… and it’s certainly not an attempt to make this nation great… but rather to protect our mediocrity.
Related posts:
- I Voted for Bush…Can I Take It back?
- a new national mission statement.
- The American Empire.
- redemptive violence?
- the doctrine of preemption.
i think “wealth” when i hear “greatest”. People come here from all over the world for America’s economic opportunities.
Here’s a sobering statistic that I just saw that relates… let’s call this an addendum:
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Eric, that’s an interesting thought… I hadn’t thought about that. I think I can agree with you partly, but only from the outside looking in… from the inside I don’t think our wealth is why we call ourselves the “greatest” nation… I think we’re more “dreamy” about our country and would rather it be something related to our ideologies and values that make us so great.
i think you’re definitely right. but i think if we weren’t the wealthiest country in the world, the bubble of our dream world would pop a lot easier.
That’s a good call… our wealth is what props up our dream. I would guess it’s because we’re so wealthy we believe that we can do anything—spending wise—and that belief has spilled out of the “spending bubble” and into the bubble of “world domination” (for lack of a better term). It’s interesting the link between money and power; money and our view of self… i suppose it would be safe to argue that money truly is our god as a country. “In God (money) we trust!”
I don’t think Americans see wealth as the same as the rest of the world. We might be able to buy things, with our credit and ability to run up debt, but can we actually AFFORD the things we buy. Some people consider themselves wealthy by what they can by but in the long term they are owing more money than what their positions are worth. I doubt many families can say their budgets will finish in the black over any period of time. Does anybody not have some sort of debt right now?
neat post, Aaron. You were right, I was looking forward to it tonight. Do I agree with you? Well, you can’t argue facts, can you. Your “weights” are off balance, though. Cause = effect.
I look forward to replying. Great to see you back posting again, and as I stated last night, brother, you are loved, regardless of your twisted views.
Long night tonight at worshp rehearsal. Yes. My church still has it. House churches may do it spur of the moment, because that is more “of god.” We still rehearse. Regardless, I am spent and will reply to your nonsense tomorrow.
To all of you waiting for me to bite, or rip on Steve for being a servant of the underworld, you will need to wait until tomorrow.
I judge the greatness of a nation based solely on the medal count of the summer olympics (don’t give me any of that winter crap – shooting is not a sport!). In that measurable, we kick everyone’s butt! U.S.A! U.S.A! You suck, Kenya. You too, Bolivia. Nice try, Canada. Way to cheat, China.
Seriously though, I think that the one thing that does make America “great” (if we can even use that word when talking about something as terribly complex as a nation) is our historic committment to innovation and freedom. People still come to this nation – not for its healthcare or even its education (although, Monts you are selling our university system way short. Go onto the average university campus and just notice all of the international students studying there) – they come for opportunity and the freedom to innovate that doesn’t exist in most countries around the world. America gives you the freedom to create and take risks and to personally enjoy the benifits or experience the failures. This also certainly applies to the church as well. Nowhere in the world is it easier to try something new or daring for the Lord. You should know this personally. The democratic freedom of this nation is the friendliest system to the church in the world. (This “friendliness” also has its dark side, but overall, you’d have a hard time convincing me that it is a bad thing.)
I agree with Chad, international sporting events matter the most in judging greatness. We suck in baseball, stupid Puerto Rico!
Our international student population in Chicago has exploded with more and more immigrants from India and Southeast Asia relocating, not only to the Chinatown and Devon sections of Chicago but also the Uptown and South Evanston area. Most all of the international students we meet at church are either finishing their bachelors and are planning to seek their masters or doctorate somewhere here in the states. There is no denying we may have the best post-secondary education system in the world.
USA! USA! USA!
Jeter still sucks!