Earlier this afternoon, I was watching the panel discussion on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace regarding New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's remark last week that America "was never that great." He was, of course, trying to draw a distinction between himself and Trump's 2016 campaign slogan that he would "Make America Great Again." Which brings to mind the question that serves as the title of this post: Was/Is America Great?
A 2016 poll by Vox found that 67% of Americans view their country as great, and that a further 20% believe that the nation used to be great (past tense). https://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11685342/is-america-great-poll We also know that a sense of greatness/exceptionalism has been prevalent throughout most of our history as a nation. Hence, we can safely conclude that Cuomo's remark is not supported by the vast majority of Americans who clearly believe (and have always believed) that their country is great.
Nevertheless, the Vox poll also reflects the fact that a substantial minority of the American public do not view their country as currently being great (20% said it used to be great and 7% said that it was never great). It is interesting to note that both Cuomo's remark and Trump's slogan are more in sink with these minority views than they are with the views held by the majority of Americans (Trump's slogan implies that greatness has been lost and needs to be restored).
Of course, statistically speaking, the United States remains the greatest nation on the face of the earth by a wide margin. We lead the world in GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
see https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022415/worlds-top-10-economies.asp We spend more on our military than any other nation on the face of the earth. see https://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0053_defense-comparison As a consequence, the U.S. is ranked first in military strength. see https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.asp
Now we come to what most folks would agree is the most subjective portion of our attempt to answer our question (Was/Is America Great?). I'm talking, of course, about the moral fiber of the nation. There are a number of ways we could attempt to measure this particular metric, among them religious devotion and attempting to gauge progress on moral questions.
According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who claim that religion is very important in their lives has averaged somewhere between 51% and 61% since 1992. see https://news.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx On the other hand, the percentage of the population which identifies itself as Protestant has declined from 69% in 1948 to 38% in 2017, while the percentage of the population that identifies as Catholic has ranged from 22% in 1948, 28% in 1974 and 21% in 2017. Likewise, the number of folks who say that they are an active member of a congregation or synagogue has declined over the years. Nevertheless, the number of Americans who profess a belief in God has remained high over the years (96% in 1944 compared to 87% in 2017).
Those who are familiar with the history of this nation are aware of the fact that Europeans displaced Native Americans, slaughtered and mistreated them in that process, imported the institution of slavery to this continent, forcibly removed people from Africa, transported them to this country and enslaved them, squandered natural resources and polluted the air, land and water.
At the same time, however, it must be remembered that folks like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison created what was arguably the freest and most sustainable republic on the planet. Moreover, by any objective standard, the United States has greatly increased the number of people who are eligible to participate in the political, economic and cultural life of the nation over the years since its founding. And, as the story of my own family suggests, there is ample evidence that the American people have endured many trials, tribulations and challenges through the years and have landed on their feet over and over again (I'm thinking about things like civil war, two world wars and numerous recessions and depressions). The link to my book: https://millerjonesaafb.blogspot.com/
Hence, I think that it is reasonable to conclude that America is great. Nevertheless, like many of my fellow Americans, I continue to believe that America has the ability and potential to be even greater than it currently is or has been in times past. Ironically, both Cuomo and Trump have attempted to appeal to this view in their own ways - albeit using "inartful" and divisive language.
What do you think? Is America great? Could we be better?
A 2016 poll by Vox found that 67% of Americans view their country as great, and that a further 20% believe that the nation used to be great (past tense). https://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11685342/is-america-great-poll We also know that a sense of greatness/exceptionalism has been prevalent throughout most of our history as a nation. Hence, we can safely conclude that Cuomo's remark is not supported by the vast majority of Americans who clearly believe (and have always believed) that their country is great.
Nevertheless, the Vox poll also reflects the fact that a substantial minority of the American public do not view their country as currently being great (20% said it used to be great and 7% said that it was never great). It is interesting to note that both Cuomo's remark and Trump's slogan are more in sink with these minority views than they are with the views held by the majority of Americans (Trump's slogan implies that greatness has been lost and needs to be restored).
