The United States is the Greatest Country in the World. Why don't you think so?

[weaver2]

Of course it would, with government bureaucrats running everything, right?

Actually, our civil service is about the best in the world. It's honest and with the exception of the VA, it is efficien. I never have a problem with Medicare payments or services. I pay my bill, they do their job. Compared to some private services they are exemplary. Two private services that send monthly bills are major problems with both their billing and their service. One has a monopoly in the area is just plain dishonest in their billing charges andt provides unreliabe service. There is no way to change providers. The other service is rude, provides minimal service, looses payments and then implies I'm stiffing them. They will no longer have our account.

 

[American]

Actually, our civil service is about the best in the world. It's honest and with the exception of the VA, it is efficien. I never have a problem with Medicare payments or services. I pay my bill, they do their job. Compared to some private services they are exemplary. Two private services that send monthly bills are major problems with both their billing and their service. One has a monopoly in the area is just plain dishonest in their billing charges andt provides unreliabe service. There is no way to change providers. The other service is rude, provides minimal service, looses payments and then implies I'm stiffing them. They will no longer have our account.

Dude, you have no idea.

 

[Peter]

I'm unsure how you'd go about ranking the world's civil services.
I know plenty of people who work in the UK civil service and they do a good job but I'd have no idea how they'd compare to a US civil servant.

All governments have different goals and requirements and something like planning applications which my Mum was in for decades are totally different in the UK than the US for obvious reasons. They both end in the result that something is built or not but the rules are completely different.

 

[Noodlegawd]

The goal of my post is to gather an understanding as to why so many individual on this site believe that the United States is not the greatest country in the world now, and throughout its existence.
To me the United States is the best country an individual could live in since the Mayflower in 1609.

I honestly don't get why people think that other countries are better than the United States.
-If it is not the best country to live in, than what country is better? And why don't you live there instead?

The only think I can think of as to why people think other countries are better than United States is if you personally prefer a more predictable life with more certainties which created a sense of stability. You prefer moderation and comfortability guaranteed by the state. You like that your life is less unpredictable and you prefer equity than equality of opportunity. You think that the state should care for the better of the majority and not the individual, you would rather the state take care of us instead of employing people with agency to make decisions on their own.
You can live as you want here more so than any other country in the world, and I don't see why you wouldn't want that.

Essentially, I believe that the ultimate purpose of life is to have freedom over your person and life, the ability to create a life you want.

The United States has its large share of atrocities and evil deeds, thought it doesn't erase the overwhelming good we have brought the world. The United States set the precedent for democracy and spread it around the world. The US fundamentally changed the structure of governments worldwide.

Here is a list of the best countries in the world based on "quality of life" or I see it "certainty towards basic needs, mostly healthcare"
These list base the quality of life on equity of the society not the access to opportunity, which is wrong in my opinion. You can have everything you need and be terribly unfulfilled and bored.

Rank	Country	Score
1	Finland	99.06
2	Denmark	98.13
3	Norway	96.75
4	Belgium	96.53
5	Sweden	96.15
6	Switzerland	94.4
7	Netherlands	93.69
8	France	92.08
9	Germany	91.26
10	Japan	91.23
11	United Kingdom	90.68
12	Canada	90.3
13	South Korea	89.67
14	United States	89.11
15	Taiwan	88.73
16	Austria	88.52
17	Australia	88.23
18	Ireland	87.76
19	Singapore	87.64

Why don't you start out by listing all the reasons you think the United States is better than any other country, and then people can respond to that. You can't expect people to rebut your claim if you don't actually give concrete reasons for it.

 

[Glitch]

People that think the US is a horrible country need to experience places where they kidnap your kids and make them soldiers/killers/murderers. Where you can’t drink the water if there is water. Where open sewers are normal. I have no patience with people who complain about the US. Especially when they have never been anywhere else.

I agree. They don't even need to live in a third-world country. They can live in any European or Asian nation they like, and they will find that they are not nearly as free as they are in the US. However, they still have to right to complain when the US is not living up to what is required by the US Constitution and the principles established within the Declaration of Independence.

The US is by no means perfect, and people need to continue to identify and correct the problems that are still being created in society. However, there is no comparing the US with any other nation, because there is no other nation on the planet like it.

