United States...Stop Saying we are the "Greatest Country in the World"

Why is everyone on the DNC stage saying that we are the "greatest
country in the world"? Why do we need to say that and on what basis?
Is everything a competition?, a chance to pound our chest. Aren't we
better than that? I guess not. Tell one of the 23% of our children under 18 who are living in poverty that we are the "greatest country in the world".
It's so unnecessary and jingoistic...it's also a completely ridiculous assertion.
We might be the strongest and biggest bully but "might doesn't make right". We might win the most gold medals at this year's summer Olympics...but that makes us the country that won the most gold medals, not the "greatest country". Have you checked out our failed K - 12 education system, our crime rate, our poverty rate...? It's grotesque....and not in accordance with anything "great", and not even close to being acceptable.

We rank 16th in Quality of Life indices. We rank 2nd worst among the
35 developed countries in poverty rate among kids 18 and under.
We have tons to be ashamed of and reminding ourselves, like Muhammad Ali, that "we are the greatest" is childish and wrong.
It would be like saying "my kids are the greatest kids in the world". My dog is greater than your dog! It's just ridiculous.
We rank 17th in education

We rank #1 in invading sovereign countries and justify it by telling
ourselves and everyone else who will listen that "we are the greatest
country in the world and we can do whatever we want"
I love the
United States in innumerable ways...but America is great commensurate
with how much money and opportunity you have, what color skin you have, who your parents were....if you aren't one of the privileged few, and have no education and
are surrounded by crime...then the US is far inferior to many, many,
countries. A precious few might crawl their way out if they can "Rap", slam dunk a basketball, or somehow find amazing serendipity...but that isn't how it should work in the "greatest country in the world".

The U.S. Is not the most compassionate country in the
world....far, far, from it., just ask the Vietnamese , or ask the
citizens of many, many, other innocent countries of the world that we
have killed or exploited for our own nationalistic or monetary gains. Ask all of those in this country living in poverty, put in jail for possessing marijuana. Defeated and incarcerated by a court system that favors the rich and powerful.

We are the greediest country in the world and certainly not one of the
countries most concerned about poverty and shameful income equality and
education inequality.
One of the few counties where a
multi-billionaire like Michael Bloomberg can do almost nothing with his
20 or so billion dollars to help others, and yet we will cheer him or
elect him to high office. It's par for the course to horde your
billions and walk by a homeless man without so much as a glance. That's heartless.

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." - JFK

So, pardon me if I am turned off by the inane remark, "the United States
is the greatest country in the world". That's part of the problem....acting like we have nothing to learn from any other country, not so much
to look at what other countries are doing (well) so that we can improve ourselves. Stop saying we are "the greatest" and instead say
that we are a pretty great country in many ways but we need desperately
to get better...and we will!

food for thought....

My Opinions..