We're NOT number 1

The right tends to accuse us reality-based types of "hating America" just because we don't share their fantasies.

Tell 'em that the red states are leeches and the blue states produce wealth, and the rightists will scream bloody murder -- even though the numbers bear out the contention.

If you assert that people in "Old Europe" live longer than we do, are better educated and enjoy greater prosperity, the average conservative will put his hands over his ears and sing "God Bless America" at a volume loud enough to drown out your voice.

If you dare to mention that people in "post-Christian" nations such as France, Germany, England and Italy are more moral than are the folks in Texas and other hotbeds of Jesusmania, you will be met with incredulous stares. (I measure "more moral" by such yardsticks as crime statistics, divorce rates, teenage pregnancies, and so forth.)

Remember Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars? He recounts a telling anecdote. At one point, a Republican "expert" informed him that economic growth depends on low tax rates for the wealthy. Franken asked this person if she could cite the top rate during Eisenhower's administration, when this country was experiencing unprecedented prosperity. The GOP ideologue guessed that the top rate must have been something along the lines of 20 percent. In fact, the wealthiest taxpayers forked over 88 percent to Uncle Sam, unless they socked the money into an investment that would benefit the nation.

(JFK, the Democrat, lowered the top tax rate. I'm not sure he should have. History suggests that nations prosper when tax rates are progressive.)

Try telling a Republican that Forbes rated California the best place in America to locate a business -- when Gray Davis was governor. Nobody is saying that about my state now!

Most Republicans think that America is still the most prosperous nation on earth, when conservatives policies have kept our economy at a near-cadaverous level for four years. For an eye-opening look at just how far this nation has sunk, you should read this piece by Michael Ventura, a writer who used to be a regular feature of the L.A. Weekly. (I haven't seen his work in ages -- but he's definitely still running on all cylinders.)

Here's a generous sampling from Ventura's piece:

"Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).

Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).

Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.

The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less...

U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.

Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004)...

"Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

"Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).

"Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are European.... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American engineering and construction company is included among the world's top nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever, two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world. In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.68).

The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005)...

The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).

No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

One other thing -- Americans believe that our country is the most charitable on earth, in terms of foreign aid. Nonsense. If you cut Israel and Egypt out of the equation, Japan and most European countries give far more generously to needy peoples than we do. Pretty soon, we will be among those needy peoples. (Indeed, we already are, if you consider our reliance on foreign investment.)

The elections in Europe are much cleaner as well.