America is not number 1

Numbers are up to date as of June 7, 2012 when this was posted ..
[Disclaimer: These words herein are mine and shall only be attributed to me. I am a liberal, a progressive, and a democratic socialist ...yet I do not speak for anyone else other than myself so I ask that my words not be attributed to anyone but me.




While when I say that we are not number 1 based on my views I generally get the usual, you hate America, you should move elsewhere… which makes me think one of my favorite H. L. Mencken quotes

"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who loves his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair."--- H.L. Mencken

This stamp came from my seeing two people arguing that their countries are number one and anyone who disagrees were stupid. So they were arguing in circles, and since I am an America, this country is great, but I am of the view no nation is number 1, but if you do believe that, then there are certainly things within our country that should be addressed if you believe that view.


I personally fail to see how saying your country is not number 1 shows a hatred for it, … and the notion that if you love a country, as I do that you should leave it rather than try to change it has been challenged here:
This is America, love it...or change it
atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”
Charles Darwin

America is a great country, I will never deny that, it has been through a lot in its short 230+ year history, but the idea that we are the “greatest” country in the world… makes me take reservation with such… or rather makes me question the validity of the people saying this.

Would the greatest country in the world have 150,000 people dying each and every year because of a lack of medical coverage?

… up 300% from the early 90s study of 45K Americans dying each year. This is bothersome because as the nation’s population has grown only 34% in this time you would expect a 34-40% increase in deaths to go with the population increase, but instead you have seen a 300% increase in deaths due to a lack of medical coverage.
monthlyreview.org/2003/09/01/t…
www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/4115…
www.pnhp.org/excessdeaths/heal…

now, some states are better at it than others and for that I do commend them
www.americashealthrankings.org…

Yet as a nation, we have 50.7 million Americans as of the 2010 census that have no health insurance at all…
That is 1/6 of our nation that is without health care…
To the optimist they will say, but.. it is great that 5/6 of our country has health insurance!!!

… but to me, the pragmatic realist, that is little comfort to the 50 million people without health insurance… it is little comfort to the sick to say those people have insurance and you do not; just as it is little comfort to the starving to point to someone with food.

To harp or rather step on the last sentence of the previous sentence, this week America learned some horrifying news, that America is now second in Child poverty rates, following only Romania, in developed countries… is this a mere blemish on our greatness that in such a rich nation we are second of all developed countries in child poverty rates? I say to you it is more than a mere blemish it is a great disgrace of the ages, because in our modern politics, any ounce of help has been marked as collectivist communism!!!
voices.yahoo.com/unicef-us-has… www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/in… www.upi.com/Top_News/World-New… www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05… www.communitychange.org/page/s…

With 50 million Americans currently living below the poverty rates, can we truly claim greatness, as previously stated, to the optimist they will harp on 5/6 not being in poverty, but that is little comfort to those in poverty.

www.census.gov/newsroom/releas… thinkprogress.org/economy/2011… www.nationofchange.org/50-mill… www.marketplace.org/topics/wea…

come on, surely we can do better than this, when did apathy become a governing strategy? When did compromise become an impossible position in our nation’s politics? When did the distasteful thing of greed become something to be modeled after?

… now on to how we treat our veterans.
As someone who comes from a large military family I feel it would be a disservice if I did not discuss this.

We also learned from Army Times a military newspaper
www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04…

That 18 soldiers commit suicide each and every day, what we also found out from DOD papers is that it can take months from when a soldier requests mental help, to when they actually do it. Really? They make that bold step to admit they need help… and you tell them that they must wait for months and this, is the nation I am supposed to grant greatness to the title of best in the world?

Like poverty, and the uninsured, and more importantly like soldiers.. to have people who have fought for this country now dying in greater numbers by their own hands than on the battlefield is a disgrace.

We can surely do better than this but as with all things… they have become so partisan that things that used to be a quick five minute SURE yes vote … now takes hours, days and weeks and then gets filibustered and generally does not pass because of that dumb fuck 60 vote rule which was not the intention of the filibuster to be used on every single bill. FOR THE RECORD: I am not speaking of just Republicans, it seems whichever party is in the minority calls it because they know they do not have a majority so trying to raise the bar from 51… to 60 makes it that much more harder… and the people wait…and wait… and wait hoping that their representatives represent their interest when in reality, with few exceptions on both sides, they are beholden to special interest groups who can give the most money…

.. now to hop onto my next subject of issue..
Prisons, .. America now houses more of its citizens than any country on earth, America spends more on its prisons than it does on its schools.

In California we learned that they spend nearly 50K per year per inmate … vs just around 9000 on each student in the public school system. … nationally America spends around 40K per inmate, and around 10K per year, per student [which is gathered when you look at the census of kids of school ages, then add federal and state spending on education and divided by kids of school ages…]

This is a great tragedy that what we spend on four Public school students per year… is equal to what we spend on ONE inmate on average per year [sadly and before anyone says my state spends this, this is an average, it takes what all states spend and then averages it out, so yes, the average will be higher than some smaller states]

We can reform our drug laws to decriminalize certain drugs, though I am for legalization of marijuana and decriminalization of all other drugs. Because as discussed in several pieces in my gallery, decriminalization, rather than sending someone to prison where they will more than likely still have access to their drug of choice it sends them to a drug treatment center which many studies have shown it costs less and has a higher success rate than prison..

But on the prison front, we should implement as many states have GED programs, trade classes etc because also many states have shown us that when you have these programs the recidivism rate goes down greatly. Many studies have shown us that if you get your GED in prison you are a lot less likely to return, if you pick up a trade in prison through a job program you almost never return to prison … and yet these programs are being cut why?

