America: Greatest Country in the World? See What the Facts Say: Bold Ideas for Making it Better

By William Blank

We are constantly reminded that the United States is the greatest country in the world—even the greatest country in the history of civilization! Most agree that America is an exceptional and privileged nation. Presidents proclaim it and politicians remind us. Some believe this land was ordained by God to be the most dominant influence throughout the world. These are bold claims indeed. The United States of America is certainly a powerful, prosperous and influential nation but is it favored above all others? Is it truly the greatest country on the planet as we've always been told?

 

Quick Quiz: What country has meddled in more national elections around the world than any other country and has pumped the most CO2 into the atmosphere? Can you name a country that has transferred billions of dollars in wealth from its working people to an elite class of billionaires? Which nation has the highest percentage of its citizens locked behind bars and the most adults earning poverty wages? Which country has the worst gun violence in the world, has kept its workers' wages stagnant for three decades and crushed its unions? Are you able to name the country that carried out a campaign of brutal indigenous genocide while it held four million people in bondage and still continues to skirt its responsibilities to address the human devastation left behind? Which country has rigged its economic system for over a century so that people of color can only amass ten percent of the wealth of those in the majority?

 

Can you identify which nation developed the most destructive weapons in human history, has been engaged in war for 90 percent of its history, bombed dozens of countries since WW II and spends more on its military than any other country? What nation banned immigration based on religion and spread an obesity epidemic to nations around the globe? Which one exploded over 200 nuclear bombs in the atmosphere just to see how well they worked, spreading radioactive fallout worldwide? Can you identify a country where racism permeates every part of its society while its leaders pretend it's not so? What's the only affluent country that allows thousands of its citizens to die due to lack of health insurance? And which one had the worst response and highest COVID-19 death rate and experienced the first attempted coup in its history?

 

Answer: That country is the United States of America. Surprised? Did you always believe America was the greatest country in history? Most Americans and all politicians do. But believing we're a nation above all others doesn't do much to encourage improvement. America: The Greatest Country in the World? See What the Facts Say Bold Ideas for Making it Better poses some difficult questions about our nation's greatness and presents an Everest of evidence exposing why America might not be the greatest country on planet Earth and asks readers to look at the facts and decide for themselves.

 

It concludes with bold ideas for changes in our policies to make America a better country for more of its citizens including a new U.S. Constitution to transform how this nation functions. This book is not anti-America or anti-democracy…it's simply anti-unfairness and anti-injustice. If we truly love America, we should want to make it a better place!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Look Ahead Press
• Release date: Apr 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9798599411444

Book preview

1.  We Think We’re the Greatest Country

This is the greatest society in all of human history, the greatest country ever.

—-Senator Marco Rubio

Most people believe they live in a great country—including Americans—but we take it to the next level and boast that we live in the greatest nation on Earth.  In a 2010 Gallup Poll, 80 percent of Americans surveyed agreed that based on history and the U.S. Constitution, the United States has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world. And, of course, politicians are at the forefront of the greatest nation chorus. President George W. Bush proudly stated, America is the greatest nation, with the most honest people on earth. Some go even further and proclaim that America is the greatest country in the history of the planet. And President Trump declared, The United States of America is the most just and exceptional nation ever to exist on Earth, and that it was The most fair, equal and prosperous nation in human history. 

As a member of the Skeptics Society, I abide by the creed: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Greatest nation in the world? Greatest country in the history of mankind? Noblest and most exceptional nation on the planet? A nation favored above all others? This book takes a close look at what the facts and our history say about such claims so you can draw your own conclusions. Maybe we are the greatest nation in history; maybe we’re almost there; and, maybe we’re not nearly as close to greatest country standing as we think we are.

Where does our notion of national superiority come from? Many Americans, especially politicians, believe that our country is not only the greatest nation in history but that it was divinely inspired based on the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that America’s citizens were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. And don’t forget, the world is constantly reminded of American awesomeness and that the President of the United States, we’re told, is the most powerful person on the planet and is the leader of the free world.

President Howard Taft boldly proclaimed, The day is not far distant...when the whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race is already ours morally. How did our self-image evolve from one of a struggling band of upstart colonies to seeing ourselves as the greatest country among all others? Some say America’s self-identity as greatest nation is more of a superiority complex rather than real.

Origins of Claims of Greatness

The idea of American greatness emerged early in our nation’s history. Alex de Tocqueville, French diplomat, political scientist, and historian espoused this sentiment in the 1800s when he proclaimed that the United States was a unique nation proceeding along a path to which no limit can be perceived.  He spent nine months in the 1830s traveling across this young nation observing American life in all its richness. He interacted with citizens in every walk of life, conversed with two presidents and met Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. Tocqueville’s crowning achievement was writing Democracy in America which chronicled his travels and documented his observations on freedom, politics, society, and culture in this new country. His two-volume book is considered by many to be one of the most important ever written on America political life.

One of the most famous and often used quotes about America’s greatness is attributed to Tocqueville: "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."  A patriotism-inspiring quote indeed and one that has been used in speeches by politicians including Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton and on the floor of the U.S. Senate.  The only problem is that scholars have concluded that Tocqueville never spoke those words.

So, not only is the claim that America is the greatest country in the world being called into question recently, one of the most famous quotes proclaiming it so was apparently never uttered. Key Point: Tocqueville wrote that America was quite exceptional for its practical ways over science, its Puritanical origins, its commercial drive, and its physical beauty. But he used the term in a somewhat pejorative way describing how unusual America was—not that it was a better or a greater nation than others. His statements, however, seem to have taken on a completely different meaning over time.

Fueling our belief in this country’s greatness is Americans’ embrace of our exceptionalism which casts the United States as fundamentally different from (and better than) other countries and, therefore, should not be judged by the same standards, rules and norms as other nations. Americans tend to use exceptionalism and greatness interchangeably. The notion of American exceptionalism isn’t new. In a slick 2011 documentary, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich proclaims that American exceptionalism has been at the center of our nation's experience for nearly 400 years.  Wow, that goes way back and makes examination of greatness in our past a legitimate enterprise! 