Of course, statistically speaking, the United States remains the greatest nation on the face of the earth by a wide margin. We lead the world in GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
see https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022415/worlds-top-10-economies.asp We spend more on our military than any other nation on the face of the earth. see https://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0053_defense-comparison As a consequence, the U.S. is ranked first in military strength. see https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.asp
Now we come to what most folks would agree is the most subjective portion of our attempt to answer our question (Was/Is America Great?). I'm talking, of course, about the moral fiber of the nation. There are a number of ways we could attempt to measure this particular metric, among them religious devotion and attempting to gauge progress on moral questions.
According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who claim that religion is very important in their lives has averaged somewhere between 51% and 61% since 1992. see https://news.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx On the other hand, the percentage of the population which identifies itself as Protestant has declined from 69% in 1948 to 38% in 2017, while the percentage of the population that identifies as Catholic has ranged from 22% in 1948, 28% in 1974 and 21% in 2017. Likewise, the number of folks who say that they are an active member of a congregation or synagogue has declined over the years. Nevertheless, the number of Americans who profess a belief in God has remained high over the years (96% in 1944 compared to 87% in 2017).
Those who are familiar with the history of this nation are aware of the fact that Europeans displaced Native Americans, slaughtered and mistreated them in that process, imported the institution of slavery to this continent, forcibly removed people from Africa, transported them to this country and enslaved them, squandered natural resources and polluted the air, land and water.
At the same time, however, it must be remembered that folks like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison created what was arguably the freest and most sustainable republic on the planet. Moreover, by any objective standard, the United States has greatly increased the number of people who are eligible to participate in the political, economic and cultural life of the nation over the years since its founding. And, as the story of my own family suggests, there is ample evidence that the American people have endured many trials, tribulations and challenges through the years and have landed on their feet over and over again (I'm thinking about things like civil war, two world wars and numerous recessions and depressions). The link to my book: https://millerjonesaafb.blogspot.com/
Hence, I think that it is reasonable to conclude that America is great. Nevertheless, like many of my fellow Americans, I continue to believe that America has the ability and potential to be even greater than it currently is or has been in times past. Ironically, both Cuomo and Trump have attempted to appeal to this view in their own ways - albeit using "inartful" and divisive language.
What do you think? Is America great? Could we be better?
Terms like "great" are relative. Compared to China where there are 1040 million people with incomes under $4 per day (half of them under $2 a day), Yeah, the USA is doing well. But how about compared to even Costa Rica, rated the happiest nation on earth, or the several countries whose have a higher average standard of living, or the many countries whose "quality of life" is rated higher? Yeah, America is a big land mass with big guns, and many people in it have a lot of money. But many are impoverished --- materially, intellectually, and spiritually.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it matters if America is great. What matters is that her people are friendly, she reaches out to help many less fortunate nations, and she offers freedoms of speech, religion and mobility. She also creates a lot of conflict around the world and militarily bullies smaller nations, with an armed force that gives appearances of being protection services for multi-national corporations.
Good points. As always, thanks for taking the time to share them.
DeleteI agree with Miller Jones and Gordon Feil 100 percent.
ReplyDeleteEasy since "Great" is broadly defined.
Either America has never been great, or America is by many standards a great nation. The 1930's fundamentalists thought America was doomed because of evolution theory creeping into all aspects of society, still there are "the Rockettes", I love them and the rockets (to the moon).
I do take issue with the remark that Europeans finished the natives. The moment these people got their stamps at Ellis Island or Chicago these people were Americans. So please, Americans murdered the natives. No European policy planner said hey lets go to America to shoot some locals.
I love Michael Moore's documentary "who to invade next." All over the world he finds excellent examples of nations that implemented ideas far better than America ever was. At the end it becomes clear that all of the ideas implemented by other nations were actually ideas by American thinkers.
I love that. On many blogs I sting like michael moore and irritate most but in the end I usually only hold up mirrors like Moore does in this show and it seems to startle people. In this case people are so startled by what they see in the mirror that they voted "To make America great again." But it takes a true leader to take them from the easy road to the road that brings happiness for the majority.
nck