(Community Matters) One of my objectives over the holidays has been to think about American exceptionalism and arrive at conclusions on my opinions of whether this is true ( . . . was true or is true).
Was true – yes. Is true – yes in the sense of an extraordinarily good place to live, work and raise a family; not in the sense of exclusivity, ie., the only best country.
Conservatives, especially neoconservatives use the term to suggest its “the” superior country. If we use the filter of best quality of life for the highest percentage of its citizens, we’ve lost this place. As measured by human development index (a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living) the US now ranks fourth – behind Norway, Australia and the Netherlands, respectively). Our per capita spending per family support is not exceptional. I have a bedrock belief that a country as rich as the USA should provide funding for at least basic education, housing, medical care and other social services for its citizens. As to education, I believe we should strive for exceptional public funding in early childhood development, primary, secondary and higher education.
Traveling, we intentionally meet & speak with not only business and community leaders but students, merchants, artists, teachers and workers, I’m drawn to the recent New York Times article (see previous blog posting: Has Money Become Our God) questioning whether in the United States we measure our success by the proper metrics. Of course economic well being should be a prioritized measure, but I’m not sure this should be growth in GDP, corporate profits and relative stock indices are the right metrics for our economic success – at least I think they are overweighted relative to median family income, purchasing power, savings and rates of poverty.
As we drove and flew around Australia, we were impressed by the relative, general wealth, investment in infrastructure and diversity – and disappointed by their (also) rise in nationalism. Their debt and loss of employment opportunities not to be understated, of course the general happiness and quality of daily life enjoyed by the French and Italians stands out.
Still thinking about this . . .
Community Matters 