American Exceptionalism

And our exceptionalism has not always been evident to the outside world. Ben Zimmer on Slate notes that in an article entitled The Civil War in America in the London Times in 1861 the following appeared: It is probable that the ‘exceptionalism,’ if one may use the word, on which the Americans rather pride themselves, will not prevail in the case of the struggle between North and South. The term was much later popularized by liberal political scientist Louis Hartz in his 1955 book The Liberal Tradition in America, but the modern origins of the term American exceptionalism are a bit convoluted.

In the 1920s, American Communist Party leader Jay Lovestone argued that the economic and social conditions in the United States were exceptional and that a moderate rather than a violent revolutionary change was needed to reform its capitalist system. Joseph Stalin took serious issue with Lovestone’s theory and repudiated his heresy of American exceptionalism, which Stalin meant as a term of derision. It continued to be used in a negative way: Exceptionalism was a disease, a chronic disease, wrote communist S. Milgrom of Chicago in 1930. The phrase American exceptionalism appeared in a major American newspaper—The New York Times—for the first time ever in a 1980 editorial by Richard Tofel where he contrasted the views on America’s exceptionalism between candidates Ronald Reagan (all in) and Jimmy Carter (not so sure). 

Terrance McCoy observed in 2012 that Over the following 20 years...exceptionalism appeared in national publications 457 times. The next decade had it 2,558 times. But since 2010, it's gone viral, leaping into print and online publications roughly 4,172 times. That’s an exceptionally large number of appearances of the term exceptionalism!  In the 1960s and 70s conservatives carved out a new Republican identity wrapped in uncompromising patriotism. 

Questioning this nation’s exceptional status became un-American and about that time, Tocqueville’s comment about America being exceptional was rediscovered and appropriated to fan patriotic fervor. Today, if a president publicly stated that the United States was not the greatest, most exceptional nation on Earth, he or she would be run out of Washington. If a candidate for office let it slip, it would be the kiss of death.

Some observers say that the exceptionalism argument is a subtle way of offering a form of comfort to folks during difficult times and is a way of infusing a divine element into the notion. They see exceptionalism as a positive, optimistic extension of President Reagan’s biblically based statement that America was a shining city on a hill. But he wasn’t the first, however, to invoke such an image to describe America’s exceptional place in the world.  John Winthrop, in his 1630 sermon, A Model of Christian Charity, delivered before he and his group of settlers reached the New World, used the phrase a city on a hill to describe his expectation that the Massachusetts Bay Colony would shine as an example to the world, and how he expected Massachusetts to differ from all other countries.

His comments, no doubt, were based on the words from the book of Matthew: You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. As we begin to unpack some of the assumptions underlying all this exceptionalism and greatness talk, keep in mind that Winthrop hated democracy with a passion and the colony he founded did not hesitate to execute people like the Quakers and he brought a ghastly tradition of medieval Europe to the New World—the trial and execution of witches. Ignorant of the misdeeds in our nation’s early history, most Americans buy into this notion of divinely invoked exceptionalism and greatness. In fact, a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution found that almost 60 percent agree that God has granted America a special role in history. If Winthrop’s famous sermon is of interest, you might want to read Abram C. Van Engen’s 2020 book City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism.

Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny & Imperialism

It’s important to realize that the idea of exceptionalism today basically means not only are we different, but we’re also better. From the days of the Revolution to the moon landing two centuries later, the idea that the United States is different from and better than anyplace else on Earth has rallied its citizens and propelled its aspirations, reflected Susan Page in USA Today.  Historians can trace this world view to America’s so-called Manifest Destiny (coined in 1845) which held that the United States was divinely ordained to remake the old world and settle the new world in our own image. 

American greatness was inextricably linked to its potential for vast territorial expansion and unlimited natural resources.  Some originally viewed Manifest Destiny as more of a moral or religious mandate based on our unique democracy rather than one of military conquest and some still do.  America’s specialness seemed to be wrapped up in our innocence, having escaped from tumultuous and bloody European history—a brand new nation with a clean slate and unlimited future. 

American exceptionalism got a boost with the emergence of the Monroe Doctrine in the 1800s. Buried in a routine annual address President James Monroe delivered to Congress in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine (as it was called 30 years later) warned European nations that the United States would not tolerate any further colonization or interference in the Western Hemisphere and would be a manifestation of an unfriendly position towards the United States.

America was fearful of possible Russian inroads into the Oregon Territory and of European powers reasserting their influence in Latin America after the Spanish were hobbled. Importantly, with the Monroe Doctrine, the United States announced to the world its arrival as an international power. Then, in 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt added the big stick policy known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which said that, in cases of flagrant wrongdoing by a Latin American nation, the United States could and would intervene in that country’s internal affairs. The doctrine also stipulated that any attempt by a European power to try to control any country in the Western Hemisphere would be interpreted as a hostile act against America and would be met with a military response.

In a preview of what was to come, the U.S. used this protectionist policy and aura of exceptionalism to help justify its military interventions in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Cuba. A good read on this topic might be The Myth of American Exceptionalism (2010) by Godfrey Hodgson which explores America’s claim of exceptionalism and what its impact has been on this country and the rest of the world and also American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News―From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror (2019) by Roberto Sirvent and Danny Haiphong which examines whether American exceptionalism is real or has been over-hyped.

The concept of American imperialism began reinforcing the notion of this nation’s exceptionalism in the latter half of the 1800s.  President James K. Polk sometimes used the concept of American imperialism to justify the military, economic, and cultural influence of the U.S. on other nations.  On Lumen we read, The increasing influence of social Darwinism led to the belief that the United States was inherently responsible for bringing concepts such as industry, democracy, and Christianity to less developed ‘savage societies.’ Lumen adds that in this so-called Age of Imperialism, America flexed its political, social, and economic muscle over countries around the world including Cuba, the Philippines, Germany, Korea, and Japan—a troubling trend that continues today.

