Hacker News Reader

Comment by DigiMortal | Hacker News Reader

We lead the world in R&D, we aren't in a surveillance state like China (~1.3B people), we aren't undeveloped, we have the US dollar - the commanding world currency. We develop the best military technology, space technology, most all technology. We issue the most patents, by far. We (as people) have more rights than most all other nations and we led many other rights to attain rights for their own citizens. We protect Europe and the West. We will continue leading the galaxy in space development. We have the best talent in the world. We are Earth's shining civilization.

View on HN

I think you left the /s from that post. I don't believe you can seriously believe such statements.

Ignoring the silly stuff the parent poster wrote, the facts available indicate that by millions of people's analysis the US is the best country on Earth. The US naturalizes a million immigrants every year and has done so for the last thirty years. There are more than forty million non-citizens living in the US. No other country has that number of immigrants. Plus there is no country to which more Americans emigrate than from which people immigrate to the US.

We can't afford healthcare for our people.

I don't have any knowledge one way or another, but is this true? I guess it seems like we can afford healthcare just fine, but allocating money to healthcare/education/etc is a different problem.

We can but we don't want to. It's even worse.

> It's even worse.

Agreed. I personally view Daylight Savings as being horrid for mental health reasons, and I have plenty of friends and family that feel the same. There is no hope for any of us to change that. So from my view point, if we can't discuss an issue as simple as Daylight Savings, then there's little hope for bigger issues.

Also, from a "peasants" view, we want to change, but getting that translated to actual change through the system seems impossible. It doesn't help there are legitimate differences on what solutions even looks like.

Okay. But you have shitty border controls, I've heard.

What an embarrassment.

> We develop the best military technology

Then why didn't you win in Vietnam?

> We issue the most patents, by far.

The US decides what is patentable, so that's basically a participation trophy.

> We (as people) have more rights than most all other nations

How have you enumerated this?

> We protect Europe and the West.

By handing half of Germany over to Stalin?

Winning wars is also about strategy not just technology.

Also, Russia was an ally in WW2, it demanded reparations.

These two are unrelated and historical facts.

Good points. Military technology isn't that important, therefore the US continues to be the best country because it has the best military technology. Also, it's okay that the US didn't defend Europe from Communism because it was allied with the Communists.

So you are saying that USA should have started WW3 immediately after WW2?

Oh, I'm not taking issue with the US's behavior. I'm just taking issue with people who use it to argue that the US is the bestest country evar. If it really were, it would have been able to defeat the USSR soundly with its superior military technology.

It's perfectly fine to admit the US is a mediocre large country, absolutely worth living in, but not some singular shining glory. It's perfectly fine to admit the US is bad at both picking and waging wars. That's my position.

Also the US has never met Russia in an overt war. Not that I ever want them to either but your point is again invalid. There is a reason US pulls it's weight in diplomacy and military and currency are two big factors for this. Denying this is just you being delusional. Also US , barring the current govt., has always been very welcoming to immigrants. Every country has flaws but this country gave me and countless others an opportunity and a voice. That alone separates the US from many other countries.

The United States (As well as other entente powers) invaded Russia, during the Russian Civil War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Russia_Intervention

Nowhere in my points did I say it's the best country. I just invalidated two arguments you used.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com