ARE WE THE WORLD’S BEST COUNTRY?

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY

Attached is a video of a man who was asked to describe in one sentence why America is the greatest country in the world. His response was that we are not. Then he went on to say the following:

Yes, we have Freedom, but so do 180 of the world’s 207 countries.

But we are 7th in the world in literacy; 22nd in science; 27th in math; 49th in life expectancy; 178th in infant mortality; 3rd in median household income; 4th in labor force; and 4th in exports.

We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated people per capita; number of adults who believe angels are real; and in defense spending – where we spend more money than the next 26 countries combined, and 25 of those are our allies.

But we used to be the greatest country in the world:

We stood up for what was right;

We fought for moral reasons;

We passed and struck down laws for moral reasons;

We waged wars on poverty, not poor people;

We put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chests;

We built great big things, and made ungodly technological advances;

Explored the universe, and cured diseases;

Cultivated the world’s greatest artists;

We reached for the stars, and acted like men;

We aspired to intelligence instead of belittling it because intelligence made us feel inferior;

We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election; and,

We didn’t scare so easily.

We did all of these things because we were informed by great men, men who were revered.

The first step in solving any problems is recognizing that there is one.

I cannot verify all of his statistics, and I also believe that some of his remembrances unduly glorify our country’s past. But, otherwise, I fear that he is right. And it is up to each of us to address and change that reality. What do you think?

Snippet for the week: All eyes were on the radiant bride as her father escorted he down the aisle. They reached the altar and the waiting groom. The bride kissed her father and placed something in his hand. The guests in the front pews responded with ripples of laughter. Even the priest smiled broadly. As her father gave her away in marriage, the bride gave him back his credit card.