By posing the question whether America is truly the greatest country on Earth—and by association—the most exceptional nation, I know I’m inviting criticism and ridicule from those who sincerely believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is. I can already imagine the nasty and even threatening messages I’m sure to get just for raising the question. Maybe we are the greatest nation in history and maybe we’re not—let’s see what the facts say.

Even presidents take heat for being perceived as questioning America’s singular greatness among nations. In 2009 when a British reporter asked the newly elected President Obama if he agreed with the notion that the United States is uniquely qualified to lead the world, the president responded that I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.

Political opponents quickly skewered him for even suggesting the United States might not stand alone at the pinnacle of world greatness. In a completely illogical and nationalistic statement, vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said, When President Obama insists that all countries are exceptional, he's saying that none is, least of all the country he leads.  Obama felt compelled to infuse some clarity by adding, And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional.

See What the Facts Say

I’m asking you to seriously consider whether the U.S. is most favored among nations based on the state of the country today and on events that happened in our past. For example, how many people living in poverty in a nation as wealthy as ours do you think is acceptable for a truly great country—a few thousand or tens of thousands or millions? And should we have anyone at all living in extreme poverty? How many homeless people, would you say, is it OK to have in America—a hundred thousand, twice that many or more?

Should the gap in life expectancy between the rich and poor be negligible or measured in months or even in years?  What do you believe is an acceptable level of incarceration of our citizens to protect public safety—5 percent of the world’s prison population, 10 percent, or twice that? Do you feel America should tolerate the current level of preventable gun violence in our country each year as the cost of the right to bear arms or is it too high or even out of control for a great country that values the safety of its citizens?

What kinds of unhealthy food and addictive products should our government allow companies to market to children and youth? Should we allow lobbyists to rent our lawmakers, and should we wink at the rich buying their way into elected office? How long do you think it is acceptable in such a great country as this for middleclass workers’ wages to remain stagnant—a few years, 10 years, decades or not at all?

Who do you think really runs this great country—the electorate, the Congress or the rich and powerful and who should decide?  How much of the billions of dollars we spend on health care each year should we allow to go to corporate profits, CEO largesse and stockholder gains while we continue to deny health insurance to millions of our citizens while policymakers claim we can’t afford it: ten percent, one-fourth, half?

Do you think it’s healthier for Americans to fully reconcile our past treatment of Indigenous Peoples and African slaves or is it best to let those dark chapters fade into the past and just move forward? And what kind of restitution do you think today’s America owes to the descendants of Native Americans and freed slaves—none, some, or enough to make things right considering their economic plight today? Where do you think our exceptional nation should rank in terms of infant mortality, youth poverty, obesity, and income inequality—near the bottom, in the middle, or would it be OK to be worst? 

How many Americans in our fulltime adult workforce should we tolerate serving in low-wage jobs—thousands or millions? How much wealth should our system of government and taxation allow billionaires to amass, and can it ever be too much?  This book explores these and other broad questions, presents a great deal of data describing how America is and has performed in each of these areas and challenges readers to arrive at answers to these difficult questions and make up their own minds about whether we are the greatest country on the planet.

Powerful Vs. Great

A caution to keep in mind is that because the United States of America is indeed the most powerful country in the world and even the most powerful country in the history of the world, that alone does not necessarily make it the greatest, or noblest or best country.  There have been other nations in history that were powerful and influential and militarily strong but failed to act as a truly noble nation in how it treated its own citizens and other countries. Key Point: A country can be both powerful and great, but power doesn’t automatically lead to greatness.  Furthermore, we can look around us and see that a nation can be truly great and can be a wonderful place to live and work without necessarily being powerful. Switzerland, for example, was ranked No. 1 in the world on the Best Countries Survey for the past three years, yet barely has an army.

The United States has a unique opportunity to not only be the most powerful and the most influential nation on Earth but to also be the greatest country on this planet for its citizens and toward the rest of the global community to which it is connected. Some say we’re there and others say maybe not. I don’t mean to confuse greatness with perfection or a sort of utopia nor do I suggest that a nation acknowledging its shortcomings is proof of its mediocrity. No country is great in every way but a nation that lays claim to being tops in the world should have a whole lot more in the plus column than the negative!

A good example of the power vs. greatness dichotomy is the United Kingdom which Scott Baradell on Idea Grove identified as the second greatest country in the history of the world—he rated Italy first.  He constantly tweaks his list of 10 Greatest Countries in The History of The World based on millions of site visits and thousands of comments and suggestions posted to his blog. Here’s what he had to say about the UK:

The dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, the United Kingdom is often credited with being the nation that ‘created the modern world,’ by playing a leading role in developing Western ideas of property, capitalism, and parliamentary democracy as well as making significant contributions to literature, the arts, and science and technology. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-quarter of the Earth’s surface and encompassed a third of its population.

Ok, I get it; I see why he rated the UK as one of the greatest countries in history.  The point I want to make is that the United Kingdom was certainly great and was very powerful and created a great deal of wealth and made enormous literary and scientific contributions to civilization and is still a formidable player on the world stage.  But it failed to act as the greatest country toward many of its own citizens and to untold millions of subjects throughout its Empire. 

At home, England didn’t abolish its slave trade until 1807 and children worked in dangerous and deplorable conditions in factories and mines, and many were injured or killed.  I’m haunted by the famous 1910 photo on social media of a six-year-old miner covered in coal dust smoking a pipe with an utter look of despair on his face. The destitute often rotted in debtors’ prisons; many of the poor starved to death; widows begged on the street; and most people barely eked out a living while opulent estates were built all over the country. 

Abroad, England waged war throughout half of the known world usually over greed and ego and invaded and colonized many countries, robbing them of vast amounts of natural resources and wealth and treated the local inhabitants shamefully, even brutally.  So, I’d say the UK was one of the most powerful, most influential, most impactful countries in history but hardly the greatest or even second greatest country in the history of the world. 