 

[Rich2018]

Everything here is pay to play.

Where in the world is it not ?

 

[Ginger Ale]

Where in the world is it not ?

There's quite a few places that you pay for what you get. Here, it's a gamble but you pay anyway.

 

[dncc]

The goal of my post is to gather an understanding as to why so many individual on this site believe that the United States is not the greatest country in the world now, and throughout its existence.
To me the United States is the best country an individual could live in since the Mayflower in 1609.

The whole idea of "greatest" is so juvenile. It's like saying your dog is the "greatest" dog ever.

What criteria do you use? The Newsroom had a famous clip from the first scene of the first episode that details why the US isn't. It famously ends with (paraphrasing) Will McAvoy saying to "sorority girl" "When you say what makes us the greatest nation on earth, I don't know what the **** you're talking about.......YOSEMITE!!!". It was some of Sorkin's best one-off writing and the Osama Bin Laden episode was nothing short of poetry both in writing and direction.... but the first scene of the first episode sort of undermined the entire show which is likely why it only lasted 3 seasons while the West Wing lasted 7. The whole show was about a news channel "getting it right" and getting past the buzz word bonanza. Whatever criteria McAvoy was using was perilously open to questioning because the answer to the question it asked (as well as the "greatest" moniker that we have on this question above) is as individual as the person answering the question.

So as someone who has been to Yosemite... I will state that Yosemite (as well as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone and Bryce Canyon) make the USA the greatest nation on earth. We have these lands that could be developed tomorrow and converted into tens of thousands of likely million dollar properties and we have chosen to let them be. Republicans (back when they cared) and Democrats (back when they were innocent) came together to set the lands aside and say..."Nun-unh--not here. Put your shovel away Mr. Developer...it ain't happening." So as far as I'm concerned, it's the US 1, the rest of the world Zippo!

so there!

 

[Rich2018]

There's quite a few places that you pay for what you get. Here, it's a gamble but you pay anyway.

So please can you give a couple of examples where you do not pay to play.

 

[Cynical]

The goal of my post is to gather an understanding as to why so many individual on this site believe that the United States is not the greatest country in the world now, and throughout its existence.
To me the United States is the best country an individual could live in since the Mayflower in 1609.

I honestly don't get why people think that other countries are better than the United States.
-If it is not the best country to live in, than what country is better? And why don't you live there instead?

The only think I can think of as to why people think other countries are better than United States is if you personally prefer a more predictable life with more certainties which created a sense of stability. You prefer moderation and comfortability guaranteed by the state. You like that your life is less unpredictable and you prefer equity than equality of opportunity. You think that the state should care for the better of the majority and not the individual, you would rather the state take care of us instead of employing people with agency to make decisions on their own.
You can live as you want here more so than any other country in the world, and I don't see why you wouldn't want that.

Essentially, I believe that the ultimate purpose of life is to have freedom over your person and life, the ability to create a life you want.

The United States has its large share of atrocities and evil deeds, thought it doesn't erase the overwhelming good we have brought the world. The United States set the precedent for democracy and spread it around the world. The US fundamentally changed the structure of governments worldwide.

Here is a list of the best countries in the world based on "quality of life" or I see it "certainty towards basic needs, mostly healthcare"
These list base the quality of life on equity of the society not the access to opportunity, which is wrong in my opinion. You can have everything you need and be terribly unfulfilled and bored.

Rank	Country	Score
1	Finland	99.06
2	Denmark	98.13
3	Norway	96.75
4	Belgium	96.53
5	Sweden	96.15
6	Switzerland	94.4
7	Netherlands	93.69
8	France	92.08
9	Germany	91.26
10	Japan	91.23
11	United Kingdom	90.68
12	Canada	90.3
13	South Korea	89.67
14	United States	89.11
15	Taiwan	88.73
16	Austria	88.52
17	Australia	88.23
18	Ireland	87.76
19	Singapore	87.64

I've looked at a number of surveys like this over the years as well as the different countries. From what I can recall they are largely ethnically, culturally, and I assume religiously monolithic. I would assume that gives them more of a sense of community, which likely factors into such surveys. America is also a very commercialized country, it's baked into our psychology through advertising that we can't be truly happy without the newest and latest stuff.

