Is America the greatest country on Earth, and why?

Great Debates
61

Of course it is.

I’m pretty sure we invented four-down football. Even if we didn’t, this is where it lives. We keep trying to enlighten Europeans about it, but for the time being, there is no American football outside of America, except once a year when two god-forsaken sacrificial lambs draw the short straw and play in Wembley.

American cheese. Every slice tastes like every other slice. It all melts the same. It comes in identically proportioned slices. It’s what’s on MacDonald’s burgers.

Macdonald’s.

A lot of nuclear weapons.

Fighers and bombers that look like spaceships.

Churches next to strip clubs with rotating clientele.

Little mandatory health or pension contribution from the government, because the government should be small. No mandatory pensions or healthcare from business, because government should be small. Bailouts for auto companies and banks, because what’s good for GM is good for America (read, is good.)

An entertainment industry that’s the envy of the world. Somehow when the smoke cleared, the U.S. turned out to be responsible for supplying the world with culture. I have no idea who made that call, but I’m pretty sure that “Time Cop” has been translated into nearly as many languages as the bible.

World’s most entertaining Judiciary. Money that literally talks. Corporations that are people.

In short, this is the most American, for want of a better word (as if there were one) nation on Earth.

Plus we have two great big oceans to keep the marauding hordes of Eurasia on the other side where they belong, and we’re working on a giant fence with maybe another fence and some landmines and possibly a mote filled with piranha and sharks and alligators and whatnot.

AND we have more lawyers than you. Whoever “you” are. As if it matters, if you’re not American.

Any questions? Rhetorical flourish, of course. I don’t have to answer to you.

62

I, personally, want to live in a free country with a high standard of living and a healthy population full of well-educated people. Currently I live in Australia—should I move to the U.S.?

Let’s see…

[ul]
[li]Human Development Index: Australia #3, U.S. #10[/li][li]Mathematical literacy: Australia #5, U.S. #18[/li][li]Reading literacy: Australia #4, U.S. #15[/li][li]Scientific literacy: Australia #6, U.S. #14[/li][li]Net happiness: Australia #5, U.S. #13[/li][li]Life expectancy at birth: Australia #2, U.S. #28[/li][/ul]

On the other hand…

[ul]
[li]Prisoners per capita: U.S. #1, Australia #74[/li][li]Ecological footprint per capita: U.S. #2, Australia #7[/li][li]Obesity: U.S. #1, Australia #6[/li][li]Teen birth rate: U.S. #1, Australia #25[/li][li]Divorce rate: U.S. #1, Australia #7[/li][li]Child poverty: U.S. #2, Australia #9[/li][/ul]

By all these metrics, Australia is a “better” country than the U.S. But maybe you want lower taxes, more guns and a stronger military instead—if you live in the U.S., odds are that you value those things more highly since your culture does, too.

“Greatest” comes down to what you see as desirable qualities, and of course that depends in part on where you’re from. I think Australia is a better country than the U.S. by my own standards, but I was born here, after all.

63

Here’s an interesting interactive infographic that may be relevant.

64

The very point I ducked in to make. Of course, to Americans, they are the greatest country on earth because the definition of “great” to them is bound up in “American.” It is like in the arts. If you decide that William Shakespeare is the greatest playwright of all time then everyone is judged by how like Shakespeare they are. And it’d be hard to be more like Shakespeare than Shakespeare.

And unfortunately there are many aspects of American culture that are anethema to me. Equally unfortunately they are readily exportable and Australian society is shipping in plenty.

65

I have to say that the post by MyFactCheckBounced is absolutely hilarious and makes a similar point.

Yes, America is the most American country on Earth. (Australia is merely playing catch-up.)

66

#31 Yesterday, 04:18 PM
Der Trihs
Member Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: California
Posts: 28,663

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oakminster
We have freedom, bought and paid for with the blood of patriots for centuries now.

And other places have as much or more freedom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oakminster
We kept the Russian Bear at bay until it starved itself to death.

And in the process spread tyranny and death across the world; I see no evidence that our stopping them was in any way an improvement, except in Europe where they were strong (and white) enough that we didn’t impose our own dictatorships over the populace. Being tortured and killed by an American sponsored tyranny is no better than being tortured and killed by a Soviet sponsored one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oakminster
We’re still the land of opportunity, where everyone has a chance to achieve their dreams. Outcomes are not guaranteed, but you can try…and if you’re good enough, lucky enough, and work hard enough, you can succeed.

