yep "multiple"

out of how many countries?

lol

Yes, military, economic, and cultural dominance (I don't know why you left out the last two) does generally present a strong case for a country being the "best", as in the preeminent and leading power in the world today.

The world order is upheld by a single country that contains within it some of the wealthiest and most developed locations on earth. It is the leading naval, air, and ground power, and it leads in both the economic and cultural spheres. You disagree with my definition, and I find your arguments nitpicking and unconvincing.

China is a rising power, but their rise isn't inevitable and is constrained by powerful neighbors to all sides and domestic corruption from within.

Besides that, there are a host of cultural and linguistic reasons for why English would only very unlikely be displaced by Mandarin as a world language, not the least because Europe in particular would have a hard time making the conversion.


This post was edited by bogie160 on Jul 24 2013 06:45pm

You still haven't defined what 'the best' is, all you've done is present a tautology. I'm unconvinced because there is no logic your viewpoint...all you've done is state that murica is the best because it is the best, and then selected premises to support this tautology. Not sure what your definition of nitpicking is, but if pointing out a fundamental flaw in your tortured reasoning is nitpicking, then i guess i'm nitpicking.

Why is military dominance an essential for a country to be called 'the best'? Why is economic dominance essential? Etc. You haven't explained any of this. Your argument simply presumes they are without justification.

Why do these attributes outweigh crushing inequality, poverty, health and other problems the US suffers from?

Does military dominance/etc trump livability? There are several other countries that are consistently ranked above the US for the beat place to live.

These aren't nitpicks, these are essential points in the conversation that your argument severely overlooks.

circular logic isn't tautological

America is the best because it has the best of everything = circular

America is the best country in the world = tautology only if "best country in the world" is synonymous with America (which I don't expect you are meaning to suggest)

Currently, America is the best at 3 things:

Military Spending, most adult incarcerations, and highest number of people who believe in god (for an industrialized nation).

I will admit that the last century was the brightest for America, but all empires fall. This is not to say that America is going to collapse into total anarchy, but it is safe to say that America's influence over other nations is slowly dwindling.

So what makes a nation the best? It depends on what you characteristics you judge to have the most value.

Whereas many in here believe that military strength is the most valuable asset, many do not.

I value education, equality, civil rights, safety, and health. America is not first in any of these categories. This is why, in my opinion, America is not the greatest country in the world.

I'm aware of the difference. Note he didn't say that America has the best of everything, just pointed out that it was dominant in a few aspects and presumed that these aspects made it the best. That is a tautology, not circular reasoning.

What country are you comparing some of those categories to? America has some of the best schools in the world.. the health system is completely fucked though...

I'm going on indexes and statistics. To be clear, when it comes to education, I'm referring to "most educated people" meaning most percentage of people with at least a bachelor's degree. America is ranked fourth. When it comes to healthcare America is ranked 38th by the WHO, but spends the most on their system.

because different systems hand out degrees at different levels that is not well comparable and does not reflect the education level overall since it only takes into account tertiary studies
(also, how well does a bachelor in homemaking compare to one in astrophysics?) a far better comparison is provided by:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading

sorted by 'reading' where the usa score quite well, so ensure you look at the other scores when comparing countries



This post was edited by brmv on Jul 24 2013 09:59pm