One of the phrases we were spoon-fed in our younger years was that America was the greatest country on Earth. Even knowing that statement was once true and might still be, it is not such a cut and dry axiom anymore. Clearly what we are doing in Haiti shows our good side, when we are not kidnapping their kids. However, are we still the greatest country on Earth?

The baby boomer generation was handed the greatest country on Earth, but it didn’t take long for them to start destroying the entire thing. I just ponder anymore, when I hear people say we are the greatest country on Earth. People say that we are the world’s only super power, but whether that is still true is also up for debate. Even the notion of a free nation is up for interpretation. All of these clichés just seem so in question when I hear them now.

gc2We are broke and spend more money than we take in, yet you’re told we are a super power. They tell you that we have the greatest military on Earth, but without nine satellites orbiting the Earth to control our nuclear and high tech arsenal, we are back in the stone ages. Our country is in a state of decline and misery, but still people use these old propaganda-rallying calls. Even saying we are a free nation sounds more like nails on a chalkboard to me. How free are we, while we are video taped everywhere we go and almost all purchases and financial transactions are recorded in some way?

All of these statements about America that were told to us at one time seem as antiquated as the Jurassic Period or in question when I hear them in 2010. Blind faith and patriotic loyalty doesn’t hold up when a person stands in the middle of bankruptcy court due to no fault of their own. Anyone who still believes we are the greatest country on Earth must not travel much. A worldwide survey found that the people of Denmark are the happiest people. Greatest seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

Until Generation Jones and Generation X breaks away from the salacious influence the Boomers have had on this country and us, the greatest nation label may slip away. Because we had to get our jobs from the Baby Boomers and play their game, we unintentionally prolonged their destruction. The next generation needs to sever all ties to the Boomer legacy and start in a new direction. They were handed the greatest country but I ask you to honestly look at what they did to it.

It depends upon what lens you look through when asking the question, “Are we still the greatest country on Earth?” I’m sure Wall Street thinks this is the greatest country ever. One single city block does not make a nation, even if all the wealth is concentrated there.

C. Rich

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