Is America really “The greatest country in the world?”

[Cyrano]

How often have you heard someone, usually a politician or some right-wing “patriot,” use this phrase? Is it true? Is America really “The greatest country in the world?”

I’ve googled our world rankings in a few items such as education, healthcare, literacy, math and life expectancy and it turns out that we’re far from the top in any of these categories. Far from it.

I’ve angered one family member and a couple of acquaintances by saying we’re not “The greatest country in the world” by most standards. The response I’ve gotten most often is, “Then go live somewhere else.”

So what do you think? Is America “The greatest country in the world?” Or is it a meaningless phrase you're more likely to hear on Fox "News," rather than MSNBC?

[wyldwolf]

1. reference this video

Some of this was fact-checked and found to not be 100% accurate but it still drives the point home.

[Cyrano]

7. Great piece

It would be nice if more people knew who Aaron Sorkin is and fewer had ever heard of Cliven Bundy.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. No country

Is without its faults. Each stands alone on its own merit - and that's why that 'greatest country in the world' nonsense falls flat to me.

[Brigid]

3. Nope.

How far we have fallen.

[RKP5637]

4. No! It's also a DUH chain yanking statement used by Fox News and the rest of the morons! n/t

[newfie11]

5. No

Our students go in dept to afford college, people that lose their jobs long term potentially become destitute.
Until very recently people face bankruptcy due to an illness and that may possibly still happen.
Mothers have no guaranteed time
Off after giving birth, etc, etc.
No we cannot compare with some other countries.

Now we are run by oligarchs.

[treestar]

6. Yes it is

Everyone should think their own country is the "greatest country in the world."

the USA is the only remaining superpower and does more good than bad, compared to other countries.

[Brown Coat]

9. This

USA
In my travels I have found no place like it, and only a select few worth moving to.

[treestar]

18. Welcome to DU!

[Logical]

21. LOL, ok! nt

[Skidmore]

8. I don't care if it is the greatest country in the world or not.

I want it to be the best possible country to live in with dignity for all of its people. Not just a few. But all of the people. If we can do this as a people, it should translate into the way we treat others in the world. Greatness is an outcome of many moving parts. Right now, some parts are just not moving.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. "Patriotism is the most foolish of passions and the passion of fools." Schopenhauer

[Tom Ripley]

11. No.

[Throd]

12. I think it is, but I admit to being biased.

As a child living abroad, it was eye opening to see that "wow, other people think their country is the greatest in the world". I would guess that most people in this world do the same.

[craigmatic]

13. It was from 1945-about 1975 when there was no competition but we've been treading water since the

1980's. Ironically the very people who say the US is the greatest country in the world contributed to its decline by doing nothing for 30 years.

[LeftinOH]

14. No, and it doesn't have to be. But it would be nice to have

some things that are part of the fabric of everyday life in other countries:

-universal health care
-an extensive transportation network that isn't totally automobile-centered.
-a reasonable military budget for defense, not global policing.
-universal education to age 18 that isn't tied to property taxes.

..and so on.

[hunter]

15. Nationalism can be every bit as toxic as racism.

I'm always a humanist first.

If the U.S.A. goes to hell then I'll walk, fight, or die. It's in my blood.

That's how my ancestors left Europe.

One day, my immigrant ancestors, they said to themselves (to put it in modern language), "Fuck this shit. Live or die, I'm out of here."

You jump ship in San Francisco, you become a runaway Mormon mail-order bride, a Christian pacifist seeking religious freedom, some Irish Catholic radical escaping the English occupation, some European Jew...

Today I feel like fighting.

Tomorrow things could change and I would walk or sail away from the U.S.A..

Go ahead, put me on your no-fly list. I hate flying.

[MisterP]

16. it's like "literalist" or "family"--just a buzzword to wave around, not an actual goal or criterion

how many "Bahble baleevers" really have it memorized to the point where they could tell you what etters a pin stuck through the scripture would hit, in order?

how often does "fambly valoos" mean avoiding cheating on one's spouse and funding even perinatal care, let alone child support or sex and relationship ed?

[KamaAina]

17. No. But it could be.

I am an American exceptionalist in that respect. Any time I see us down around 19th or 24th in those rankings, just ahead of Slovenia or Uruguay, it boils my red(-white-and-blue) blood!

[oldhippie]

19. It depends on your criteria ....

... obviously.

[RedCappedBandit]

20. I think it's a futile discussion.

Who cares? If we are, should we should slack off, stop fighting for progress? No. If we aren't, then obviously we have work to do.

Let's just do the work anyway.

[Mr.Bill]

22. The interesting thing is

if you look at countries that used to be on top, like England, France, Spain, etc, they are not bad places to live today. And they don't have people flying airplanes into their tall building to protest their meddling all over the world.

About 40 years ago I heard a radio interviewing people on the street asking this very question. One guy answered emphatically that America was still by far the best nation in the world. Then he said "I wish I was white, though". That was pretty powerful and I will never forget it.

[Shandris]

23. In some ways, we are a great country. In some others, we are not.

There is -no- country that has it 'right', but there are more than a handful fighting to be as good as they can get with the majority of differences being minor squabbles, idioms, and disagreements over the best methods of implementation.

I think anyone who thinks America is horrible is an outright idiot, as is anyone who thinks we are 'the greatest' with no equivocation or clarification as to a category they think we're 'the greatest' in. I think we are in danger of being eclipsed by our own mythology and heading down a very dark path if we're not careful, though. I think there's still some time to turn that around, but that time is getting shorter and shorter.

So no, we're not the greatest. We are among the better countries, however. And we, like every other First-world country, have a lot of things wrong still but they are minor slices of life compared to the second- or third-world countries. For instance, we have some problems with sexism, but we aren't watching the Stoning of Soraya M. happen in downtown Indianapolis, either. It's a matter of degree.