America-We're Number One?

[kpete]

:large

[mymomwasright]

1. Murka' or Murica!

have to spell it right, see? Then it definitely matches with numbers!

[ruffburr]

2. Ain't it the Truth

#1 in corrupt politicians #1 in corporate collusion #1 in vote rigging and gerrymandering #1 in mass murder by shootings #1 in corrupt judicial system. America is #1 alright, in all the wrong ways

[EX500rider]

18. I doubt any of those things are true..

Most corrupt countries:
Somalia
North Korea
Sudan
Afghanistan
(the US is in the top 20 least corrupt)
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/12/02/367815515/which-countries-are-the-most-corrupt

Corporate collusion? Not sure if that is even measured...

#1 in vote rigging......not even close.
A recently published study by scholars who compare the functioning of democracies around the world found that the United States ranks 26th out of 66 democracies studied in the integrity of its election processes.
https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2014/11/study-ranks-united-states-26th-world-integrity-its-elections

#1 in mass murder by shootings Again, not even close...the US homicide rate is around 4.7 per 100,000 while some countries are over 70.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

#1 in corrupt judicial system Not travel much I guess? Again the US is nowhere near the top countries in corruption:
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/the-23-most-corrupt-countries-in-the-world/

[maxsolomon]

20. EX500Rider does a good job of refuting you

But I just don't know why Americans think we have "corrupt" politicians. It's like that survey that asked Americans what they fear, and the #1 response was "Government Corruption". In a country with more guns than people, and filled with angry yahoos, THAT'S what you're afraid of?

By and large, this is one of the most honest countries on the planet. Direct bribery is how stuff gets done in a lot of other places.

That our politicians are beholden to business interests is not "corruption" per se. Its par for the course, and there's an ethical line that's not to be crossed.

And, in contrast to the rest of the planet again, we actually send our politicians to jail for it. Not every one, but some from both parties.

[Gothmog]

3. Great meme

[dmosh42]

4. Number 1 in religious wackos & people who talked with God! Amazing!

[yeoman6987]

5. Reagan again? He's been out of office 35 years!

Everyone must think he was a successful president if his policies still survived almost 16 years of democratic presidencies. I guess everyone loved reagans policies since they apparently were kept. Is everyone saying Reagan was the most successful president of modern times? Sure sound like some are.

[Kingofalldems]

8. Big Reagan fan I see.

What policies are still around? Selling arms to terrorists? Leaving U S Marines as sitting ducks in Lebanon? Tell me what policies?

[Scuba]

9. Trickle down.

[deutsey]

12. The so-called Reagan "Revolution" (which was actually a Reaction)

set into motion the "government is bad/bidness is good" mentality that has become a form of fanaticism in this country.

He also set into motion the economic shift toward redistributing the nation's wealth among the elites. His "morning again/riding tall" propaganda made feeling good and patriotic more important than engaged citizenship.

Announcing his candidacy in Philadelphia, MS (where the Klan murdered three civil rights workers) advanced Nixon's "Southern strategy."

His laissez faire approach to governing led to the Iran-Contra scandal and undermined constitutional checks and balances.

I could go on, but I grow tired of regurgitating all this. Suffice it to say, his election in 1980 marked the beginning of an incredibly successful right-wing reaction in this country that has only grown and deepened in the ensuing decades.

Democratic and Republican administrations ever since Reagan have either maintained essential aspects of this agenda (i.e., economic and military) or expanded it and ramrodded it forward.

[hifiguy]

21. Neither "Democratic" president ever tried

to reverse or even substantially modify the essentials of trickle-down economics. That wildly disproven theory is the accepted and eternal gospel in both institutional parties.

That would require truly progressive taxation, which existed through the Carter administration and to which both Clinton and Obama have responded like Dracula to a wreath of garlic and a keg of holy water.

Reagan/Thatcher economics continue to rule. And that is as obvious as a bear in a phone booth to anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention.

[winter is coming]

6. I'm surprised our infrastructure number isn't lower. n/t

[marmar]

7. America is like an aging movie star......

...... clinging to its former glory even though it hasn't had a hit in years.

[KG]

10. succinct

[deutsey]

11. We're the Nora Desmond of Empires

And, no, I don't mean the classic, creepy Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard:



I'm talking about Carol Burnett's farcical Nora Desmond:

[Oneironaut]

13. Yup. I don't want to hear about how good it used to be.

I wanna hear how we're going to fix the problems we have right now. Also, I don't care whose fault those problems are. I just want someone who can fix them.

[olddots]

14. The people who came here and stole this land are at a crossroads

the defeatists who go along with the status quo can destroy the world prematurely and die with their shiny bullshit while the idealists have a chance at saving it .

[Ron Obvious]

15. Darn, not even the global peacefulness index?

All those "No. ###" items have a nice rhythm to them, as I read them as "NO!"

Overall Education? NO!
Work-Life Balance? NO!

[Cyrano]

16. And the Republican propaganda goes on

Just imagine if the GOP controlled all three branches of government.

We'd rate somewhere below Uganda under Idi Amin and Libya under Quadafi. Our educational system today is probably just a bit better than the Saudi Arabian Wahhabi schools that export most of the hate and ignorance in the Middle East.

Nothing will improve in America until we rid ourselves of what is today's Republican Party. An opposition party is necessary, but today's GOP is not it. They are nihilists. We need a party that has a sane agenda and represents a rational opposition view.

In short, the sane people in this country have put up with right-wing bullshit for far too long. They need to be stopped. But as long as they control the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court, we are fucked. And it will take a decade or more to fix this (if at all).

[clarice]

17. They forgot one.....

I wonder where we rank in numbers of people coming here from their own backwards Countries?

[maxsolomon]

19. #1 in Defense Spending per Capita

So we can point to that, at least.

Happy Armistice Day!