How can we Improve?

[GoodWitch58]

On American Superiority by James Gustave Speth

From President Obama to Sarah Palin, our politicians are constantly invoking America?s superiority and exceptionalism or exhorting us to be Number 1. Yet from health care to education to environmental performance, we?re more often found at the bottom of the list of developed countries. It?s a good idea to set aside the rhetoric of national greatness and ask ourselves how we dropped to the basement on so many important issues?and what we should do to climb out.

To our great shame, America now has:

The highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;
The greatest inequality of incomes;
The lowest government spending as a percentage of GDP on social programs for the disadvantaged;
The lowest number of paid holiday, annual and maternity leaves;
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 lowest social mobility;
The highest public and private expenditure on health care as a portion of GDP, ?yet accompanied by the highest:
Infant mortality rate
Prevalence of mental health problems
Obesity rate
Portion of people going without health care due to cost
Low birth weight children per capita (except for Japan)
Consumption of anti-depressants per capita
The shortest life expectancy at birth (except for Denmark and Portugal);
The highest carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption per capita;
The lowest score on the World Economic Forum?s Environmental Performance ?Index (except for Belgium), and the largest Ecological Footprint per capita ?(except for Belgium and Denmark);
The highest rate of failing to ratify international agreements;

The lowest spending on international development and humanitarian ?assistance as a percentage of GDP;
The highest military spending as a portion of GDP;
The largest international arms sales;
The most negative balance of payments (except New Zealand, Spain and ?Portugal);
The lowest scores for student performance in math (except for Portugal and Italy) (and far down from the top in both science and reading);
The highest high school drop out rate (except for Spain);
This is exceptionalism we don?t need. Thankfully, America is also Number 1 or near the top in a number of positive indicators, including in the overall Human Development Index. But we are also far down the rankings, though not (yet) at the bottom, on others also not listed here. For example, the U.S. ranks only 13th on The Economist?s Democracy Index, right below the Czech Republic.

Since we?re Number 1 in both low taxes and military spending, it is clear where we can find the money we need to invest in our future.Many observers find these results troubling for what they portend for U.S. competitiveness in the world economy and our national influence abroad?our so-called ?soft power.? But the results are even more telling for what they say about our care for each other and for future generations of Americans and, even more, for what they say about our political leaders.These deplorable consequences did not just happen as the result of economic and technological forces over which we have no control. They are the results of conscious political decisions made over several decades by both Democrats and Republicans who have had priorities other than strengthening the well-being of American society and our environment. Many countries, notably in Europe, took a different path, one that was open to us also. America may have invented the middle class, but while others improved on our grand idea, we let it slip away.

It?s not too late to begin climbing out of the basement on these issues, but sweeping them under the rug in celebration of American exceptionalism won?t allow that. And since we?re Number 1 in both low taxes and military spending, it is clear where we can find the money we need to invest in our future.


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James Gustave Speth wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical solutions for a just and sustainable world. Gus is Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and Professor of Law at the Vermont Law School.

YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. Speth, J. G. (2011, March 10). We?re Number One!. Retrieved March 25, 2011, from YES! Magazine Web site: http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/on-american-superiority. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License


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[30ashopper]

Let's try to not elect politicians who like invading foreign countries. Both sides of the isle obviously need to work on this! We wouldn't spend 750 billion a year on our military if we aren't involved in war. I say lets adopt the old adage "the best offense is a strong defense" and stick to it.

 

[futurebeachbum]

Losing our way

I wouldn't generally call my views sympatico with those of Bob Herbert at the NYT but he posted his last column there today called "Losing our way" and I have to say that a lot of it reasonates with me.

So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home.

Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies. Optimism is in short supply. The few jobs now being created too often pay a pittance, not nearly enough to pry open the doors to a middle-class standard of living.

I don't disagree with any of that.

The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.

Nearly 14 million Americans are jobless and the outlook for many of them is grim.

It certainly doesn't seem to me that anyone in charge really cares about where the country is headed. Our leaders have the same mindset that Wall Street has forced businesses into. All that business leaders seem to care about is the current quarter. Someone else can fix the future, give us our bonuses now. We are seeing the government equivalent.

The column continues with some discussion about inequalities; companies like GE not paying taxes, etc...and ends with this summary containing the subtle message that our politicians are serving their owners instead of the rest of us. (The bold emphasis is mine.)

Overwhelming imbalances in wealth and income inevitably result in enormous imbalances of political power. So the corporations and the very wealthy continue to do well. The employment crisis never gets addressed. The wars never end. And nation-building never gets a foothold here at home.

New ideas and new leadership have seldom been more urgently needed.

That last line seems to sum up what we need to improve things around here.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I wouldn't generally call my views sympatico with those of Bob Herbert at the NYT but he posted his last column there today called "Losing our way" and I have to say that a lot of it reasonates with me.



