America is no longer the greatest nation on Earth. In fact, it’s not even among the top 10. There’s plenty of evidence.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, for example, compiles statistics from its 34 member nations. Among the 20 advanced OECD democracies that might be considered our peers, including most of Europe plus Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, America ranks last in most signifi cant categories.
These categories include general poverty rate, child poverty rate, income inequality, social mobility, the U.N.’s index of children’s well-being, the U.N. gender inequality index, homicide rate, prison population per capita, carbon dioxide emissions per capita, water consumption per capita, international humanitarian assistance as a percentage of gross domestic product and health.
In health care, we paradoxically have by far the highest expenditures as a percentage of GDP, yet the highest infant mortality rate, highest mental illness rate, highest obesity rate, highest percentage going without health care due to cost, highest consumption of antidepressants per capita and shortest life expectancy.
But we are number one, by far, in military might, spending as much as the next 14 military powers combined and outspending number two, China, fi ve-to-one. It’s ironic, to say the least, we are so eager to project our power around the world when we have so many problems of our own.
These statistics debunk not only the myth of American superiority, but also the argument big government and creeping socialism are what’s ailing us. Essentially all the other OECD nations have bigger, more socialized governments than us, yet they are more successful than us by so many signifi cant measures. Why is it, for example, our medical care produces the worst outcomes among all our peers, despite costing far more? Since most other nations have highly socialized medical care, the problem is certainly not creeping socialism.
Another common argument is America’s decline stems from creeping atheism, from neglecting God. But the other OECD nations are all less religious — many of them far less so — than America. An analysis of prosperous OECD nations shows a strong correlation between religiosity and social dysfunction. The most religious nations (the United States, followed distantly by Ireland and Italy) are the most dysfunctional, and the most secular nations (Sweden, Japan, Denmark, France) are the most socially successful.
The recent election indicates an increasing number of us are beginning to see the light. But there’s a hard core of deep American conservatism that resolutely refuses to look beyond its own narrow confi nes. Geographically, the election revealed the Old South and the heartland tier from North Dakota to Texas as the home of these provincial views. Arkansas and the rest of the South voted heavily red, the heartland voted red, while the remaining states voted mostly blue.
Our nation’s division is reflected in the geography of our politics, but it’s more cultural than geographical. The division itself is partly to blame for America’s decline, for it’s diff cult to govern a nation that’s so deeply divided. America’s problems are buried deeply in our history, especially our religious history and our persistent anti-intellectuality. The antiscience views of many conservatives are especially shocking and destructive. It surprises me there are still people who think humans didn’t evolve from other animals, Biblical miracles are literally true, global warming is a scientifi c hoax and so forth. People who buy into such notions aren’t thinking for themselves and so can be fooled into believing anything. A political party dominated by such folks is a prescription for America’s present diff culties.
Why, for example, have so many working people in the South embraced the conservative politics that have swept this country since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980? The Reagan revolution has not been kind to the working class. For example, during 1930 to 1980 the typical chief executive off cer’s paycheck ran “only” some 40 times the average full-time U.S. worker’s paycheck. But by 2000, CEO pay averaged more than $9 million a year, 367 times the pay of the average worker. Also, the top marginal federal tax rate was 70 percent or higher during 1933 to 1980, but then it quickly dropped to around 35 percent, where it is today. Such policies that reward the rich and soak the middle class are not in most people’s interest.
The recent election was hopeful, but America has a long way to go.
ART HOBSON IS A PROFESSOR
EMERITUS OF PHYSICS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS.