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Throughout the primary debates there were many disagreements, but on one idea the candidates were united: we are a great nation. We were told President Obama and the Democrats threaten that greatness, and to restore that greatness we have to cut government. But what do they mean by “great”?
We’re a big country - number 4 after Russia, Canada and China. We’re number three in population, after China and India. We do have spacious skies and majestic mountains, but those were here before we were, and we haven’t improved on them. Size matters, but it’s not what makes us great.
One way we’re definitely “great” is our military. We spend about $700 billion a year, and if we cut it by half we’d still be greater than any other country in history. In fact, if we spent only a fifth of our military budget, we’d still be ahead of second-place China’s $119 billion. The U.S. has at least 662 bases in 38 foreign countries. For mobile bases, we have 11 active super-carrier fleets, with one in reserve, and two under construction. There are only 10 other carriers in the world besides ours, mostly smaller ones. Russia has one, and China is building one. Militarily, we’re #1!
Maybe it’s the money. Here we’re number one in GDP, the richest nation in the world. We have 412 billionaires (up from 371 in 2006), our closest competitor China only has 115, and Russia 101. We’re #1!
There is some bad news about our money, though. We have terrible income distribution, the gap between the rich and the rest of us. On this measure we’re ranked just below Iran and Cameroon and a little above Bulgaria. For equality, we’re #91!
Most of the problems that weaken our great country spring from this income inequality. Students from our richest schools score higher on tests than almost all other countries, but adding in our students living in grinding poverty, we end up a lot lower. Homeless children who sleep in cars don’t do well on homework; hungry children don’t learn well. For 15-year-old readers, we’re #14!
Our health care tells the same story. With enough money, you can get excellent medical care, but comparing infant mortality, we’re 46! That’s behind Cuba and Guam, according to the CIA. Income inequality and pockets of poverty lead to more people in prison, too. We have 743 prisoners for every 100,000 people, well above Rawanda at 595, and Russia at 534. That costs us about $75 billion a year. In prisoners, we’re #1! But this doesn’t make us great.
Are we a great democracy? Our corporations are people, according to the Supreme Court, and they produce more negative ads than any other country. On the other hand, only 57% of our voting age population turned out in the last presidential election, below Romania and Chile and Chad. It’s hard to measure, but as a citizen’s democracy, approximately, we’re #66!
When we consider the great things we did in the past - creating the first modern democracy, developing the continent, a free public education system the envy of the world, a guiding beacon to huddled masses yearning to be free, building our cities, bridges, railroads, the interstate highway system, the first man on the moon, the Grand Coulee Dam or levees on the Mississippi - whatever national greatness means to you - it was done by democratically elected governments which knew how to build a consensus and harness the national will to get things done. It meant citizens paying taxes to build a better community and a stronger nation, not just to protect their own selfish needs.
If America is going to be a great nation in the future, we’ll become great together.
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