I don't disagree with any of that.



It certainly doesn't seem to me that anyone in charge really cares about where the country is headed. Our leaders have the same mindset that Wall Street has forced businesses into. All that business leaders seem to care about is the current quarter. Someone else can fix the future, give us our bonuses now. We are seeing the government equivalent.

The column continues with some discussion about inequalities; companies like GE not paying taxes, etc...and ends with this summary containing the subtle message that our politicians are serving their owners instead of the rest of us. (The bold emphasis is mine.)



That last line seems to sum up what we need to improve things around here.

Very well put. I couldn't agree more. It is time that regular people started paying attention and insisting that our elected officials do something positive rather than pandering to the money folks, and attacking each other...and balancing the budgets on the backs of the working poor:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/opinion/25fri3.html?src=recg

Surely hard times should find public servants protecting the neediest first, not targeting them for crumbs from a program more vital to society than another tired round of antiwelfare politicking.

 

[idlewind]

While there is merit in what you say, people vote reality with their feet and there are still far more coming here than leaving. And people are not going to the places that are allegedly ahead of us.

A reversal of the policies of the last 100 years would restore the exceptional America we all want. We could start by renewing a pledge to follow the 1st President's admonition against involving ourselves in foreign wars.

 

[futurebeachbum]

While there is merit in what you say, people vote reality with their feet and there are still far more coming here than leaving. And people are not going to the places that are allegedly ahead of us.

A reversal of the policies of the last 100 years would restore the exceptional America we all want. We could start by renewing a pledge to follow the 1st President's admonition against involving ourselves in foreign wars.

George Washington was indeed a wise man. You'd think that seeing his face everyday on the dollar bill would keep our awareness of him a bit higher than it seems to be.

 

[Mango]

War and feeding on the greed of people so eventually their wealth is diminished are profitable businesses, hence the disparity in wealth and the loss of the middle class.

It's time people, and not just Americans, learn to become more enlightened, turn of the TV; people would be surprised just how much it influences how they think, and start thinking for themselves.

Not sure why anyone thinks that the President has any power whatsover. The ruling class and corporate America dictate what direction we take. It's all just smoke and mirrors.

It seems greed and wanton power are a prevailing force. I've never been a really religious person, but as I age and the curtain lifts more to reality, I am starting to wonder if prayer is the answer.

 

[GoodWitch58]

War and feeding on the greed of people so eventually their wealth is diminished are profitable businesses, hence the disparity in wealth and the loss of the middle class.

It's time people, and not just Americans, learn to become more enlightened, turn of the TV; people would be surprised just how much it influences how they think, and start thinking for themselves.

Not sure why anyone thinks that the President has any power whatsover. The ruling class and corporate America dictate what direction we take. It's all just smoke and mirrors.

It seems greed and wanton power are a prevailing force. I've never been a really religious person, but as I age and the curtain lifts more to reality, I am starting to wonder if prayer is the answer.

This is so true. It is a sad state of affairs that a medium that could be such an educational tool is used to fill our minds with mindless clutter.

I am so sick of all the celebrity stuff--does anyone really care about Charlie Sheen's antics...and the 24/7 cable stations that purport to offer "news" are a joke--but, the joke is on those of us who get caught up in it--and all of society is suffering because of our lack of critical thinking, or just thinking for ourselves...what is really sad is that too many don't even realize how brainwashed people have become.

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/civility-democracy/

Can We Talk? A Conversation about Civility and Democracy in America" is an interactive, interdisciplinary forum that will bring together the best and brightest from such fields as history, government, communications, and political philosophy. This renowned group will guide public discussion of the role of dissent and protest throughout American history, and the degree to which dissent can and should be civil. The conference is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities' Bridging Cultures program, which awarded grants in August 2010 for a series of national conversations on civility. At the close of the event, participants will present guidance on the tools, systems, and best practices that may contribute to productive social and political movements in the future.

and this is the kind of positive programming that some in Congress want to eliminate or limit access to...makes no sense.

 

[Bob Wells]

While there is merit in what you say, people vote reality with their feet and there are still far more coming here than leaving. And people are not going to the places that are allegedly ahead of us.

A reversal of the policies of the last 100 years would restore the exceptional America we all want. We could start by renewing a pledge to follow the 1st President's admonition against involving ourselves in foreign wars.

And yet without the French we might still be Colony. Who was the General that led us during that war?

 

[idlewind]

And yet without the French we might still be Colony. Who was the General that led us during that war?

It was in France's best interests to give the British trouble anywhere they could. We took advantage of their need and both parties got what they wanted. How does that equate with bombing and invading people, much less occupping nations for years, when we have no national interest? How does spending 100 million dollars to bomb Libyans help us at all?