Not because they do not work, but because they claim it is not in the budget which experts says that is a lie because if these programs cut down recidivism rates, then they are in actuality saving you money… but the real reason is prison owners, … if you have less people coming to prison that is less money in their pockets which is why you have them donating millions of dollars to both sides of the isle to keep certain things illegal or to make penalties a bit stiffer.

Now I will discuss gay rights,
Would the greatest country in the world allow the rights of minority to be placed under the oppression of a majority vote? We tried this before… it failed. What if we allowed the rights of blacks to be voted on state by state… I would guess that half of the states would have not allowed desegregation, would not have allowed interracial marriage .. and gay rights are civil rights .


Finally I will discuss education,
When America invested heavily in education, as far as per student and overall, you saw lower cases of poverty, you saw less people on governmental programs, you saw the American job market booming, you saw a strong middle class,… as we cut education more and more you see rises in poverty, you see more people dependent on government programs, you see the jobs being shipped at faster rates overseas because of the cheap labor and inability of our force to do the jobs..

I am sure I will get the but we spend more on education which for the unenlightened person will go yeah but yea… um, OF COURSE we spend more on education than we did 20 years ago, there are about 20 million new students going to school so of course you will see an increase in spending.

Charter schools: While many are proponents of charter schools I am not.
Why are charter schools so good? BECAUSE they are doing what experts have been telling public schools to do for decades:
Small Class sizes, a wider array of subjects..

But whenever we., people ask state/federal funds to renovate every school to try and allow for smaller class sizes .. it has to be put up to a congressional vote and with politics since the 80s being so stagnated and partisan nothing gets done.

I personally am of the view that no nation is number 1, because we will have to look at individual things to see which nation does this or that better. Yet if a nation wishes to call it else the number 1 nation in the world, yet lacks or falls behind many nations on the social and economic front of its people then I am unsure how a nation can earnestly state such. Every nation or all people within nations like to say MY COUNTRY IS THE GREATEST, okay but by what measure of greatness are they measuring by? I say again, America is a great country, no one, or rather I do not discount that and its ability or the possibility at which it can be better - but I am just not one of the view of AMERICA NUMBER ONE!!!! .. because there are great social and economic issues at which this country must address before I ascribe it to that, but others, as with all things will have their view.

Everyone will have their view on this, that is fine by me. It is no skin off my back if someone wants to go around running WE'RE NUMBER ONE!!!!!! NUMBER ONE!!! Have at it, I am just asking how can we address things within our society, at which we have the ability to change but seemingly, either because our politicians do not want to, or the people have not been risen to care enough about this or that subject to try and change it. That is what I focus on to be honest, I have been around this beautiful world a number of times, so I just focus on what is ailing a society, and how best can we fix it and address that issue without the constant what I call "International dick swinging contests".

So, in closing, America has the ability to be the greatest country in the world if that is one's aim., I believe we do have the ability to address the issues within our society, and the means to do so but until we set aside the partisan bickering, the special interest, the secret political donations etc… then we will only go down a further and further road of what we have now…


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Random Quotes writing this made me think of:
"It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich."
-Thomas Paine

“'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
-Thomas Paine

“I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
-Thomas Paine

"If you want to make enemies, try to change something."
-Woodrow Wilson

"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Our American values are not luxuries but necessities—not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself. Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad—greater than the bounty of our material blessings."
-Jimmy Carter

"Recognizing and confronting our history is important. Transcending our history is essential. We are not limited by what we have done, or what we have left undone. We are limited only by what we are willing to do."
-George W. Bush

"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.
-James Garfield

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
-Abraham Lincoln

"One man with courage is a majority."
-Thomas Jefferson

"Above all, tell the truth."
-Grover Cleveland

"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense."
-Thomas Paine
[My favorite founding father and one of the most underappreciated founders]

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Credits and Additions:
Songs listened to while typing
Check out my hippie playlist atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…

Collection of Artists: We are the world: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzDCBg…

Yusuf Islam: Peace Train: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlHOV5…
^^one of my favorite songs… probably listen to it too much…

Bernice Johnson Reagon: Ella’s song: www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com/ number 7 on the playlist
Tracy Chapman: Talking about a revolution: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rZbvi…
Nina Simone: I wish I knew how it would feel to be free: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TarrS…

Lyle Lovett : If I had a boat: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtHYzc…
^^Don’t ask me why this song, since I saw “The Interpreter” and Sean Penn kept playing it this song stays stuck in my head now..

While I am an atheist, this is my favorite “Christmas” song:
Stevie Wonder: Someday at Christmas: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ1-du…


Other pieces to check out:
Anti-American Me: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Not fiscally conservative, fiscally pragmatic atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Leftist Pragmatism vs. Rightist Idealism atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
My political ideologies: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Liberals and gun ownership: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Why socialism? atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Pure socialism vs democratic socialism atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…


Gay Rights:
Gay rights in America I: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Gay rights in America II: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Debate with an “ex gay” Christian convert: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Gay is the New Black. my opinion: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…

Influence map: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
An atheist on theism & atheism: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Declaration of truth: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
What it means to be an atheist: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Atheist leftist answers your questions...:
atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
An atheist debates an atheist on theism: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…

Abortion pieces:
[main piece] Abortion: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Abortion stamp 1: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…
Abortion stamp 2: atheosemanon.deviantart.com/ar…

Check my gallery for other pieces.

As always comrades,
Let knowledge be that truth, which portrays humanity, condemns malevolence; that respects the differences in others while abandoning the hatred and misconceptions of the past.
-Emanon