And it’s worth remembering that being powerful often doesn’t last very long but greatness might be easier to sustain. In the 18th century the Netherlands was a global power but today they’re barely noticed. Some say the United Kingdom is well on its way to becoming the Netherlands and warn that the United States—although the dominant power today—is on a journey to becoming Britain and China is well on its way to becoming the U.S. Stay tuned. Underscoring the caution that power doesn’t last forever, GeographyQ identified the following nations as the most powerful in the world at particular points in history and also looked ahead to 2050:

1500: The Portuguese Empire

1700: France and the Chinese Qing Dynasty

1820: Britain

1880: Britain with Germany, Russia, and America gaining

1921: Europe recovering and the U.S. growing stronger

1940: The U.S., Britain, Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union

1964: The Soviet Union and the United States

1990: The United States the only superpower, the USSR collapsing

2015: America with China gaining ground fast

2050: The U.S. and China share the lead with India getting close

So, are we the greatest nation on our planet? Let’s consider what Americans themselves have to say.  America’s perceived greatness among its citizenry has been slipping recently. In 2011, 38 percent of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center said that America stands above all other countries in the world. In 2014, those responding with that same answer had dropped from 38 to 28 percent and that number dropped even lower to 24 percent in 2019!

Even more troubling is younger Americans are not as convinced as their elders are that America is the greatest nation.  According to Pew, eight years later in 2019 only 15 percent of Americans ages 18-29 felt the U.S. stood above all other nations and 36 percent of this group felt other countries were actually better than the U.S. The Survey Center on American Life conducted interviews in early 2021 with a random sample of 2,016 adults in all 50 states from a probability-based panel representative of the U.S. population. Here are some of their key findings:

When asked if they’re extremely proud to be American, 23 percent of younger people answered yes with 55 percent of seniors saying yes.

A slight majority of older Americans (55 percent) believed that the US has a special relationship with God while less than one-quarter of younger Americans agreed.

Almost half of those surveyed believed that God has granted this country a special role in human history.

Young adults were far more likely to challenge notions that the U.S. serves as a moral beacon.

Not surprisingly, almost seven in 10 (69 percent) of Americans agreed that our democracy serves the interests of only the wealthy and powerful.

Fewer than half (46 percent) of young adults (age 18 to 29) believe the world would be better off if more countries adopted American values and lifestyle while 70 percent of seniors (age 65 or older) agreed. Young adults are also less inclined to believe America continues to be a force for good in the world.

And in a shocker, more than one in three (36 percent) Americans agreed with the statement: The traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.

Yikes, we’re going the wrong way!  Perhaps the younger generation is paying more attention to what’s happening in this country today and our impact on the rest of the world than us older folks are and maybe they’re looking at our history a little more critically. Are some nations as good as or perhaps better, fairer or greater or more noble than the United States of America? See what the facts say. Could it be that American greatness is a mirage? Christopher England writes that "Even libertarians and many traditional conservatives have come to see talk of greatness as little more than a smokescreen for an aggressive foreign policy and an interventionist state.

2.  America Compared to Other Nations

America is one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others.

—-58% of Pew poll subjects

Now, rather than rely on opinions, emotions, sentiments of patriotism or statements by politicians, let’s take a look at important and more objective measures that are used by scholars and governments to determine how countries compare with one another in different ways. I submit that independent rankings in things like health care outcomes, wealth equality, life span, gender fairness, global impact, and similar factors are a very good indication of how great a nation is compared to others. Keep in mind, most of the time in this book, America is being compared with other developed countries. Let’s see how the United States of America measures up. 

If you get caught up in the statistics, there is a summary table at the end of this chapter that displays the United States’ overall ranking on the multi-country comparisons described below as well as many other measures—over 50 in all. The table also indicates which country was rated at the top for each measure; the data described are the latest available from each source. Of course, I’m asserting that nations with consistently high rankings across multiple measures should be considered greater than nations ranked lower on more measures. You may find this information interesting and a bit surprising as well.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Better Life Index. Note: Throughout the book I’ll refer to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD)—spelled Organization in the U.S.—which is a highly respected organization made up of 36 member states with market economies that collaborate with one another (as well as more than 70 non-member nations) to promote economic growth, prosperity, and sustainable development. OECD governments compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify best practice, and coordinate domestic and international policies.

Let’s first look at how America ranked on the OECD Better Life Index which uses important measures of well-being in accordance with theory, practice and consultation on the issue of how to best measure well-being from a comparative perspective.  On the 2020 Better Life Index ranking of 41 nations, the U.S. ranked: 1st in housing, 2nd in income, 4th in jobs, 21st in community, 20th in education, 15th in environment, 8th in civic engagement, 7th in health, 17th in life satisfaction, 26th in safety, and 29th in work-life balance—quite a spread. So, our first look at an objective measure suggests America is great in some dimensions, not great in others but certainly not the greatest overall with an average ranking across all these domains of 13th!  So, for our first objective, international ranking, the United States’ ranking of 13th out of 41 democracies isn’t exactly greatest but not too bad.

World Data’s Quality of Life Index. This measure compares the quality of daily life in 177 countries and is composed of 30 factors in seven sections which play a role for a permanent existence in the respective country. I’m confident you would agree that those living in a truly great nation would enjoy a high quality of life. This index uses a rating scale with a score of 100 at the top.  Australia was the top-rated nation in the world in terms of quality of life with a rating of 80; the United States came in at 33rd with a score of 69—in the middle of the pack.

Stanford Center on Inequality and Poverty. This center ranks affluent countries in nine domains related to poverty and inequality, all of which would come into play in determining a country’s greatness. The Center’s 2016 special report, which focused on the United States, indicated that among the 10 wealthy countries compared, the U.S. ranked 8th in labor markets, 5th in poverty, 10th in safety net, 10th in income inequality, 10th in wealth inequality, 8th in economic mobility and 10th overall—dead last. Finland was ranked No. 1 overall.  The report added that Among the well-off countries for which comprehensive evidence is available, the U.S. has the lowest overall ranking, a result that arises in part because the U.S. brings up the rear in safety net performance, income inequality and wealth inequality.  And when compared to a larger group of 21 countries, the U.S. ranked 18th with only Spain, Estonia, and Greece scoring lower.  David Grusky, the center’s director, observed that We’ve long known that the U.S. is exceptional, but it hasn’t been fully appreciated that it’s such a standout in so many types of inequality. That should grab our attention.

