Is America "The greatest country on earth?"

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JS80

Lifer
Oct 24, 2005
26,271
7
81
Originally posted by: Arkaign
Originally posted by: JS80
Originally posted by: shira
Originally posted by: Vic

As for myself, I think that the US is the greatest nation in the world. Because of its free people. And for no other reason.

But Vic, there are lots of nations with "free people," and the United States in generally NOT considered the freest.

FreedomHouse freedom ranking

For just economic freedom, the U.S. isn't rated first, either:

Heritage Foundation's ratings of economic freedom

So again, why is the U.S. "the greatest?"

Comparing the economic freedom of the US with HK and Singapore is ridiculous. Break off Las Vegas from the Union and it would be more comparable to HK and Singapore.

Most countries in those rankings are homogeneous and are incomparable. Inject diversity into any of those countries and it will be the fall of them. America is the greatest because of the diversity of people that live here are able to live in peace and freedom.

That is a good general observation, and one that I agree with the sentiment overall, but to say that America is the greatest purely for that reason doesn't make any sense to me. Even the term 'greatest' is open to vast interpretation, depending upon personal values, priorities, perspective, etc.

Look around you man, illegals drive around in SUVs, their children have cell phones. Poor people can enjoy dollar menus at mcdonalds. OUR POOR ARE OBESE. I mean, our standard of living is fucking ridiculous. People here can choose to be poor, middle class, or rich. Go to almost any country, you are stuck where you are and you can't move up no matter hard you try.
 

Robor

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
16,979
0
76
Originally posted by: Butterbean
It is the greatest nation in the sense its the keystone of the free world. Remove the US and the other free countries wouldn't hold up very long - the reverse is not true. They would have a few nukes but no stones to use them. That said the US people aren't noble anymore in many ways. Abortion, homosexuality, illegitimacy, addictions etc - all rampant since the 60's and the assault on values, the family etc. The illegals treat their kids better than the average American slob. The civil rights movement was hijacked and taken to trully weird places. Alas the correction is shortly at hand.

JFC you are a friggin' whack job.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
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Originally posted by: JS80
Your view on this world is close to a blind retarded man. What erosion in personal freedom have you endured? Please enlighten us, list the freedoms you no longer enjoy.

A high school educated breadwinnder could support a family in the 50s? Are you nuts? That's like saying a retarded caveman with zero education could support his family and a cave.

???

Erosion in personal freedom? For one thing, the government keeps making more and more laws, accumulatively, and continues to create new federal agencies, which require more taxes, to intrude more and more into people's lives. I could point to all kinds of examples, which have been gone over ad nauseum. It's not just the (R)'s that are at fault, it's the (D)'s and the voters as well.

It's almost idiotic to suggest that we aren't less free than we were previously, with three caveats :

We don't have a draft ATM
Civil rights have improved
Women's rights have improved

Other than that, we live with more restrictions, more taxes, and less opportunity than previous generations did.

And yes, it's a fact that college education was not always the standard of supporting a family in a respectable fashion. I don't make any sense of your ridiculous comparison. It's a shame that someone with a standard high school education cannot work full time and support a family any more, on average. Our country is getting poorer overall in realistic terms. We are a nation of renters and debtors.
 

Robor

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
16,979
0
76
Originally posted by: Martin
Here's a hint for those of you that don't get out much: everybody thinks their corner of the world is the best one.

That's what I was thinking as well. I've lived here all my life and done a little traveling but haven't seen enough places or spent enough time abroad to definitively say the US is the greatest. IMO there's good and bad but overall I think we have it better than most. All? Not sure but maybe.

Originally posted by: JS80
Most countries in those rankings are homogeneous and are incomparable. Inject diversity into any of those countries and it will be the fall of them. America is the greatest because of the diversity of people that live here are able to live in peace and freedom.

That's a *really* good point. :thumbsup:
 

RightIsWrong

Diamond Member
Apr 29, 2005
5,649
0
0
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
America is the greatest country in the world for one reason and one reason only. I say it is. If I said it about some other country it would be the best. I determine the nature of reality. America is the greatest country in the world because it it the country whose failures I focus on, whose defects I want to improve, whose people I most feel for because they are all around me. I am the most fantastic person I have ever met and I'm an American. I just gotta love me.

Of course if you live in some other country and want to argue your country is better, that's just fine by me. I hope you're right for you.

Also I keep an ace in the hole. If my country disappears tomorrow and I some how survive, I'm still a citizen of the best planet in the Universe.

As crazy as it sounds.....this is the correct answer.

"Best" is a relative term. There is no way of quantifying it by any other means than your own personal feelings toward the topic of discussion.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
72,326
6,039
126
Originally posted by: Robor
Originally posted by: Butterbean
It is the greatest nation in the sense its the keystone of the free world. Remove the US and the other free countries wouldn't hold up very long - the reverse is not true. They would have a few nukes but no stones to use them. That said the US people aren't noble anymore in many ways. Abortion, homosexuality, illegitimacy, addictions etc - all rampant since the 60's and the assault on values, the family etc. The illegals treat their kids better than the average American slob. The civil rights movement was hijacked and taken to trully weird places. Alas the correction is shortly at hand.

JFC you are a friggin' whack job.

Hehe.........but

Why do you say that? Have traditional family values taken a hit since the 60s? Is there anything good about them? I think both answers are yes. Therefore it is a simple matter to conclude that we need to return to them and to fight against the directions and things that have occurred that erode them, no? Well, no, but can't you see how easily that is the conclusion many people reach.