Nonsense. America is one of the least socially mobile of the industrialized nations.

Last edited by Der Trihs; Yesterday at 04:1
I have a few questions if you would indulge me.

  1. How do you measure freedom and using this measure which other countries have more than the U.S.?

  2. Do you think there was ever a threat to the safety and well-being of the U.S. from the Soviet Union? Do you think the Soviet annexation of many of the countries surrounding it could be seen to be threatening to the U.S and other NATO countries?

  3. How are measuring social mobility and which countries are the leaders?

67

I was in the Army during the Viet Nam war 1967-1971 but never served in Viet Nam or saw any combat. Do you think the contribution of every veteran is/was helpful in keeping the nation free? I know I would have been extremely unlikely to have served if I had not been subject to the draft and my guesstimate of the general feeling of those I served with was at least 90% in agreement with me. I served without any appreciation of the need to maintain our freedom except in so far as mine would have been threatened had I not served. I would do it again because at that age I needed a certain amount of discipline and education and I would recommend service to others as long as they understand what they could be in for. However I don’t believe anyone owes me any thanks or appreciation. (Though I am not too keen on any recrimination either.)

If it is not too personal I would be curious to know where you served and how your service has helped to maintain freedom in America. Please don’t think I doubt your sincerity or sacrifice, I just don’t see the freedom connection.

68

Vegemite-earing football-disfiguring convict-descended un-American Crocodile-Dundees that they are. Sorry I mean I like Ozzies. But come on. We all know who God’s country is. It’s America. Any house of worship in America will tell you that.

Home’s any place you hang your traitors.

By the way, happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the North. Triple A rated bastards.

69

Interesting that I stumbled into this on Canada Day.

To me, Canada is the best country in the world and it’s not even a close call.

But then, I’m Canadian. So it’s the best country for me, which is all that matters, really. Today you’ll be hearing many people braying that it’s the best country objectively, which I really dislike, but so be it.

70

USA is the greatest because english, the language of international communication, is the mother tongue there.
Because its a democracy.
Because it has large population.

So if the UK had 300 million population and proportional area, it would also be the greatest.

In today world, the US can’t use military to force issue with countries which are not so small, so military might doesn’t count.

But I would like to be reborn in India. India is life for me.

71

Just a minor nitpick, but the editing of this scene quite substantially changes the context of the scene. In a fuller version, Jeff Daniels’ character, a major network news anchor known for his deliberately vanilla, inoffensive approach, actually doesn’t want, initially, to say anything. He triest hree times to duck the question and the host goes on the offensive, demanding a real answer. A character in the audience, using hand-drawn cards saying IT’S NOT, whom he appears to know, eggs him into his Sorkinesque, vaguely-referencing-Kennedy-as-a-God speech.

73

But you have a better chance of success in most of the industrialized word.

74

I’ve always thought of Australia as the America of the Southern Hemisphere.

75

I don’t think I can respond to that given the Mod instruction in post 50.

76

Yet curiously nobody thinks of the U.S. as the Australia of the Americas :dubious:

77

LOL. If the USA is “the greatest” the rest of us are in very big trouble.

78

I’ve always thought of it as England 2: This Time With Kangaroos.

79

In a Sorkin show, every character is perpetually on the verge of delivering a Sorkinesque, vaguely-referencing-Kennedy-as-a-God speech. They’re like teddy bears with PRESS HERE buttons on their paws.

80

America is the greatest in a couple respects, that I can think of, and that is our strong protection on freedom of speech.

Time and time again, I hear about countries like the UK and Australia, where a given video game will effectively be banned from sale because their rating/reviewing agencies refused to issue a rating. There are other examples of hate speech, and certain symbolism being flatly illegal in Germany and other countries. France has a ban on certain religious garb, which is also an infraction on freedom of speech. The list goes on and on.

In the USA, we take freedom of speech to an absurdly liberal level, and I like it that way.

Also, I’m against a lot of gun control, so that rules out tons of industrialized countries.

In pretty much every other way, America is not by any stretch of the imagination the greatest country on Earth.

ETA: Also, I’m kind of a fan of federalism, and not unitary governments, so the USA wins against a lot of other industrialized countries for that reason too.

81

And America freaks out if a nipple gets on TV. And our media is pretty much a corporate puppet.