Take a walk with me if you dare. This walk has to do with where we stand as the supposed leading democracy, the leading nation of immigrants, the leading nation in education; the strongest military power in the world; the moral leader among nations; a nation so strong that our president is known as the “leader of the free world, while we are known as “a shining light upon a hill.” One comprehensive survey has been done using a model to score and rank countries developed by BAV Group and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, specifically Professor David J. Reibstein, in consultation with U.S. News & World Report.
A set of 65
country attributes – terms that can be used to describe a country and that are
also relevant to the success of a modern nation – were identified. Attributes
by nation were presented in a survey of more than 20,000 people from across the
globe. Participants assessed how closely they associated an attribute with a
nation.
Each country
was scored on each of the 65 country
attributes based
on a collection of individual survey responses. The more a country was
perceived to exemplify a certain characteristic in relation to the average, the
higher that country's attribute score and vice versa. These scores were
normalized to account for outliers and transformed into a scale that could be
compared across the board.
Attributes
were grouped into nine sub-rankings that rolled into the Best Countries
ranking: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship,
Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life. Sub-ranking scores for each country were
determined by averaging the scores that country received in each of the
attributes comprising that sub-ranking.
A total of
20,548 individuals from 36 countries in four regions - the Americas, Asia,
Europe and the Middle East and Africa - were surveyed. Of the respondents,
11,591 were informed elites, 6,081 were business decision-makers and 6,927 were
considered general public. Some respondents were considered both informed
elites and business decision-makers.
And here are a few results about the USA that may (or may not) surprise you:n the overall list of top countries, the USA came in at #7
· the largest economy in the world is
also considered the (#1) most powerful (“consistently dominate news
headlines, preoccupy policymakers and shape global economic patterns”.
Their foreign policies are tracked and military budgets are huge). It ranks No.
3 in entrepreneurship and No. 4 in its cultural influence (synonymous with fine food,
fashion and easy living – notable as trendsetters)
· in both quality of life and citizenship (“being a good global citizen – leading the
world by example – is often the ingredient that turns a respected country into
a lauded one. Countries that care about human rights, gender equality
and religious freedom are the nations held up by academics, advocates and
others as examples worth imitating”); the US ranks #15
· in heritage (“remnants of a nation’s
historical struggles and accomplishments can become almost synonymous with the
country’s name, defining the nation’s values and appeal to others around the
world”) and “movers”
(up & coming economies; creativity and flexibility)-- we rank
18th and 26th; but it gets worse:
·
in
‘Adventure’
and “Open for business”
(growth rate: a world in transition
carries risks and unpredictability. “The nations that differentiate themselves
are those that have the resiliency and momentum to overcome the challenges”)—we
rank 33 and 45, respectively.
Let me be
clear that I do not
believe that one survey is sufficient to show all that must be considered in
determining rankings for countries of the world in competition with each
other. This one is not alone in its
assessment of this nation. In another
world-wide survey, titled “Child
Well-Being In Rich Countries” by the United Nations’ UNICEF Program,
out of 144 countries, the top-rated countries for child well-being, overall, in
order, are: (1) Netherlands; (2) Norway; (3) Iceland; (4) Finland; (5) Sweden);
(6) Germany; (7) Luxembourg; (8) Switzerland; (9) Belgium; and (10) Ireland. The USA rates 26th overall,
which includes #26 for “Material Well-Being”; #28 for “Child Poverty Rates”;
#25 for “Health and Safety”; #26 for “Infant Mortality Rates”; #26 for “Low
Birthweight”; #22 for “Immunization Rates”; #27 for “Educational Well-Being”;
#27 for “Preschool Enrollment Rates”; #25 for “Participation in Further
Education.”
A much
broader ranking-system, from the World Economic Forum, is “The Global Competitiveness Report ” which ranks 144 countries, on a wide
range of factors related to global economic competitiveness.