Values that are inculcated by fear of sin, with fire and brimstone Biblical bull shit, may be decent values, but because they carry the element of repression via fear, there is this huge psychological urge to explore breaking them.

People who are cleaved by the ax of fear seek unity in the devil, the part of themselves they fantasize exists and were cut off from.

Many of the family values worshiped by the sick are very good ones. But the only values that are real are those truly internal. The true moral being is moral by his own choice and not out of fear. He is moral because it's his true nature. The fundies can't trust this because they were taught and told they are full of sin.
 

dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,345
2,705
136
Originally posted by: KIRBYEE
Originally posted by: Butterbean
It is the greatest nation in the sense its the keystone of the free world. Remove the US and the other free countries wouldn't hold up very long - the reverse is not true. They would have a few nukes but no stones to use them. That said the US people aren't noble anymore in many ways. Abortion, homosexuality, illegitimacy, addictions etc - all rampant since the 60's and the assault on values, the family etc. The illegals treat their kids better than the average American slob. The civil rights movement was hijacked and taken to trully weird places. Alas the correction is shortly at hand.

I don't get it. Why do you want someone to take your freedom away, someone to tell you how to live, someone to oppress you? How sick of a person would want that?

Who cares if someone's gay, threats their kids like shit, does abortions, divorces, does drugs?

Why do you care? Did you care about all this as a child? Your hatred for freedom and liberalism is something you've learned. You were born innocent then someone polluted your mind with perverted ideas of conservatism.

Social conservatism = perversion.

Why are social conservatives so scared of sexuality?

Because they never get any?
 

jonks

Lifer
Feb 7, 2005
13,918
20
81
Originally posted by: Robor
Originally posted by: Martin
Here's a hint for those of you that don't get out much: everybody thinks their corner of the world is the best one.

That's what I was thinking as well. I've lived here all my life and done a little traveling but haven't seen enough places or spent enough time abroad to definitively say the US is the greatest. IMO there's good and bad but overall I think we have it better than most. All? Not sure but maybe.

Well we can extrapolate this a little. For ex, I live in NY and I think it's the "best" city in the world. What the hell does that mean? You can't really quantify this stuff. And andy's post demonstrates we have some serious problems with our education system. The citizens of other countries are fluent in multiple languages, yet we have people who are barely conversant in just one. :)
 

KIRBYEE

Banned
Mar 10, 2007
188
0
0
Originally posted by: jonks
The citizens of other countries are fluent in multiple languages

;)
I've been thinking of moving to the US or to some other English-speaking country. Can't wait till I finish college.
 

TheSlamma

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2005
7,625
5
81
It means we have the most pork eating fat people that have never had a passport in their lives who think it is... and they have the power to vote :eek:
 
Nov 29, 2006
15,599
4,050
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It really depends on what you value and what metrics you use to determine it. Ive always lived in America and i think it is a great nation, but i do not think it is the greatest. But that is just my opinion and im sure my values are different then a lot of peoples on what makes a great country. I do think America has the most potential to be the greatest nation though.
 

Red Dawn

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2001
57,530
3
0
Originally posted by: The Green Bean
Originally posted by: Martin
Here's a hint for those of you that don't get out much: everybody thinks their corner of the world is the best one.

:thumbsup:
Come on, even you must admit that Pakistan is a shithole.
 

Xavier434

Lifer
Oct 14, 2002
10,377
1
0
Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
America is the greatest country in the world for one reason and one reason only. I say it is. If I said it about some other country it would be the best. I determine the nature of reality. America is the greatest country in the world because it it the country whose failures I focus on, whose defects I want to improve, whose people I most feel for because they are all around me. I am the most fantastic person I have ever met and I'm an American. I just gotta love me.

Of course if you live in some other country and want to argue your country is better, that's just fine by me. I hope you're right for you.

Also I keep an ace in the hole. If my country disappears tomorrow and I some how survive, I'm still a citizen of the best planet in the Universe.

As crazy as it sounds.....this is the correct answer.

"Best" is a relative term. There is no way of quantifying it by any other means than your own personal feelings toward the topic of discussion.

Yes, I can go along with that. The result of the state of mind is far more important than the true accuracy of the state of mind itself. People who believe their country is the best and take pride will very often be more motivated to work towards keeping that way and/or making it better.
 

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,830
3
0
Most of Western Europe is ahead of the USA by most metrics. I haven't seen any explanation of why we're better than them, and I feel insulted when a politician tells me we are the greatest nation on earth.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
In the end, it's what you make of it I suppose. Personal courage and strength have been the source of people that have lived full and happy lives in the midst of horrible surroundings. And personal weakness and fear have been the source of misery for people that have lived in lands of opportunity, peace, and wealth.
 

Eeezee

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2005
9,923
0
0
America would be the greatest nation in the world if we were actually free. Sadly, there are a lot of fucked up rules in place.
 

Xavier434

Lifer
Oct 14, 2002
10,377
1
0
Originally posted by: Eeezee
America would be the greatest nation in the world if we were actually free. Sadly, there are a lot of fucked up rules in place.

I don't think the rules are quite so bad. Many obviously need some work, but I think the people in charge of those rules are where the real improvements need to be made. Rules and regs are great when they are being used and generally working as intended. That will never happen when the enforcers of those rules do not do their jobs properly no matter how solid the rule actually is.
 

palehorse

Lifer
Dec 21, 2005
11,521
0
76
Originally posted by: Vic
As for myself, I think that the US is the greatest nation in the world. Because of its free people. And for no other reason.
what he said.