Legatum Institute’s Prosperity Index.  One of the most comprehensive comparisons of nations is the Legatum Institute's Prosperity Index which focuses on the wellbeing and character of a nation. The pillars of prosperity used to rank each country are: Safety and security, personal freedom, governance, social capital, investment environment, enterprise conditions, market access and infrastructure, economic quality, living conditions, health, education, and natural environment.  As you can see, this just about covers all the aspects in which a country can be measured as great or not.  Here are the results of the Index’s rankings of 167 nations for 2019:  Denmark 1st, Norway 2nd, Switzerland 3rd, and at the other extreme, Central African Republic 165th, Yemen 166th, and South Sudan last at 167th.

The United States of America ranked a respectable 18th. Quite good but not the best and well out of the top 10. The report stated that the U.S. Is one of only 19 countries to have experienced a deterioration in prosperity since 2009...driven primarily by declining mental and physical health, and rising obesity rates...causing the health of U.S. residents to deteriorate. Ranked first in health care, by the way, was Canada while the U.S. ranked a lowly 37th!  The Institute concluded that Health in the United States is in decline. The nation has the second-highest obesity rate of any country, after Kuwait, and the sixth-highest rate of substance abuse. Residents in the United States are also experiencing declining mental health, with suicide rates increasing. You’d think the greatest nation would put the health and wellness of its citizens at the very top of its priorities but that, evidently, is not the case. And we might think twice about ridiculing the universal health care system of our northern neighbor.

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Countries Survey. An often referred to rating system for comparing countries is the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Countries Survey which is based on responses from over 20,000 business leaders and citizens from 36 nations from the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa who are broadly representative of the global population.  These countries represent about 95 percent of global gross domestic product and about three-quarters of the world's population.  The survey is sent to people in three groups: Informed elites...business decision-makers...and general public—adults who were representative of their country in terms of age and gender.  The annual survey, conducted in conjunction with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the BAV Group, examines 65 attributes to determine which nations are the best in the world; 73 were rated for 2020. The criteria are clustered in nine sub rankings including: adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power, and quality of life. 

For the third consecutive year, Switzerland was ranked as tops in the world overall on the Best Countries Survey; Canada was second while the United States came in 7th—one place higher than the previous year, so it looks like we’re making progress.  Lebanon was ranked last.  Below are the 2020 or most recently available results on each of the sub rankings on the survey. Note that following each top ranked nation identified below is the ranking the U.S. received for that measure shown in parentheses—some of which I think you’ll find as surprising as I did:

Sweden was top-rated for Citizenship: Cares about human rights, the environment, gender equality, progressive, religious freedom, respects property rights, trustworthy, well-distributed political power. (U.S. 15th)

Italy ranked first for Cultural Influence: Culturally significant in terms of entertainment, fashionable, happy, has an influential culture, modern, prestigious, trendy. (U.S. 4th)

Germany was tops for Entrepreneurship: Innovative, provides easy access to capital, skilled labor force, technological expertise, transparent business practices, well-developed infrastructure and legal framework. (U.S. 3rd)

Brazil first in Adventure: Friendly, fun, pleasant climate, scenic, sexy. (U.S. 33rd)

Italy ranked first for Heritage: Culturally accessible, has a rich history, great food, many cultural attractions. (U.S. 18th)

United Arab Emirates is No. 1 in Movers: Future resiliency and economic growth potential. (U.S. 26th)

Luxembourg tops in Open for Business: Based on bureaucracy, manufacturing costs, corruption, tax environment and government practices. (U.S. 45th)

United States was tops in Power:  Leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances, and a strong military.

Canada is No. 1 for Quality of Life: Access to quality food and housing, quality education and health care, job security, political stability, individual freedom and environmental quality. (U.S. 15th)

New Zealand is the favorite for Comfortable Retirement: Affordability, favorable taxes, friendly, pleasant climate, respect for property rights and a well-developed public health system. (U.S. 23rd)

United States was ranked No. 1 for Education: Public school quality, higher education rates.

Japan is tops in Forward Thinking: Anticipating the future and adapting to change. (U.S. 2nd)

Sweden is tops for Green Living: Caring about the environment, health consciousness and innovation. (U.S. 17th)

Switzerland is the best place to Headquarter A Corporation. (U.S. 17th)

United States ranked first in International Influence—impact on the global stage.

Croatia is tops to Invest In: Business friendliness and financial attractiveness. (U.S. not listed in top 25)

Denmark is best for Raising Children: Human rights, family friendly, gender equality, happiness, income equality, safety, education system and health care system. (U.S. 18th)

Thailand is best to Start A Business. (U.S. 15th)

Russia was tops to Start A Career: Innovation, wage equality, stability, job market. (U.S. not listed in top 25)

Canada was top rated for Transparency: Open business and government practices, well-distributed political power, trustworthiness and little corruption. (U.S. 18th)

Denmark is the best country for Women: Caring about human rights, gender equality, income equality and progress and safety. (U.S. 15th)

Canada was the most Trustworthy country. (U.S. 24th and country with largest drop since 2016)

If you were paying attention, you noticed that America was ranked No.1 among the 73 countries rated for 2020 in a quite rigorous ranking process in only three of the 22 dimensions surveyed—not what one would expect of the greatest nation on planet Earth. And here are two troubling observations found in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Countries report: The United States ranks No. 7 overall, bolstered by being seen as the most powerful country. While the U.S. scores highly for its entrepreneurship and cultural influence, the country is damaged by the sharpest drop in global trust since 2016 among all countries assessed...Eurasia Group, a political risk and consulting firm, rated the U.S. domestic politics as the world’s top global risk, the first time America has entered into the group’s top five worldwide risks.  Our No. 7 overall Best Country ranking, and the commentary found in the report should give us pause—especially the next time we’re tempted to shout, We’re number one!

