Is America the greatest country in the world?

[Suburbia]

Whether you like it or not, America is a superpower, okay.

Regardless of the economic problems or race problems, America is a superpower. We are next to Russia and China and other powers.

The whole patriotism thing is loaded, has been loaded since the 1980s, and the Left hasn't gotten over Lee Greenwood and the Republicans' control of patriotism, etc.

The question of if the USA is the best is loaded.

What do you think?

Are we a declining superpower? 

https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-powerful-countries-2020-ranked-us-news-2020-1#1-united-states-25

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Walter-Rodgers/2010/0719/The-right-wing-s-perversion-of-patriotism

[dead0man]

depends on what your criteria is for "greatest country".  If things like access to guns, gay marriage, weed and McDonalds is important, then there isn't a better country on Earth for you.  If free doctors, passenger trains and a monoculture is more your thing, then the US will rank fairly low.

Are we a declining superpower?  maybe.....Again, it would depend on how you define things (but mostly the answer would come down to biases and ignorance).

[Alben Barkley]

It’s not the greatest country in the world. That’s my answer…

Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paycheck, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn’t cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don’t like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so f--king smart, how come they lose so goddamn always?

And with a straight face, you’re gonna tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom! So, 207 sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

And yeah, you… sorority girl. Just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there’s some things you should know. One of them is: there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force and number 4 in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies. Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are, without a doubt, a member of the worst period generation period ever period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the f--k you’re talking about! Yosemite?!

It sure used to be… We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reason. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reason. We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great, big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists AND the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed… by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

[Benjamin Frank]

depends on what your criteria is for "greatest country".  If things like access to guns, gay marriage, weed and McDonalds is important, then there isn't a better country on Earth for you.  If free doctors, passenger trains and a monoculture is more your thing, then the US will rank fairly low.

Are we a declining superpower?  maybe.....Again, it would depend on how you define things (but mostly the answer would come down to biases and ignorance).

For the second part, there is no one correct answer.  This is a case of relative vs. absolute measures.

As an absolute measure, U.S GDP (as one measure of being a Superpower) has gone (using 2010 constant dollar) from $3.17 trillion in 1960 to $18.27 trillion in 2019.

At the same time, as a relative measure, U.S GDP as a share of the world economy has gone from around 40% in 1960 to around 20% in 2019.

[Benjamin Frank]

It’s not the greatest country in the world. That’s my answer…

Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paycheck, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn’t cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don’t like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so f--king smart, how come they lose so goddamn always?

And with a straight face, you’re gonna tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom! So, 207 sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

And yeah, you… sorority girl. Just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there’s some things you should know. One of them is: there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force and number 4 in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies. Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are, without a doubt, a member of the worst period generation period ever period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the f--k you’re talking about! Yosemite?!

It sure used to be… We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reason. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reason. We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great, big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists AND the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed… by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yes we are the Greatest Nation in the History of the World

[PSOL]

The question is built on the assumption of a spook.

[American2020]

I understand many people are very frustrated and pessimistic. This is a moment similar to the 1850's years before the Civil War.
There's no greatest country in the World. Each country has its strength and vulnerabilities. There's no country without vulnerabilities. This virus crisis has shown even countries with strong social safety can shown some important weaknesses on social safety.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/06/business/europe-covid-inequality-benefits-intl/index.html

The most important issue should be how to fix these vulnerabilities. It won't be the first time America'll have to reform and reinvent itself. The Great Depression was more severe than this famous 2020 year.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Why have we this thread like every two months or so? Can't we merge them into a megathread?

[LAKISYLVANIA]

The UK probably is, and you could make arguments for (old) Egypt, Germany, Russia, China, America and the Roman Empire. France, Spain and Japan could be mentioned as well.

My favourite country is Iceland, followed by Finland and Sweden.

[HillGoose]

Yuh, nowhere else I’d rather live I can tell u that.

In Europe I hear they actually have like, leisure time. I’d hate that so much.

[Beet]

No question about it.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Italy is the greatest country in the world (Italian, sane).

