By Dale Lucht

All of my life I have heard how great we art, and how fortunate we are to be living in this country, and to be honest some of it is fairly good. Even after all the pollution and destruction of our environment it is still a quite beautiful country, our religious and bigoted ancestors knew who to steal land from and who to enslave to work that land. Now we have current politicians that want to rewrite our history and forget the barbarism they committed under the cloak of Religion or Manifest Destiny. God was not mentioned in the Constitution. Can we go back and change the past? No, it is impossible. Can we learn from the past? Yes.

Recently Mr. Trump said that “We’re the Ones That Won the War.” Would World War II have been won by the Allies, without the US? Possibly, but it would have taken more time. Did we suffer as much as Europe did? Definitely not. Let us just list the total deaths for four countries. France 600,000, Soviet Union 20,000,000 to 27,000,000, United Kingdom 450,900, United States 419,400.

World War II was a big turning point in World history and our exceptionalism turned into the US being the world’s policeman. In 2023 the US spent $820 billion dollars on the military. China ranked second at $296 billion, Russia $109 billion, this was at the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine, so I expect that it has increased considerably. Wouldn’t it be remarkable if people decided that there was no future in war? Think of the young lives that would be saved, think of money that could be used for education, and healthcare, and transportation, or whatever your pet projects are, the Arts, climate change, or paying off our debt.

Why do so many people want to immigrate to the US? They come driven by the promise of better economic, educational, and social opportunities. The United States does have some good Universities, but they are extremely expensive. They are looking for a better quality of life. Better healthcare, better social safety nets, and more stable political and social environment. That last part is quickly diminishing; the US currently ranks 52^nd in terms of freedom. A report cited actions such as mass firings of federal workers and replacing civil servants with loyalists as potential threats to freedoms.

It is important here to have a disclaimer. Mark Twain once said that “There are lies, damn lies and statistics.”  With any study or poll, you must know where it comes from. The last report was an AI Overview.

U.S. News and World Reports in 2023 listed the top ten countries in the world for business and social purposes. Number one was Switzerland followed by Canada and Sweden, Australia and then the United States. Japan, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Netherlands finish the top ten.

Let’s look at healthcare. According to Peter G. Peterson Foundation the United States spends the most money on healthcare. Data from 2022 the U.S. spent $12,742 per capita, Switzerland was next at $8,541. Germany was third and Netherlands was fourth. Out of the top thirteen spenders on healthcare the US comes in worst in Life Expectancy, last in Infant Mortality, ninth in Unmanaged Asthma, last in Unmanaged Diabetes and last in Safety during Childbirth. It does not appear that we are getting our money’s worth.

The World Health Organization said in 2022 that 1 in 8 people in the world were obese. According to the World Obesity Federation the United States is the tenth most obese country in the world at 41.64 %. Remember what I said about statistics, Wikipedia says the US is at 16^th with an obesity rank of 45.58%.

We must lead at something, so I looked at gun violence. In 2022 there were 48,204 fire-arm related deaths. This includes suicide, homicide, unintentional injuries and deaths by legal intervention. That is an average of 132 deaths per day. As bad as that is we can’t claim number one, Mexico and many central American countries have higher rates of gun violence.

This is really getting depressing, is there anything to be happy about? Which country is rated the happiest? Finland? What? The 2024 World Happiness Report has come out, and for the seventh year in a row, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world. The ranking is based on six factors-social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption. The U.S. has dropped to its lowest-ever ranking of 24^th.

So, what is our American Exceptionalism now? Is it that our head is buried in the sand and we cannot look at our neighbors as friends and valuable to our society? Are education and healthcare important to us? Is the past a valuable path to the future? Should warmongering be encouraged or discouraged? Should the pursuit of the almighty dollar be pursued or should we look at money as a tool to bring us happiness? These are questions to ask, and maybe someday we will become exceptional again.