The U.S.
ranked as #1 on only 4 out of the 117 different factors that are rated, and
each of these 4 factors reflects merely the sheer size, the hugeness, of
the U.S. economy. These four factors might thus collectively be identified as
the Hugeness components: “GDP,” “GDP as a Share of World GDP,” “Available
Airline Seat Kilometers,” and “Domestic Market Size Index.” Other than
Hugeness, the results for the U.S. are not at all outstanding. Health Care shows the U.S. ranking as #34
on “Life Expectancy,” and as #41 on “Infant Mortality.” On “Quality of
Primary Education,” we are #38. On “Primary Education Enrollment Rate,” we are
#58. On “Quality of the Educational System,” we are #28. On “Quality of Math
and Science Education,” we are #47.
Another
world-wide report on health and healthcare has the USA in a similar position: Thirty-five
countries, including the United States, comprise the “Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development” (OECD). Their mission is to promote economic
development and social well-being of people worldwide. United States ranks
26th among OECD countries with an average life expectancy of 79 years
(Figure 14). Japan leads the world in life expectancy at 84 years.
The United
States ranks 29th in infant mortality among the 35 OECD countries—only
six countries have higher rates. In 14 countries—including the Nordic countries
of northern Europe, Japan, and Slovenia—the infant mortality rate is half the
US rate.
We are
now landing at our Second Stop: how do others see us? The Pew Research Center has been tracking international opinion of the US over
a number of years. Its 2016 poll gives a clear insight into how
people around the world, from Germany to Japan, felt about America as Barack
Obama’s presidency came to an end.
Pew asked
people in 16 nations a range of questions to gauge the current level of
popularity. Among people surveyed in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and North
America, the overall image of the United States remained positive. While the
Iraq War in 2003-11 proved deeply unpopular, US-led action against ISIS has
been met with widespread approval. U.S.
image, in part, is linked to impressions of the American people. In general, Americans
are perceived as optimistic and hardworking, although those outside of the
U.S. are divided as to whether Americans can be described as tolerant. When
looking at negative characteristics, many people around the globe associate
Americans with arrogance, greed, and violence.
Majorities
in 13 out of 15 countries surveyed had positive views of the United
States in early 2016. In many of these countries, notably France, Poland,
Spain, the UK and Japan, favorable views of the U.S. have endured since 2009,
when President Barack Obama first took office. America got its highest ratings
from Poles (74%), Italians (72%), Japanese (72%) and Swedes (69%). A few more outcomes, include:
§ In some countries, U.S. gets higher
marks among young people;
§ In seven of the 12 countries where
ideology was measured, people on the right were more in tune with America than people
on the left.
§ Many people in America and abroad
believed the U.S. government respects the personal freedoms of its citizens. In
11 of the 16 countries polled, more than half held this view
§ Europe split on U.S. government’s
respect for personal freedoms
§ Majorities in Greece, Australia, UK
and Spain said Americans were arrogant, greedy and violent
How about
international opinions of us closer to the present?
§ As has been the case throughout his
presidency, U.S. President Donald Trump receives largely negative reviews from
publics around the world. Across 32 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center,
a median of 64% say they do not have confidence in Trump to do the right
thing in world affairs, while just 29% express confidence in the American
leader.
§ Anti-Trump sentiments are especially
common in Western Europe: Roughly three-in-four or more lack confidence in
Trump in Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. He also gets
especially poor reviews in Mexico, where 89% do not have confidence in him.
§ In nearly all nations where trends
are available, Trump receives lower ratings than his predecessor, Barack
Obama. As reported by the Center in 2017, international confidence in the
U.S. president plummeted after Trump’s inauguration, while favorable ratings
for the United States also declined.
§ A median of 68% across the nations
polled say they disapprove of the U.S. increasing tariffs on imported goods; a
median of 66% oppose the Trump administration’s withdrawal from international
climate agreements; and 60% disapprove of Trump’s proposal to build a wall on
the border with Mexico.
§ Trump is generally more popular among
people on the political right. In 18 nations, those who place themselves on the
right side of the ideological spectrum express more confidence in the U.S.
president. A significant gap between right and left exists in 12 of the 14
European Union nations polled. Yet even among respondents on the right,
confidence in Trump rises to 50% or higher in only six nations.
