We are the best, or so we like to tell ourselves. Our education system is failing, our poor are getting poorer, our middle class is shrinking, our roads and bridges are in disrepair, our politicians cannot work together, our credit rating is falling, our debts keep rising, but we are the best, or so we lie to ourselves. As long as we keep lying to ourselves we will never solve our problems.
We really are the top nation in some areas. We prosecute the most adults for crimes, have the most car thefts, highest gun ownership, 4th highest murder by gun, highest prison population, highest total crimes, but we are 6th in economic freedom, 18th in math, 15th in reading literacy, 14th in science, 2nd in number of abortions, spend the most per person on health and yet have the poorest coverage of any wealthy country. We have actually only the 7th highest number of cars per person, but we do have the world's highest divorce rate and the highest carbon dioxide pollution.
On the positive side we are still first in innovation, and have 7 of the world's top ten universities, though only the elite can afford them. We are also the best at telling ourselves that we are the best. Perhaps we need a 12 step program for national delusion. We are addicted to telling ourselves a lie. If we want to get out of the mess we are in, we need to take step number one, admit we are not number one and then do something that Jesus suggested long ago, repent.
Reference: http://www.nationmaster.com/
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