shining city on a hill by michael payne
A political and journalistic firestorm was ignited after Russia's Vladimir Putin, challenged and disputed
Barack Obama's statement about America
being an exceptional nation when the president used that term in discussing the
crisis in Syria.
Referring to oneself as being exceptional is one thing but truly living up to
it is quite another and here's why:
The word exceptional typically includes these personal characteristics: remarkable, extraordinary, unique, singular and rare. While many think of these words as describing something that is outstanding and exemplary they can also be used to describe something negative that is distinctly different from the actions of others, and can be considered to be offensive and even destructive. Therefore, we might say that a person, an entity, or an act can be exceptionally good or exceptionally bad.
So let's examine this issue to determine just how America might fit the description of being an exceptional nation, whereby America is outstanding and exemplary and leads the world. Off hand I can't seem to think of much of anything of real substance in which America now leads the world except, of course, military power where it is completely dominant. But let's at least give it a try and see what we can come up with.
Here's a series of questions to try to determine if America leads the world in very specific categories of achievement or if, in fact, it lags behind. Does America lead the world in:
*The most effective and lowest cost health care system? The answer is no, it does not. America's system of health care, tightly controlled by the insurance industry, is not even close to that ranking; its costs are typically twice as much as those of the 31 other developed nations of the world; all these nations have some form of universal health care and most have banned insurance companies from being a part of the process. Here's are further troubling statistics; America ranks 27th in life expectancy, 18th in diabetes, and first in obesity.
It's a very faulted system to say the least. But t hose at
the top of the income spectrum, who have the best health care benefits, defend
it by insisting that all Americans are covered. They say that our health care
system works just fine because, while poor Americans may not have access to
critical precautionary tests, they must, by law, be given treatment by hospital
emergency rooms. It's too bad though that, by the time that many of these
poorer people are taken to the ER, their condition is too far advanced to be
successfully treated, and is terminal.
The Affordable Health Care Act, aka Obamacare, may well represent the beginning of the era of universal health care in America but to do so it would have to go through a succession of improvements including the elimination of all insurance companies' involvement.
*Academic excellence? Well, America once led the world, but that's a thing of the past. America's world ranking in math is #27, and in science #22, a national disgrace. Even countries such as Hungary, Ireland and Iceland rank above America. About the only aspect of education in which America ranks right at the top of these developed nations is in the number of high school dropouts.
*Technology and innovation? Well, when it comes to electronic gadgetry that might be the case. Does America lead the world in dealing with climate warming and climate change, in the development of solar and wind power, all of which are extremely important to this planet and its people? Nope; in fact, the U.S. government and the business sector act as if these critically important issues are a hindrance, something that exists only in the minds of liberals and those incompetent scientists who like to spread misinformation. After all, the profits of the giants of the petroleum industry trump all other considerations.
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