 

[Cynical]

Obviously, you know nothing about how other countries work. You can't just pack up, get some money out of the bank and move to Sweden or wherever. It doesn't work like that.

Most if not all of the countries on that list typically have strict and prohibitive immigration policies. You would think that the taxpayers into those countries would be ecstatic to provide millions of people free healthcare, education, housing, etc?

 

[Cynical]

The one HUGE thing we have going for us is heretofore stable and robust rule of law. Our laws tend to be enforced consistently, our legal code tends to be fair, and corruption tends to be low. As a result, capital, business and talent has flowed to our nation nigh uninterrupted for a century because businesses and talented immigrants want to live in a land with stable, predictable laws. The worst part of the last few years has been the erosion of some of these safeguards and I don't think people realize how dangerous that is. Make no mistake, the businesses that employ our citizens will leave in a heartbeat if they ever start to sense that America is trending in the direction of corruption and bribery as the only way to get things done.

The biggest thing we have going for us is that we have the largest economy in the world and our capitalist system flawed as it is. Where I do completely agree is that if crime does continue to rise and lawlessness becomes more and more commonplace many people will leave taking their money with them.

 

[Nickyjo]

Greatest at what? Greed? Imprisoning people? Terrorism and war mongering? Hypocrisy? Poverty rates for such a weatlhy country? greatest amount of drug addicts?

Overwhelmingly good? We murder and destroy, have done that for decades. We lead to industrialized world in prison rate up there with some really shithole country. The entire history of the US is rife with ****ed up shit, America being so great is fake bullshit American say to try and hide all the shit.

Ok, let me try to split the difference a bit between the two camps. The "greatest country in history" point is at best naive and arrogant, at worst fascism lite, America uber alles. The comment "why don't you go live there" is an absurd example of our self-absorbed arrogance. It's part of a mentality that led to the Vietnam and Iraq tragedies. As said above, we have terrible income distribution, high crime rates, arguably committed genocide since the Mayflower, and imprison more people than any similar country, perhaps at a greater rate than any country period. Our support of vicious tyranny in Latin America is made more maddening to that region's inhabitants by our average citizen's ignorance of that history. We set up international treaties, castigated other countries when they appeared to violate them, but considered ourselves exempt. Attempting to prosecute Putin in the World Court will be hampered public relations-wise since we don't belong. We said we were not imperialists like Britain and France, but started out as states hugging the east coast and wound up in Manila

All that said, we made great, well known contributions to freedom in the world. Even Uncle Ho in Vietnam quoted our founding documents. We beat the French in throwing off the old order (thanks to their help of course) but didn't chop off the heads of Tories. Though we didn't invent democracy, we harken back to its founding in Greece in the architecture of many government buildings, and are true to our Constitution in every ACLU lawsuit. Our cultural gifts to the world in the form of rock, jazz, and Hollywood are perhaps not as classy as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but are pretty damn good contributions, known the world over. We rejected Donald Trump not because of his economic policies did little harm, but because of his insults to us, to our allies, to common decency, and because at bottom he showed that he was well, in a term that I dislike but that applies here: un-American. There is plenty to criticize ourselves over, but we take our freedom and democratic processes seriously. Our norm is (and may it always continue to be) the gracious concession of Al Gore in 2000, complete with his poking fun at himself on Saturday Night Live, not the absurdity of Trump's Big Lie.

 

[ataraxia]

The goal of my post is to gather an understanding as to why so many individual on this site believe that the United States is not the greatest country in the world now, and throughout its existence.
To me the United States is the best country an individual could live in since the Mayflower in 1609.

I have to admit, I also think America is probably one of the best, if not the best, country ever.

But let me tell you a couple of reasons why I would hesitate to shout it from the rooftops quite like that, and it actually makes me uncomfortable when others do it too:

1) Worry about looking like an arrogant jerk- have you ever seen these actors/actresses/artists/musicians/athletes, etc... who are really at the top of their game and probably the best at what they do, but who are such arrogant jerks about it that it's a complete turn off? I don't want America to be like that. Actually, some sense of humility, some sensitivity to others, some admission and acceptance that you're not perfect, some willingness to acknowledge when others may be doing something better than you sometimes, is not a bad thing, and can actually make you even more loved, popular, and approachable. It's true that Americans are often admired all around the world. But it is also true that they have a reputation for being arrogant jerks sometimes. I don't want that for our country.