And
now our final step on this journey: how have we come to regard ourselves? or perhaps more to the
point: what have we decided to accept as
being our heritage, our gifts, our leading contributions to our nation and to
our world? We seem to have accepted the following through negligence, apostasy/hypocrisy,
and other negative behaviors:
1. it is okay for our leaders to lie to
us as often as they like; “trust” is no longer something we can count on; so we exchange the
tenet “I cannot tell a Lie” associated with our first president, to “I’ll keep
lying to you because I can do anything and get away with it” and indeed Trump
has done so because the people and politicians have accepted his behavior
2. it is acceptable for foreign
adversaries (like Russia or China) to interfere in our elections, and to
otherwise steal our advances in technology; there are no dire consequences
3. it is acceptable to allow children to
starve, languish, go
homeless, live in poverty so that people of means can become richer;
4. it is apparently OK for the president
to use children of asylum-seekers to discourage “illegals” from crossing our
borders, even if the
human rights of the parents and their separated children were decimated by
cruel and inhumane treatment, including permanent separation in some cases
5. it is okay with us if children are killed by mass shooters in schools as long as gun owners and manufacturers don’t have to conform to rules that could all but end such violence; we are willing to exchange children’s lives for a culture of gun violence
v Many have come to accept that Black Lives Matter but too many are equally accepting of the brutal treatment and shooting of innocent men because of their skin color. Placing police on the streets with inadequate training, racial biases and militaristic attitudes toward people of color is not in anyone's best interests
I 6. it is all right with us that children are neglected and have no healthcare insurance; are experiencing increased bouts with asthma; face a planet that is crumbling as long as fossil fuel companies and other polluters are able to make a profit and build a flourishing stock market for themselves;
7. its ok with us if children’s programs
for education, health, and well-being are cut out of the federal budget,
including Head Start and School lunch programs and schools of excellence; after
all, it’s the responsibility of their parents; not us
8. it is acceptable to deny first
amendment rights as
long as an authoritarian president and/or his henchmen are not criticized or
protested; stopping book publishing, defense of private takeover of public
education by for-profits entities; establishment of doctrines and practices of
certain religious sects instead of standing up for separation of church &
state as in defunding of Planned Parenthood, and religious exemption of not
having to obey the law (ACA) on the subject of contraceptives; or, enshrining
religious doctrine about abortion in our laws; freedom of religion attacked by
closing mosques and preventing immigration from Muslim countries
9. it is now even acceptable to watch
a president act as though there are no constraints upon his will and
desires: he can even close or slow down postal service in order to benefit his
own re-election chances, and Congress seems unable to act; the people stand by
and act as though they will still get their votes counted (good luck with
that!)
10. speaking of elections, it is
acceptable in many states to curtail the vote of targeted groups in order
to win elections through unnecessary and unreasonable registration requirements;
gerrymandering districts; purging of records; changing polling places; not
having enough voting machines or poll workers, but most of all, as we now know,
by cutting the staff and budgets of postal services, and slowing those services
to a crawl with certain “ rules” that
direct how to not be efficient in delivery
i11It is our willingness to abandon moral truths and behaviors for might, power, and national white supremacy that precludes us from acting to counter such new normalcy.
We evidently
don’t know what to do, so we do nothing.
The Senate Republicans capitulate; the Supreme Court puts up a good
front but then falls short when ultra conservative principles are at stake;
principles that often do not appear in our Constitution.
It is
evident from this short walk that we are in trouble because we are accepting of
lingering racism, sexism, political hackery and unfitness for holding
government office. We have accepted the
fantasies and restrictive concepts of “laissez-faire” capitalism with its “individual
responsibility” meme, lifting oneself by
“one’s own bootstraps” or “to be left alone by government” (unless, of course,
government has something to offer). To buy
into the concept that government must support a
”free market” with very few regulations and restrictions plays right into
the hands of the very proponents who spread these falsehoods because they are
the very ones who profit from its implementation. The proponents of this “national
socialism” otherwise known as “crony capitalism” are making sure that CEOs are
unhampered by rules and regulations no matter who that hurts among ordinary
folk.