Bloomberg Innovation Index. This index looks at dozens of factors including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies. The 2021 rankings reflect the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change and how companies and governments have responded to these challenges with innovation and creativity. South Korea ranked No. 1 in the world with a 90.49 rating followed by Singapore and Switzerland. The U.S. dropped out of the top 10 with the 11th place spot with a score of 83.59. It is noteworthy that the gap between the U.S. and China, which was significant in 2013 when the Index was launched (the U.S. was No. 1 then), has narrowed considerably, however, both nations’ ratings have slipped of late. America suffered a dip in the rating of its system of higher education.  Although still very high quality, it suffered from recent immigration policies and COVID-19 restrictions which impacted foreign students. 

Commonwealth Fund Healthcare Performance. Full access to health care would certainly be a high priority in a great country. The Commonwealth Fund ranks affluent countries in overall performance and cost of health care based on 72 indicators in five domains: care process, access, administrative efficiency, equity, and health care outcomes; ratings come from a standardized set of metrics on health system performance. In 2017 the United States ranked last in health care system performance among the wealthy 11 countries, ranking last in access, equity, and health care outcomes, and next to last in administrative efficiency, as reported by patients and providers. The UK ranked first overall and Australia second. We ranked last although the United States has the highest per capita health care expenditures of any country and devotes a larger percentage of its GDP to health care than any other nation.

The Commonwealth’s recent report stated, The U.S. has the highest rate of mortality amenable to health care and has experienced the smallest reduction in that measure during the past decade. And most notable is the finding that the United States is the only high-income country lacking universal health insurance coverage. The Fund also reported 2018 OECD data comparing 11 wealthy nations: The U.S. was highest in spending as percent of GDP (16.9 percent vs. 8.8 percent avg.), per capita spending ($10,207 vs. $3,992 avg.), lowest in life expectancy (78.6 vs. 80.7 avg.), top in suicides per 100K (13.9 vs. 11.5 avg.), tops in chronic conditions (28 vs. 17.5 avg.), highest obesity rate (40 percent vs. 21 percent avg.), and fewest physician visits per capita (2.6 vs. 3.5 avg.). Such extremely poor health care outcomes and poorest value among 11 comparable countries are not something we’d expect from the greatest country in the world. The U.S. also had the highest total number of cases and highest per capita COVID-19 death rates during much of the pandemic making it even worse.

Social Progress Index. Another notable ranking I’d like to call your attention to is the Social Progress Index created by the Social Progress Imperative. The index is structured around 12 components and 50 distinct indicators covering three broad domains: basic human needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunity, which are all determinants of a nation’s greatness.  Here’s how they view social progress which, I suggest, is a good proxy for greatness and are national traits we should keep in mind as we look at how special America really is: "We define social progress as the capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential. The index doesn’t measure people’s happiness or life satisfaction, focusing instead on actual life outcomes in areas from shelter and nutrition to rights and education."

It should be sobering indeed for Americans to see that our nation has been rated 28th out of 149 nations in the world on the Social Progress Index for 2020 with a score of 85.71 (out of 100) which is based on the actual life situation of its citizens! We’re one of only three nations to have the most dramatic decline in recent years. Norway was ranked first, scoring 92.73 and Denmark 2nd with a 92.11 score.  The 2019 report (our ranking was 26th then) included this zinger about the U.S.: The United States has consistently shown under-performance relative to its GDP per capita...The U.S. ranks...below Slovenia and Estonia...On Access to Basic Knowledge, the U.S. performs worse than Poland, while on Health and Wellness the U.S. score is comparable to Panama’s. On Personal Safety, the U.S. ranks below the Senegal and Sri Lanka.  Ouch!

Drilling down a little deeper, here’s how we scored in three Index subcategories: basic human needs (nutrition, medical care, water and sanitation, shelter, personal safety): 34th; foundations of well-being (schools, access to information, health and wellness, environmental quality): 37nd; and, in opportunity (personal rights, personal freedom and choice, inclusiveness, advanced education): 14th.  Sure, like most measures, the Social Policy Index might be a bit subjective but to rank 28th in the world!  A ranking of 20th should be of concern and even a ranking of 10th should be a wakeup call. So, let’s hold up with the greatest country in the world bragging until we first look more objectively at how we’re doing as a country and in which direction we’re headed. The next time someone claims we don’t really need or can’t afford universal health care, share our rank of 97th in the world in access to quality health care with them!

World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. This well-developed index looks at the gap between men and women in terms of access to resources and opportunities in four important areas and is based on outcomes. Overall, in 2020 America ranked 53rd out of 153 nations with an overall score of .724 (1.0 is best—Iceland was on top with the smallest gap at .877 and Yemen was last at .494).  In terms of subindex gap scores between men and women, America ranked 26th in economic participation and opportunity; 34th in educational attainment; 70st in health and survival and a very poor 86th in political empowerment.  Keep in the mind these gaps directly impact half of our entire population and impact everyone indirectly. Notably, our overall score indicates there is still about a 28 percent gender gap in access to resources and opportunities in America today and sadly, the U.S. dropped two places from the previous year so we’re heading the wrong way on this metric.

Freedom of the Press. One of our most cherished pillars of a vibrant democracy is a free press and certainly a barometer of how great any nation is.  Each year Reporters Without Borders ranks 180 countries for press freedom based on factors like pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the news infrastructure.  In a shocker, America was ranked 45th in 2020 with a score of 23.9 out of 100 (0 being the best possible score and 100 the worst).  Norway captured the top spot for the fourth year in a row with a 7.84 score followed by Finland.  Are you beginning to see a trend with our Scandinavian neighbors’ rankings? 

