It’s happening, everyone … the United States is not number one anymore. You might think that it’s an international conspiracy to undermine our national confidence. After all, we’re so good at so many things, like imprisoning people, handing out guns, and paying for tanks and jet fighters. Surely, there’s nothing that the United States doesn’t do better than anyone else. Alas, it just so happens that the rest of the world is catching up with us in more ways than one. Even our own publications are turning against us. Recently, US News and World Report ranked the United States number seven in the list of world’s best countries. Seven! From the way we fuel up in the mornings to the way we unwind at night, there are an increasing number of areas in which America simply can’t compete. Maybe it’s time that we, as a nation, start to acknowledge that fact. It’s a lot of pressure to always be number one. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to breathe a sigh of relief, accept that we’re running with the herd as opposed to at the head of it, and start importing some international ideas? Big and small, there are tons of ways we can learn from other nations around the world. Here are some examples.
1. Healthcare
America simply cannot get its head around a feasible healthcare plan that looks after it’s elderly, sick, and impoverished. The Republicans seem to think that those folks should take care of themselves, and the Democratic solution is a convoluted mess that’s almost impossible to navigate. According to the World Health Organization, the honor of best healthcare system in the world belongs to France, where the government picks up about 70 percent of all medical bills.