In
conclusion then, I have to say that the great experiment is near to becoming
the great failure based on a past we have not shed, a history we cannot change
and a present debacle for which we have simply settled, as I bewailed in a
posting called “So What?” (also: read “Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson for a deeper
look).
We are being
bamboozled and de-constructed at every turn.
Our values, ideals, freedoms, rights, and government responsible to the
People are fading from this earth faster than you can say: “we must not re-elect
Donald Trump.”
Think again
– he got in through the flawed Electoral College and then we have allowed him
to do what he wants to do; we have accepted his faulty rhetoric and his false
assumptions and presumptions. We have
allowed him to capture each branch of our government without a peep except an
unsuccessful and unimaginative attempt to oust him from office following the
impeachment process.
What is
needed are fundamental changes. I
suggest consideration of four for starters:
1) Impeachment and censure are not
adequate. We must initiate a process of “recall
election” based upon malfeasance of administration and harm to citizens
2) We must have an election system that
is untouchable by politicians of any persuasion or discriminatory attitude, and
by foreign mischief-makers. We must pass
laws severely penalizing any state or governmental entity that attempts to put
any restrictions at all on the right to vote freely, and to have that vote
counted correctly. The first such law should
simply be the reforms of H.R.#1. The
second should be in the form of sanctions against Russia. That is a beginning.
3) we must have qualifications and
requirements as well as duties listed for every elective office and candidates
must meet them or be disqualified
4) Citizens United decision must be
overturned.
We are
facing the end of what we thought we had in this country: a unique
representative democracy dedicated to the proposition that all people are
created equal and have certain
inalienable rights (and responsibilities) that government by, of and for
the people must insure and protect. That is why we must elect Biden-Harris as
the team at the top to lead us to a re-invigorated and better nation. The soul of America is at stake and time is
running out!
====================*****====================
SOME of the THE WORST ACTIONS BY
TRUMP in 2017
In keeping with
my pledge made a few postings ago -- to list 4 or 5 negatives by Trump and his
administration (backed by his tools in Congress) with every post until Nov. 3rd
-- here is a list from several sources
(SF Weekly, Washington Post, TopTens.com and others) that cuts through the tweets,
speeches and talk from Trump to some of the worst actions he took in his first
year in office. Do you agree?
Allowing
Puerto Rico to Implode
Letting Puerto Rico languish after
Hurricane Maria was and is inexcusably evil. While the tossing of the paper towels got
lots of attention, the death toll is far higher
than estimated, and Puerto Rico might be in a permanent cycle of
depopulation and decline. Electricity is
still off in huge swaths of the island with only the next hurricane season already
upon us. Puerto Rico is
in abysmal shape owing to a toxic combination of political ineptitude
and racism, and it came from the top.
Signed a
massive tax giveaway for the rich
Taxes are
important to society, and without them, we wouldn't have roads, bridges, houses,
schools, etc. Rich people have plenty of money to give away as tax, but Trump
cut taxes for them permanently while making temporary cuts for lesser income
brackets. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act gave
over a trillion dollars in tax cuts to the rich over 10 years. If this bill
stays in place, it could eventually either put us in a deep recession/debt
crisis, or the government will be forced to dramatically cut programs for the
poor. Either way, countless people will suffer, and some will die.
Signed
anti-environment policies
He withdrew
the US from the Paris agreement, overturned the Clean Power Plan, dramatically
cut funding for environmental research, green-lit damaging pipelines, and put
in place tariffs on solar panels.
Signed
anti-immigrant and anti-refugee policies
Most famous
is the travel ban, which blocks people from certain Muslim countries from
entering the US. But he also revoked
DACA and Temporary Protected Status, which gave legal status to millions of
people living here legally. He indefinitely blocked people who are fleeing for
their lives from Syria from entering the US and made it harder for other
refugees to get asylum. He ordered ICE to arrest more non-criminals and made it
harder for legal immigrants to bring over their families. Trump is also ripping
thousands of kids from their parents' arms (even though they are legal
asylum-seekers).
Downplayed
the coronavirus until it was too late to take care of it properly, and
Withdrew
from the UN Human Rights Council, and
Banned
transgender people from the military
(More
next time)
