Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Is the US the Greatest Country in the World Anymore?

Some who view this post will think I've gone off the "liberal/progressive" deep end and lost my patriotic bearings.  (Actually, I remain a political moderate today, although that position would have been described as "conservative" not so long ago.)  I can hear some say, "How dare he question the greatness of our Country?" --- and if our President even thought of mentioning that we, as a Country, could do better in any area than we're doing, the ultra- (and not-so-ultra-) conservative TV and radio airways would be filled with comments like "you lie" or "traitor" or "he doesn't believe in American exceptionalism."

But the truth is that I'm more and more realizing that to be unquestioning of our Country and its policies and its results is what is truly unpatriotic.  And those who would stick their heads in the sand about our lack of National exceptionalism are the most unpatriotic and do no good service for our Country.

As the fictional news anchor Will McAvoy states in this clip from HBO's The Newsroom, "The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one — America is not the greatest country in the world anymore."

On the other hand, America can once again be the greatest country in the world --- but we can't do it without solving our problems in a bi-partisan fashion.  Hopefully, we'll all think of that as we enter our voting booths in November and exercise our Constitutional freedom to choose our elected representatives to steer us once again toward American exceptionalism.



For those who want to reflect on what Will says in his rant, here's the transcript ---
Will
It's not the greatest country in the world, professor, that's my answer.
Moderator
[pause] You're saying—
Will
Yes.
Moderator
Let's talk about—
Will
Fine. [to the liberal panelist] Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he [gesturing to the conservative panelist] gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fuckin' smart, how come they lose so GODDAM ALWAYS!
Will
And [to the conservative panelist] with a straight face, you're going to tell students that America's so starspangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.
Will
And you—sorority girl—yeah—just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about?! Yosemite?!!!
Will
We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
Will
[to moderator] Enough?