This question began in this thread and was inspired by the many, many people who claim that their country is the “best” in the world. Best by what standard, one might immediately ask?
Well, by what standards do we judge anything? It seems to me that we must first agree upon the very purpose of a nation before we can develop standards by which to judge them. In other words, if we think that the highest goal to which a nation may aspire is the creation of a theocratic dictatorship, then we could use that standard to evaluate which nation does the best job of achieving that standard. However, since nations have many purposes (or goals/standards that serve as benchmarks for that purpose) IMHO, this discussion won’t be quite that simple.
Since nations are essentially collective efforts, it seems to me that the purpose of a nation is to provide a better life for its citizens than they could hope to achieve without a nation. This also includes providing the opportunity for a better life, IMHO. But what constitutes a “better life”, or even opportunities for such? That’s the tough part. Once we answer that, we can figure out which nation is best. Can’t we?
A high degree of transportation, communication and education domestically
altruism in its foreign policy
Generally following the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
A low taxation rate
humane police/prisons
a large number of scientific inventions and creations
Essentially just hedonism. The more hedonistic the nation the better.
How do they impact our nation?
What can we do about it?
What do we want to do about it?
I think it’s been pointed out that North Korea is marginally more of a threat to us than Iraq (at its military peak under Saddam) was, but they’re further outside our sphere of influence and don’t have anything we want, like oil. Saudi Arabia has lots of stuff we’d like to plunder, but that would be a hard sell to the general public and other, potentially cooperating, nations.
Weird list. I’m surprised that you include transportation and communication systems, but not basics such as food, shelter and medical care.
Why a “low taxation rate”. If the goal is hedonism, then it doesn’t really matter. If higher taxes means a better lifestyle (say the good transportation/communication systems you mentionned), then it should be “better” to have higher taxes.
Same with inventions and creations : if the end of all is hedonism, why would it import that whatever we’re using has been invented locally?
Actually, I’m really not sure how one could define “best country” without this being a totally subjective judgment call.
It should be judged by the people who inhabit that country. That means that there will be a lot of countries that don’t agree with how America is, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Human rights issues are usually violated by men (though not always), so I would say that unless women have a free voice in their society, you’ll never get a balanced representation that speaks for all citizens. I bring that up after watching 60 Minutes last night. The Muslim enclave in France is so beyond frightening for women that I can’t believe the French haven’t done more to control what goes on there. Finally, the women have a voice that will be heard all over the world, via a book that one of these oppressed women wrote.
Now, it is a sad fact that traditional Muslim culture, both at the popular and the scholarly level, is deeply contemptuous of Judaism and the Jews. And it is another sad fact that contemporary Muslim culture - either strictly religious or semi-secular - is permeated by a more extreme, more radical, anti-Semitic philosophy, according to which Jews are not just despicable but
intrinsically unreliable or evil and should be either marginalized or annihilated.
As far as Muslim immigrants in France are concerned, they come from countries where these negative views are nurtured by religious education, political discourse, the educational curriculum, and the press. Once in France, they keep in touch with their country’s culture and biases in many ways, including Arab television networks. The same considerations apply, to a large extent, to the
French-born citizens of the Muslim faith, who are the sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters of the immigrants.
French Muslims thus live in a cultural enclave and are well equipped to dismiss those parts of the dominant French culture that do not fit their own culture. Admittedly, some parts of the immigrant community are less prejudiced.
*We have muslim enclaves in the Netherlands, as well *