There are approximately 321 million people living in the United States. That puts us as the 3rd largest nation in the world behind India (2) and China (1). Our population density falls somewhere around 85 people per mile. Contrast this with, say, the Gaza Strip, which is somewhere closer to 10,000 or even the aforementioned India, who happens to be about as large as us but has around 950 people per mile. All of that shakes out to show that we have a lot of space and a huge amount of control of the world’s wealth.
In other words, the U.S.A is kind of the shit.
I’m not certain I mean that in a entirely good way. With great power comes great responsibility, and I don’t think it is un-American to admit that we’ve done (and continue to do) some things wrong–not because we are evil, but because the core American philosophy is capitalism. In other words, the bottom line is the bottom line for us, and like the pope said, it cannot all be about money.
We like to say that we are doing things for the greater good and for security. We are in the middle east to ‘protect our interests’ one day and prevent terrorists from attacking our shores the next. When we do true humanitarian work we are chided by one political party or the other about wasting lives, money, and time on other people’s problems.
The USA has a tremendous opportunity to shape the next 500 years. The only question is, what do we want to shape it like?
Some Thoughts:
- I’m about ready to get off the bench.