It should be clear to anyone by now that the US is on an ugly collision course with reality. However, the American gospel states otherwise. We're a white city on a hill, the apple in god's eye, the home where the brave plow their way to individualist prosperity, and the free bask in the glory of a Constitution and, well, everything, that's the bestest in teh world.
There's a cute little fly in the ointment of this national myth: just the opposite is true in an increasing number of ways.
Compared with our peer nations, the countries of the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development), the US is falling behind in a large number of the most important measures of social prosperity. (And if there is a god, when the topic of America comes up she no doubt clears her throat and changes the subject.)
This must-read article presents a partial list of how far the land of McDonald's, SUVs, and Walmarts has sunk.
Are fundamental rethinkings needed everywhere? Yes. Does this country any longer have the ability to do so? Who knows.
• the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;
• the greatest inequality of incomes;
• the lowest social mobility;
• the lowest score on the UN’s index of “material well-being of children”;
• the worst score on the UN’s Gender Inequality Index;
• the highest expenditure on health care as a percentage of GDP, yet all this money accompanied by the highest infant mortality rate, the highest prevalence of mental health problems, the highest obesity rate, the highest percentage of people going without health care due to cost, the highest consumption of antidepressants per capita, and the shortest life expectancy at birth;
• the next-to-lowest score for student performance in math and middling performance in science and reading;
• the highest homicide rate;
• the largest prison population in absolute terms and per capita;
• the highest carbon dioxide emissions and the highest water consumption per capita;
• the lowest score on Yale’s Environmental Performance Index (except for Belgium) and the largest ecological footprint per capita (except for Denmark);
• the lowest spending on international development and humanitarian assistance as a percentage of national income (except for Japan and Italy);
• the highest military spending both in total and as a percentage of GDP; and
• the largest international arms sales."