In 2018, Reporters Without Borders also revealed that the world's five most deadly countries for journalists included three—-India, Mexico and the United States—where journalists were killed, even though those countries were not at war. And in a deeply troubling trend, at least 50 American journalists were arrested by police in a span of just two months in 2020 during Black Lives Matter demonstrations resulting from over 500 incidents of police clashing with reporters. Dozens have been injured by less lethal projectiles like rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas according to U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, even after some news people clearly identified themselves as members of the press (as happened to an acquaintance of mine who later received an apology from the police department).

Free From Corruption. Americans like to brag that our nation is among the least corrupt in the world. Well, here’s a surprise: According to Transparency International, the United States, with a rank of 23rd, has dropped out of the top 20 least-corrupt nations in the world among 198 nations rated on the Corruption Perception Index!  Denmark was top rated as the least corrupt country. This group uses data from 13 sources across 12 separate institutions to measure perceptions of corruption. They attributed the drop in America’s 2019 ranking to threats to its system of checks and balances as well as an erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power. 

Democracy.  The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) produces an annual ranking of 167 countries on their adherence to 60 democratic values, such as electoral processes and freedom of the press.  America was ranked 21st in 2020 and classed as a flawed democracy, falling short of the threshold of a fully democratic society for the second year running.  The U.S. scored 7.98 out of 10—within the flawed democracy category. The change reflected what the report said was a sharp fall in popular confidence in the functioning of public institutions. Norway was ranked No. 1. Maybe it’s the cold weather up there with those countries scoring high on so many measures.

As you can see, the United States of America doesn’t rate very favorably on many of the measures used by governments throughout the world to compare actual performance of countries—especially wealthy democracies similar to the U.S. Now, let’s look at America’s greatness through the lens of the fundamental rights guaranteed all Americans in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Life. First, how well does America revere and protect the life of each of its citizens?  I’d say not terribly well when about 26,000 Americans die every year because they don’t have access to medical treatment and life-saving medication and when prisoners have been executed for crimes they did not commit.  Life in America is not guaranteed very well for the thousands who are killed and wounded every year by firearm violence, much of which could be prevented. The constitutional guarantee of life rings hollow for the millions of Americans who die prematurely from a host of diseases caused by the standard American diet that is sanctioned and even subsidized by U.S. government policies.  Life is not very long for those who are shot to death or choked after being stopped for not using their turn signal or because of the color of their skin. The fact that life expectancy for Black males in some locales is an unconscionable 15 years shorter than their wealthy White counterparts suggests that all lives don’t matter quite the same in America.

Liberty. How about liberty in America? Of course, most of us here in the U.S. have a great deal of freedom and liberty to live and work where we want, own property, move about freely, express ourselves and worship freely. Such liberty is one of the strongest magnets for immigrants to this country.  Liberty, however, escapes the more than two million Americans who are incarcerated—many for minor drug offenses that are perfectly legal today and for the 70 percent of those behind bars who haven’t even been convicted of a crime but who can’t afford bail.  How much liberty does a Latino, Asian or a Muslim in America have when they know there are places they dare not go to avoid insults and shouts of send them back.  And how much liberty does an African American have when they are viewed with suspicion and sometimes followed around in stores just because they are Black? And don’t forget our history: The Declaration of Independence did not extend to Native Americans who were being systematically murdered and forced off their land when it was signed. And when the document was created in 1776, African Americans were still enslaved, and would continue to be for almost another century.

Happiness. And, finally, the pursuit of happiness.  Like both life and liberty, happiness is achievable for most Americans but certainly not all.  How happy do you think members of a family are who live in poor neighborhoods with the crime, pollution, shootings, drugs, despair, and never-ending stress that go along with it?  You don’t see much joy among low-income Americans who work one or more fulltime jobs but can’t buy enough food for their kids. How much happiness can an LGBTQ person experience when they know they will very likely be harassed or even accosted almost every day of their lives if they came out?  Happiness, no doubt, is fleeting for women and girls who live in a country where many are in constant fear of being beaten, molested, or killed by someone they know.  How happy are young Black males in this country when they venture outside their homes after having had the talk with their parents about how to dress, talk and behave in a White world lest they be stopped, arrested or far worse. 

Other Measures of Greatness. Of course, there are many other measures that can be used to determine which country is best (or greatest) in certain aspects. The US Ranking Compared to Other Countries table at the end of this chapter lists over 50 measures used to compare nations, the source of the rating instrument and it also indicates what the overall U.S. ranking was on that metric. The measures described above are included in this summary chart as well as are national rankings from many additional sources.

Take a few minutes to scan these ratings—especially America’s ratings—and take note that on these measures, the United States received a top desirable best country ranking in only three of these measures and a worst rating among countries ranked for six of them! In other words, the United States was rated at the bottom in twice as many of these national comparative rankings as we were rated at the top! It’s looking more and more like our widely held assumption that the United States is the greatest nation on planet Earth isn’t holding up very well to close scrutiny.

Perhaps you’re beginning to see that under the spotlight of actual performance and outcomes—facts—America’s claim of greatest country status might be beginning to slip a bit. As anyone can see from these comparisons, even though it’s a great country in many ways, the United States of America is not the greatest country on Earth in many respects.  For you skeptics: Even if only half of these rankings are valid, we aren’t doing very well in the greatest country marathon.

How is America Great?

When I share these rankings with others, some often retort that it’s nonsense and we’re the greatest nation because we win more Nobel Prizes or we have the most powerful military or we’re the most dominant in technology, have the most billionaires, etc.  Key Point: America is the greatest nation in the world in many ways that don’t seem to affect the quality of life for everyday Americans, however, America is not so great in many ways that do affect the quality of our daily lives!  Building a fighter jet that can shoot down an enemy plane an amazing 90 miles away, returning stunning crystal-clear pictures of Pluto to Earth or having a single citizen own over $100 billion dollars in wealth all have little to do with the quality of life of a homeless vet, a child with disabilities, a poor single mom or those who are discriminated against.

