America is the Worst Country in the World

…except for all the others.

A friend said this:

“America is the worst country in the world, except for all the other countries in the world.”

That’s more or less a paraphrase of what Sir Winston Churchill said about democracy:

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

I have been reminded the problem I have with the protesters of statues (this has gone beyond just Confederate statues), Fascism, women’s “rights”, law enforcement officers and the American flag is this: they never consider the second half of either of the above comments – the “except for all the others” part.

I find that when someone complains about some sort of “institutional” or “systemic” issue, when I ask, “As compared to what, who or where?”, I typically get a rambling, incoherent response or a blank stare – one of those “If you don’t know, I can’t explain it to you and if I could explain it, you wouldn’t understand it” looks.

In their minds, they look at single issues and then create some sort of idyllic solution a Scandinavian country has come up to solve that particular issue while ignoring that those are really not single issues because they are intertwined with other issues. For example, one cannot increase welfare state entitlements without taking on tax policy and tax policy can’t be addressed without discussing economic policies – when you get to economic policy, there is nothing off the table – but the critics of America don’t understand that and frankly, don’t care.

Most, if not all, of these protesters are anti-American because they have been taught to be anti-American. They have no true sense or awareness of history and lacking the context and basis for any sort of contrast and comparison, they opt to create a mythical Utopian state to use as a benchmark that 1) has been tried but doesn’t work (they think this time, they will do it right) or 2) has never existed anywhere other than in theory or 3) is based on what they fantasize the world should look like (usually in contravention to natural or economic laws).

America is the worst country in the world…except for all the others.