Americans consider themselves to be a special people. And, there are many things at which Americans still excel but unfortunately, in many of these categories, its citizens have little about which to be proud. At the end of World War II and during the late 40's, 50's and 60's, the United States was viewed as greatest nation on earth, but now it is a nation that is in a state of decline. Just consider a few of the embarrassing things that America leads the world in: obesity, crime, divorce, teen pregnancy, child abuse deaths and government debt.
If you are an American citizen, or cling to the idea of American Exceptionalism, or just like the USA, the statistics that you are about to read below are incredibly disturbing. Most people that write these kinds of articles about the decline of America hate the U.S. But, that is not the case with me. In my case, I am degusted with America, its current values, its priorities, its self-defeating pride, and most of all, the politicians who run it. The U.S. is a complete and total mess and just “tweaking” a few things here and there is not going to stem its rapid decline. Until Americans take a really good and honest look in the mirror and realize just how far they have fallen, the nation and its people cannot prevent the inevitable.
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With that being said, the following are items which prove that America is not the best nation in the world and the U.S. is in decline.
America has the highest incarceration rate and the largest total prison population in the world. Most of those in prison are minorities and are imprisoned for drug offenses. And, many prisons are not government operated but are owned by for-profit companies. These prison companies lobby and pay politicians and sometimes even judges (which is illegal) to sentence people to long prison sentences to maximize the corporations profits.
There are more car thefts in the United States than anywhere else in the world.
Of all the major industrialized nations, Americans is the most obese. The average American drinks more than 600 sodas a year, the most in the world, which contributes to the obesity problem. U.S. fast food companies sell more fast food and soda than anywhere else in the world by a wide margin which also contributes to the obesity problem. Nobody watches more television per week (28 hours) than Americans do. That, in turn, creates both lack of activity and lack of exercise, a major cause of obesity. When the First Lady, Michelle Obama, started a campaign to decrease obesity in school-age children, she was criticized by both the fast-food industry and by the Republican Party.
Americans take more prescription drugs than anyone else in the world. The cost of prescription medications in the U.S. is the highest in the world. As a result, many people, mostly the poor and the elderly, either do without medications or cut the prescribed dosage in half.
The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world. Also, more people have been diagnosed with mental disorders in America than anywhere else on earth. Finally, the United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire globe.
There is more credit card debt in America than anywhere else in the world. There is more mortgage debt and student loan debt in America than in any other nation in the world.
There are more guns than toilets in the U.S. As a result, there is more gun violence in the U.S. than in any other nation not at war in the world. And, there are more school shootings in America than anywhere else in the world.
The United States spends more money on government schools than any other nation on earth does. Yet, education in America is appallingly bad. International surveys indicate that the U.S. population as a whole ranks 24th in literacy. International education surveys continue to indicate a downward trend in education standings. The U.S. ranked 26th in math trailing behind South Korea, Portugal, Slovakia and Russia. And, American high school students dropped to 21st in science (from 17th in 2009) and slipped to 17th in reading (from 14th in 2009), according to the results.
U.S. education is filled with propaganda. For instance, history textbooks never say that Native-Americans were victims of a genocide. Nor do they say that U.S. imperialism was the real cause of the land-grab called the Mexican-American War. And, they do not say that the U.S. has a history of ridicule, stereotyping, racism and prejudice against minorities which in many parts of America is still ongoing concerning Africans, African-American, Native-Americans, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Italians, Hispanics, Canadians, Mexicans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Irish, the French, etc. Finally, they do not say that starting with World War II, the U.S. has been involved in more wars and invasions, often under false pretexts, than any other nation in the world.
The state of Texas outlawed classroom instruction which fosters student thinking because it might conflict with the state education mandate views or parental views on controversial subjects.
One political party in the U.S. (the Republican Party) wants to privatize and/or is willing to de-secularize public education in America. This is the same party that generally is at war with science, does not believe in climate change, has no problem with air pollution, does not believe in evolution, does not believe in equal rights, and has no problem with paying women less than men for the same work.
According to nationmaster.com, the United States has the more reported crimes by far than any other nation not at war in the world.
The United States spends much more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other nation on the face of the earth.
The United States spends more on the military than the next 12 nations combined and it exports more arms to other countries than anyone else in the world. The U. S. also is the only nation that still has aircraft carriers.
The U.S. has the most foreign military bases in the world. They are in places like Germany (56 bases and facilities), Italy (113 bases and facilities), Japan (84 bases and facilities), South Korea (43 bases and facilities), and in Israel, Kuwait, Bulgaria, and Afghanistan. In addition, the U.S. Navy and Air Force have bases and facilities all over the world too.
Americans waste more time sitting in traffic than anyone else on Earth. In large measure, that is because of an inadequate public transportation system, an over-reliance on cars and a crumbling infra-structure system.
Americans spend more money on elections than anyone else does in the world by a very wide margin. It is often said that American politicians are the best that money can buy.
The United States has accumulated the biggest government debt in the history of the world.
American pride themselves on the concept of separation of church and state. But, there is no separation. In God We Trust is the motto of the U.S. and the statement appears on American money. The U.S. Congress begins each session begins each session with clergy reciting a prayer. The Congress also has "prayer breakfasts". The U.S. President is sworn in with his hand on a Bible. Finally,Catholic bishops and priests, Fundamentalist preacher, and other clergy often meddle in election and/or instruct people how to vote (mostly Republican) in U.S. churches.
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On the day that Barack Obama was swore in a President, there was a meeting of major Republican Party leaders. At that meeting, it was decided that Republicans would do nothing to co-operate with the new President and to oppose everything that Obama might proposed. In attendance was Mitch "the bitch" McConnell, a senator from Kentucky with ties to the tobacco, gun and polluting coal industries. McConnell was also the minority leader of the Senate.
The Republicans were swept into office in the U.S. Congress in the off-year election in 2010 because of Congressional gerrymandering, but in fact, the Democrats got more votes. (A major flaw in the system.) In 2013, The Congressional Republicans had a hissy-fit over a government funding resolution and took it out on the American people by shutting down the government. (Another major flaw in the system.) During the shutdown, approximately 800,000 federal employees were indefinitely furloughed, and another 1.3 million were required to report to work without known payment dates; however , members of Congress still got paid. (Another flaw.) The shutdown lasted 16 days.
In 2014, in spite of the fact that the U.S. economy had improved, the stock market was up, unemployment was down, gasoline prices were down, home sales were up, etc., the off-year elections had the lowest voter turnout since the middle of World War II in1942.The result was that the Republicans took control of the Senate and increased their majority the Congress. And, McConnell became the Senate Majority leader. But, the ultimate slap in the face is that a Rasmussen survey indicated that 44% to 41%, Americans trusted party of the government-shutdown more than the Democrats who opposed it- once again proving that the American voter is ill-informed and do not vote with the nation's interest in mind and that the U.S, is a nation in decline
Britain's Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton; 1834- 1902) was right when he said, Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
What other civilized nation has ever shut down the country and penalized the people they took an oath to serve in order to teach the opposing party a lesson? Possible conclusion: The U.S. is uncivilized.