For all of the 20th century the world heard from American politicians, American celebrities and Americans in general, how the United States is the greatest country in the world. Recently,Sky News reporter Mark Stone asked U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, why mass shootings only seem to take place in the United States. Before walking away from the reporter, Cruz responded by saying that America is the “freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth.” America is, of course, NOT the greatest, nor the safest, nor the most prosperous, nor the freest country in the world. But that doesn’t stop Americans, in their myopic view of the world, from claiming that it is.
What is America today?
Safest Country?
Per the Institute for Economics and Peace. The Global Peace Index contains a list of 163 regions across the globe that are ranked based on domestic and international conflict, the militarization of the country, and discord with a nation related to political stability and crime.
The top 10 safest countries are: #1 Ireland, #2 Japan, #3 Singapore, #4 Czech Republic, #5 Canada, #6 Denmark, #7 Portugal, #8 Austria, #9 New Zealand and #10 Iceland. The U.S. ranks 129 among the 163 countries, along with Brazil. Palestine, Israel, and India.
Freest Country?
The Cato Institute in Washington D.C. and the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, Canada co-published the annual Human Freedom Index Report for 2021
Top 10 Freest Countries are: Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Finland, Canada, Austria, Sweden, and Luxembourg. The United States ranks 17 according to The Human Freedom Index. The Freedom Index does not measure democracy, but it does measure freedom of speech
Prosperity
The Legatum Prosperity Index is an annual ranking developed by the Legatum Institute. Launched in 2007, the Legatum Prosperity Index rankings are based on a variety of factors including wealth, economic growth, quality of life, health, education, and personal well-being.
The top 10 countries for prosperity are; Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, Luxembourg, and Iceland. The United States is one of the most prosperous countries in the world, but ranks 18th out of 167 nations due to other measurement factors.
So, Ted Cruz was wrong in all Three of his Three categories.
So what does the U.S. actually excel at?
Military?
The U.S. has a very large military. It has the 7th largest Army by manpower, after Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea, India, China and Russia. The US Airforce and the US Army each have more aircraft than any country, including, China and Russia. The US Navy ranks fourth for Navy ships, after China, Russia and North Korea, but second for the number of submarines. So, you can say that the U.S. excels at military might. U-Tube is full of videos by proud Americans who are eager to point out that everyone is afraid of the U.S. military and that they can defeat other countries. I say ” Good for you!”
Gun Violence and Mass shootings?
The U.S. is number 2 in gun deaths by country. topped only by Brazil and tops the world in gun ownership.
Real Mass killing data shows that between 2009 and 2015, the U,S. had .058 deaths per million people or 58,000 people killed or injured in mass killings while Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Russia, Switzerland, and others had (0). Canada had (1) mass shooting in 2009. There have been 100 mass killings in the U.S. since 2000. In 2017 there were 171 deaths and 587 injured, In 2019 there were 71 killed and 109 injured and as of July, 2022 there have been 51 killed and 61 injured.
Police Violence?
Police violence is a systemic problem in the U.S., not simply incidental, and it happens on a scale far greater than any other wealthy nation. There is no question that the number of police killings of civilians in the U.S. – who are disproportionately Black and/or other people of colour – are the result of policies and practices that enable and even encourage police violence. Compared to police in other wealthy democracies, American police kill civilians at incredibly high rates: U.S 33.5 per 10 million people, New Zealand (2), England and Wales (0.5), Iceland and Norway, (0)
Human Rights?
In the 2021 edition of the Human Freedom Index, the average human freedom score was 7.12. territories around the world, representing 98.1 percent of the human population as of 2021. The HFI is a broadly comprehensive measure that encompasses both personal and economic freedom, then merges the two into a single value titled simply “human freedom.” The Human Freedom Index is co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. Highest freedom index scores (top 10)- Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Canada, Finland, Australia, Sweden, Luxembourg. Germany, Japan, and the United States (tied in the 15th spot)
Incarceration?
This tenth edition of the World Prison Population List gives details of the number of prisoners held in 222 independent countries and dependent territories. Top 10 Countries with the most people in prison: The U.S. 2,068,800 prisoners, China. 1,690,000, Brazil, India, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Indonesia. Quite an achievement , and such august company.
Per 100 prisoners in the U.S. 38,4% are Black,2.5% are Native American or Alaska Native, 30.3% are Hispanic, 57.7% are white and 1.4% are Asian.
Social Progress?
The 2021 Social Progress Index ranks 168 countries that have sufficient available data to assess all
12 components. We group countries from highest to lowest social progress into six tiers. Tiers are
based on hierarchical clustering to set empirically determined break points across groups of
countries based on their Social Progress Index scores.1 Here we present results across all countries
Norway ranks first on the 2021 Social Progress Index, with a score of 92.63. Canada, ranked
sixth with a score of 91.41, and is the top performing G7 country. All 14 Tier 1 countries are high income, and all score very similarly on social progress—just 3.19 points separate first-ranked
Norway at the top of the tier from 14th ranked Austria.
Tier 2 features a much wider range of scores, from Luxembourg (88.75, ranked 15th) to
Hungary (80.15, ranked 42nd ). France, the UK, Italy and the US —the rest of the wealthy G7
countries—are ranked in Tier 2 of the Social Progress Index. Most Tier 2 countries are high income. Most notably, the United States has dropped from 86.43 to 85.71 over time, experiencing both an absolute and relative decline.
Truth?
One day Americans will wake up and realize that their country is not only, not the greatest country in the world, it is a violent, marginally democratic, socially declining, derelict country lacking in basic human morals or ethics. A population so brainwashed by constant propaganda, that they don’t question the absurdity of their, claims of greatness. If Americans took any time to rationally view their country as the rest of the world sees them, they may be able to become at least a meaningful member of the society of world countries. I fear though, that Americans will continue to watch their children die. They will continue to persecute their women and minorities, and they will continue thanking their God for making their country the greatest country ever.
Timothy 6:10
Speaking of God, I leave this for the Christian Right – “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils”.