[Sir Mohamed]

America is a great country with a unique and fascinating history. For sure it has a lot of flaws and problems. But over time, we have worked hard to to come closer to the ideals this nation was founded upon. As an immigrant, I'm incredibly careful to have become a citizen of this country. Despite many imperfections, it's still a great place in many ways.

That said, I'm not going to say it's the best country in the world, because I don't believe in telling others we're better than them. Other countries have fascinating cultures and history as well, and that for sure deserves respect. For obvious reasons, America is a safer place than many other countries with more guaranteed rights than in authoritarian regimes. Same applies to our neighbors to the North, most of Europe, Japan and some other countries.

Obviously, each patriot thinks he or she lives in the greatest country in the world. That's fine as long as you respect someone else's patriotism.

[Cassius]

Italy is the greatest country in the world (Italian, sane).

https://youtu.be/WeVWupFBkA8

[Alcibiades]

I don’t think there is a “greatest country in the world”, but if you really wanted to explore such a question objectively, it wouldn’t be America: not on standard of living, not on functioning of government, not on freedom.

There was a time, during the post-war economic boom, when the USA probably had the highest standard of living in the world; at the time, 1950s America was the most prosperous society which had ever existed in the history of humankind. I doubt that America was ever the “freest” country in the world, though, considering its long and ugly history of racial discrimination.

That said, the complex patterns of American society, at once incredibly diverse and very homogenous in certain aspects, and the sheer scale of the American experiment, make it a uniquely fascinating country.

[Former President tack50]

Italy is the greatest country in the world (Italian, sane).

I mean, at one point it was, but it lost the crown roughly 1800 years ago

[parochial boy]

The "greatest country in the world" line has more to do with propaganda and the US's national mythology than it has to do with the actual possible existence of a "greatest country in the world".

So in that essence from the moment you apply a small amount of critical thinking the question is meaningless.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Italy is the greatest country in the world (Italian, sane).

I mean, at one point it was, but it lost the crown roughly 1800 years ago

Please, tell me more about things we lost 1800 years ago as I walk from the Roman obelisk in Piazza del Popolo down to the Pyramid of Cestius in Piazzale Ostiense while casually passing by the Ara Pacis Augustae, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, the Pantheon, Pompey's Theatre, Trajan's Column, the Imperial fora, the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus.

[RINO Tom]

This is, by any reasonable measure, an opinion question ... so, my answer is that America IS the greatest country in the world.  The United States' influence over nearly every aspect of global things from economic innovation to the entertainment industry IS, in my opinion, a sign of being at least some kind of "great," and the more ways you look at this question, the better the US will appear.  In a vast, diverse and culturally scattered nation like America, you are never going to have nice and tidy stats; in other words, we will have higher obesity or higher poverty or worse overall public schools than many places, but we will also have the best universities in the world, we will be the center of movies and entertainment, we will contain an unparalleled variety of both natural and manmade attractions, etc.  For better or for worse, you are going to get the best of the best with the United States, and you are going to get some of the worst of the worst, at least for the developed world.  But I think that overall, yes, it is in my view the "greatest country in the world."

[Ancestral Republican]

No.

Not by any measure of what makes a liberal democracy successful. In fact, by the lofty standards of the mid 20th century, it is a failed state. And the bottomless military money dump is a big reason why, which is similar to other eventually destroyed empires like Rome and USSR.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

We're certainly the most influential, most culturally important, (debatably) the wealthiest, have the strongest military, etc. so if you use most important country in the world as a stand-in for greatest, we're undoubtedly number one.

We're usually at the forefront of global social change. When it comes to multiculturalism and rights/general acceptance of minorities, we're probably number one--at least among countries that matter.

No bloc in the world rivals the general scale of our general prosperity and freedom. When you compare the USA against Europe or East Asia, you aren't just comparing Massachusetts to Switzerland. You're also comparing Kansas to Moldova and North Korea. There's no other area in the world with 330m people that can match our standard of living.

Finally, who could actually rival us for the slot? Germany, maybe? France? Japan? There aren't a lot of obvious competitors.

[Tollen]

The Chinese have held that position since the Great Recession.

[SWE]

All countries are bad, however, the closest any one nation comes to being good is Uruguay

[PSOL]

The Chinese have held that position since the Great Recession.

And look how horrifying that ideation has caused.