Letter to The Mennonite

The conclusion by Heather Whitehouse that America "is a lot better than any other country" is demonstrably false. Here are some facts.

1.  We live in a very militarized country. Our military spending is greater than the next eight countries combined! We repeatedly get into wars on the other side of the world which don't involve us, thereby generating ill will against us and creating enemies who want to do us harm.

2.  We are the only developed country without a national health care system. People go bankrupt every day due to huge medical expenses. Because of our disgraceful health care system, there are 56 countries with lower infant mortality rates than the U.S.

3.  Because of our love affair with firearms, Americans are ten times more likely to be killed by a gun than are people in other developed countries.

4.  We incarcerate our citizens at a greater rate than any other country. We have 25% of the world's prisoners, even though our population is less than 5% of the world's total. This surely is the sign of a failed society.

5. We are only the 15th happiest people in the world, according to a worldwide survey of 158 countries.

6.  We rank a pitiful 31st in the world in life expectancy.

Instead of boasting about being better than other countries, wouldn't it be more useful to look at how and why other countries are doing things better than we are, and learn from them where we can?