Pirates Cove took a trip into the festering swamp of DU and nets a thread, since removed, (He's got the thread backed up so you can still see it) that questions the greatness of America. Hat Tip Hot Air
Essentially, the thread starts with a poster stating that despite problems, America is still the greatest country in the world. In the 87 minutes the post was allowed to live, there were 34 replies, the overwhelming majority of which disagreed with the original post. Those who disagreed took one of two positions. Either they said that ranking countries was inherently unfair (If one country is the best, then other countries are then worse, and that's just mean.) or that the only people who could believe that America is the greatest country are uneducated boobs who have never been anywhere else.
Instead of using this to bash the DU folks, I'd like to go in a different direction and ask y'all a question.
What is it that makes a country great? Is it standard of living? GDP? Freedom? Security? Tell me what you think in the comments, and we'll go from there.
I would imagine what makes a country great is how well its government treats its citizens, its citizens treat people from other countries, and most importantly how the citizens treat each other.
Each of these traits feed off and support one another - the more respect the government has for the people, the better they treat each other and the better they treat each other the better they treat foreigners, etc.
Even current immigration controversies prove this theory - Americans respect the rule of law (which governs how we treat each other and how the leaders treat us) and people who don't respect that law (illegal immigrants) are frowned on - while legal immigrants are still as welcome as they've ever been.
Is there another country that has a government that treats its citizens as well, citizens treats other people as well, and treat each other as well?
I'm not that well-traveled at all, but I don't really think so.
Posted by: Barry on June 12, 2006 9:18 AM