I didn’t say we invented it. We have the first successful installation that qualifies for what people would call democracy these days.
Ah, the SD. We can always count on at least one contrarian.
Are you arguing that the USA did not “do” everything in the list? Didn’t do them by “ourselves”? Are you arguing that they are not important contributions (including the light bulb and remote-control TV)? If so, list some non-USA contributions to the world of equal wonderfulness.
Or are you just being snarky?
To clarify, an invention or effort does not have to be 100% made-in-USA. A highly significant contribution qualifies. Such as climate science. It’s not made in the USA, but a lot of the science is driven by the US in one way or the other.
McDonald’s and Coca-Cola.
How are you defining “successful installation of democracy”? Because I can think of at least a couple of countries that have had Parliaments longer than the US - the UK, for a start. Or Iceland. Or the Isle of Man. There might be others, but maybe that’s not what you meant?
ETA: to actually answer the question, I think of the options listed in the poll, supporting the tech and IT industry in the way that the US has done has been one of its most positive contributions to the world.
The US didn’t think the British parliamentory system was democratic when we started. Someplace, Corsica maybe, took a stab at it, but it didn’t work too well, much like our Articles of Confederation prior to the Constitition. I don’t know about Iceland or the Isle of Man, so those might prove me wrong.
As direct contributors to diabetes, heart attacks, arteriosclerosis, obesity, tooth decay, and myriad other health and dental maladies, could these really be considered wonderful things?
Ok, after quite a bit of thought, I’m going to go with freedom of speech.
Correct, but it originated in African-descended slaves and later their freed descendants in the United States, which would make it a genuinely American music form.
I would think that we have been a global stabilizig influence. We have had to flex out muscle now and then but overall I think we have been very responsible with our power.
First Constitutional Democracy. Now that was a game changer that makes even WWII and the fall of communism look like just random 20th century events in comparison.
Winning World War Two.
I’d say that one of the unsung, but greatest things we’ve done is to fund research in all sorts of fields with great gusto. As a result, our universities are world leaders in almost every field and produce things like the Green Revolution that don’t necessarily benefit the US in any way, but that are world-changing.
… and yet we copied it wholesale. If you don’t count 18th-century Britain as a democracy then you can hardly count the US. I mean, I’m pretty sure the slaves didn’t get to vote or anything.
I’ll go with Sr Siete’s answer, a Constitutional Democracy. The Brits still don’t have that.
Although the endless glurge based around “the melting pot” is irritating, there is a lot of truth in the whole “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” idea. To be sure, there were many, many times in history when this was not true, and even during the immigration “boom” periods immigrants lived in horrifying conditions, but the safe haven the US provided - freedom from religious persecution, freedom of speech, a say in your government - is probably the most valuable thing the US has done. Plus, a huge number of inventions and achievements can be traced back to descendants of immigrants.
Jazz had roots in African, Spanish and Cuban/Caribbean music (which is why it came about in New Orleans, the cultural crossroads of these places), but as you said, nobody could argue that it wasn’t an American invention, just like blues and rock and roll. All art is inspired by earlier forms, but in these cases the elements were merged to form something completely new. Nobody in any country was playing jazz or blues songs before America. I agree our music is one of our greatest contributions to the world.
American ‘Constitutional democracy’ and freedom of speech are truly admirable but how did they directly benefit the world? America’s industrial prowess is not directly related to CD and freedom of speech. The Russians had/have great tech, too, and they never tasted constitutional freedoms, ever. India is a robust constitutional democracy and its present contribution to the world is peanuts. Never heard of a game-changing contribution from fellow CD Canada, either.
Am I supposed to argue the benefits of widespread democracy here? I wouldn’t even know where to start.
No - I am merely pointing out that democracy in a suitable form exists all around the world. Democracy is/has been an enabler to America’s rise, but no other democratic country has anything comparable to America’s influence in the world.