2) Worry about failing to improve/stagnation/falling behind- if you think you're "the best", there's a danger about thinking you are perfect, and there's nothing wrong, and you don't need to keep wanting to grow, and there's no need to change anything, be open to criticism or improvement, etc... that's when people's eyes and ears shut to new ideas and new ways of doing things, and their brain shuts down into closed-mindedness. Any attempt at further improvement, proposal of new ideas, or criticism of the status quo gets interpreted as "why do you hate this country?". You can see how that's a surefire way to stagnation and backwardness.

 

[Rexedgar]

There was a series with Tm Allen in the 90s, iirc. ”Home Improvement,” Allen played a Bob Vila kind of character with his own tv show. One of the shows reoccurring lines was Allen’s character saying something along the lines of, “we can turbo that,” meaning we can make it better/faster/greater. That’s The US on anyhting, good or bad, imo.

If you worked in a cubicle farm and one guy was always trumpeting how great they were, it wouldn’t be long before the others would gang up to knock that employee down a few notches…….

 

[GOP Hippo]

Greatest at what? Greed? Imprisoning people? Terrorism and war mongering? Hypocrisy? Poverty rates for such a weatlhy country? greatest amount of drug addicts?

Overwhelmingly good? We murder and destroy, have done that for decades. We lead to industrialized world in prison rate up there with some really shithole country. The entire history of the US is rife with ****ed up shit, America being so great is fake bullshit American say to try and hide all the shit.

In the majority of the world you can't run your mouth like that without someone coming to shut you up. Too bad you don't understand that.

 

[GOP Hippo]

We still, barely, lead the world----------Trump has screwed that record up a bit,. but we are hanging on

Can you give us a single example of how Trump screwed up the our standing as the greatest country on earth.
Good luck.

 

[Arlette]

But that condition existed everywhere else and we the US was a better place to live than anywhere else.

What other countries have you lived in?

 

[Arlette]

We're number one in culture? Which culture - there are several in America. By what metric are you judging America's culture to be superior - entertainment? History? Literature? Art? Cuisine? All of these (or none of them?)

Yeah. What culture. We shop, watch TV and eat junk food. That's some culture

 

[Gordy327]

There was a series with Tm Allen in the 90s, iirc. ”Home Improvement,” Allen played a Bob Vila kind of character with his own tv show. One of the shows reoccurring lines was Allen’s character saying something along the lines of, “we can turbo that,” meaning we can make it better/faster/greater. That’s The US on anyhting, good or bad, imo.

If you worked in a cubicle farm and one guy was always trumpeting how great they were, it wouldn’t be long before the others would gang up to knock that employee down a few notches…….

I remember that show. Very funny. If there was 1 lesson to take away from that show, it's that there's no problem that can't be solved with "more power!" [Man grunts] Lol

 

[tshade]

Can you give us a single example of how Trump screwed up the our standing as the greatest country on earth.
Good luck.

weakened Nato, just for starters, thus encouraging the dictators out there (hint: Putin)

 

[GOP Hippo]

weakened Nato, just for starters, thus encouraging the dictators out there (hint: Putin)

Weakened NATO? Really? I'd say he hurt their feelings when he called them out to pony up. NATO is in better shape financially than any time in it's history. Just the facts will do.

 

[Nickyjo]

In the majority of the world you can't run your mouth like that without someone coming to shut you up. Too bad you don't understand that.

And that proves that the US, alone among nations that honor freedom of speech, is greater than them?

 

[GOP Hippo]

And that proves that the US, alone among nations that honor freedom of speech, is greater than them?

What?
Why are you asking me? I didn't say that.

 

[Nickyjo]

What?
Why are you asking me? I didn't say that.

You said that in the majority of the world free speech doesn’t exist. I pointed out that that is irrelevant to the notion that the US is unique. What are we missing?