It’s fair to say that America seems to have a problem with priorities, not resources. When it comes to personal safety, infant mortality, fair wages, pollution, access to health care, social safety nets, workers’ rights, and similar measures that directly impact the lived experiences of men, women and children, America doesn’t rank as well as we might think, compared to other nations—especially other advanced democracies.  It’s as if the United States wants to appear great and powerful to the rest of the world but doesn’t worry very much about being great for everyone at home.

You may also be wondering why I don’t spend more time focusing on what is great about America—what it excels at, what we are exemplary at doing. That’s for another book. Although I fully acknowledge America’s greatness and specialness throughout these pages, my goal is to get readers and those within their circle to seriously ask themselves whether the United States is actually the greatest country in the world as we so often claim we are, and, if not, why not and very, very importantly, how we can make this nation a better place—even the greatest place—to live for all of us.

Is America the Wealthiest Country?

This might be a good time to examine another aspect related to greatness that we hear mentioned so frequently. On his last day in office, President Trump reminded us not only that America is the greatest country in the world, but that it also has the greatest economy. That statement needs some clarification. We often hear the U.S. referred to as the richest country in the world and even the wealthiest nation in the history of the world.  That’s not true.  America is wealthy but is not the richest nation on Earth.  It’s hard to determine which countries are the wealthiest because of differences in the collection and interpretation of data.  Some economists say a good indicator of a country’s wealth is total national wealth produced by a country divided by the number of inhabitants, that is, national wealth per person. 

The World Bank ranked Qatar as the wealthiest nation in the world in 2020 with a GDP per capita of $138,900 in international dollars with the U.S. coming in at No. 12 with a GDP per capita of $67,400.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also pegged Qatar as the richest country in 2020 with the U.S. in the No. 11 spot. As an example of how things change rather quickly, Statistica ranked Luxembourg as the wealthiest nation in 2019 with the U.S. ranked 8th with a GDP per capita of $65,111. And in 2017 the Economist reported that Monaco had the highest GDP per person at $168,011 while the U.S. was 12th at $59,895 per person. So, in recent years, America has not been the wealthiest country in the world and in some rankings doesn’t make the top ten. 

The United States, however, does consistently have the highest gross GDP in the world at about $19.5 trillion in 2020—second in gross GDP was China at just over $12 trillion. But, based on purchasing power parity, that the IMF and CIA both judge to be the single best metric for comparing national economies, the International Monetary Fund recently determined that China’s economy is actually one-sixth larger than that of the United States ($24.2 trillion versus the U.S.’s $20.8 trillion). Key Point: America is not the richest or wealthiest country in the world but does have the largest gross domestic product as measured by standard metrics but not by others. We do produce a great deal of wealth, but, as you’ll see in subsequent chapters, it is not shared very fairly throughout our population—certainly not the way you’d expect in the world’s greatest nation—a theme that will be woven through much of this book.

What is National Greatness?

Ok, enough rankings.  I think you get the point: America is a wonderful nation for most of its citizens and is greater than most, but it’s not the greatest country on many measures and in some respects, we rank quite low and are actually headed in the wrong direction.  Let’s shift gears a bit and look at the concept of national greatness itself.  What makes a country great?  What makes a country the greatest in the world? Paul DeMinico in the Concord Monitor (2020) asks us what criteria we should use to judge which country is the best in the world:

Is it GNP? If so, when China surpasses America, does that make China the best? Or is it how happy and harmonious people are, in which case Denmark or Bhutan may be at the top. If it’s confidence in government, then perhaps New Zealand wins the prize? How about literacy rate? If so, would North Korea be the greatest? North Korea? One could argue that the ‘best country on the planet’ is the one that takes the best care of its people in terms of health, education, and elder care. Does that make Norway or Denmark the best countries on Earth? How about having an excellent public educational system? Then perhaps the top country may be Singapore or Finland? Would the richest country be the best in the world? Subsequently the award goes to Qatar.

He adds that those who question America’s greatness aren’t communists, extremists, leftists, revolutionaries, or anti-American. He observes that they want America to improve for all Americans and for those who wish to become one. I count myself in that camp. I found G. E. Miller’s list of characteristics of a great country entitled What Makes a Country Great? And How Can We Make Ours Better? posted on 20 Something Finance relevant to this question:

A truly democratic vote—every vote is equal, and representation is fair and just; voting is encouraged, accessible, quick, and easy,

An election system where political contributions are publicly funded or capped at levels accessible to all incomes and corporate and private dark money/influence is kept out,

Separation of powers—a system of checks and balances,

An independent and free press,

Significant and continued investment in shared infrastructure,

A fair and just legal, court, and prison system,

Equal access to data and information,

Diversity in backgrounds and opinions,

Broad and equal guaranteed human and civil rights, liberties, and freedoms (speech, religion, voting, assembly, press, etc.),

An investment in people through an affordable education and work skills that leads to opportunity for economic/financial success for all,

Kindness/care for its citizens and for the citizens of other countries,

A desire to fill the role as a shining light of good for other countries,

Broad consumer rights and protections,

Harsh punishment for government and corporate corruption and corporate anti-trust,

Strict protections for the water, the air, and land,

An emphasis on data, science, truth, and transparency in the government decision-making process,

Strong employee rights that put an emphasis on health, safety, the right to form a union, equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work, and family/life balance,

Affordable health care for all as a right, not a privilege reserved for only the wealthy,

Economic justice and a muted level of economic inequality.

Quite an ambitious list for sure.  Particularly noteworthy for me was Miller’s assessment of where America stands in possessing these characteristics: Realistically, our country scores high marks in at least a third of these, average marks in another third, and we are very inadequate in the final third.  I would agree somewhat but the various international rankings shown earlier suggest that his analysis might be a bit generous based on the facts.

While America is, most certainly, a wonderful and envied nation, many countries are greater than the U.S. in many ways.  What kinds of things do you think make a country great? Although everyone, no doubt, might offer different definitions of greatness, in terms of what makes a nation truly great or best, I suspect most people would include at least some of the following characteristics in their definition of national greatness.  A truly great country, in my view: