Column: Lovable America

Lovers of America, beware. Ashcroft disciples, look out. I'm about to say something unpatriotic: America may not be the greatest nation in the world.

I know, I know - as a U.S. citizen, to say that another country might be better than mine is heretical and wrong. But hey, as long as the Republican Party is crying "Treason!" when a presidential candidate dares to suggest that America should have a different president, I might as well just get my crazy ideas out there.

I was looking through the United Nations's Human Development Report of 2002, and found some statistics that I hope might provoke a little conversation. I started by taking a look at the role of women in political leadership. In the United States, women comprise about 14 percent of nationally elected representatives. Doesn't sound like a lot, does it? The number looks even smaller when compared to some other countries of the world - 36 percent in Norway, 43 percent in Sweden, 21 percent in Canada, 27 percent in Austria. Even when we step outside the developed world - nearly 30 percent of legislators in South Africa, 22 percent in China, 25 percent in Uganda and 26 percent in Turkmenistan are women. Now I hear you protesting that being a legislator in Turkmenistan doesn't mean much. Perhaps not, but apparently they think enough of their women - even in a society that is 90 percent Muslim - to put them in positions of at least nominal power.

And while we're talking about equality of opportunity, we might as well look at just how equal the United States is in comparison to its peers. The poorest 10 percent of Americans earn 1.8 percent of the income, while the richest 10 percent earn 30.5 percent. To find a bigger gap in equality, one must descend all the way to No. 38 in the Human Development Index: Chile. Not exactly great company for the "greatest nation in the world."

How about general quality of life? We all know the United States has a high quality of life. But again, compared to its peers, America comes up short. For instance, Americans have a lower chance of surviving to age 65 than people in any other nation in the HDI's top 20. But how surprising is this, given that America also spends less on public health than almost any other top-20 nation, its industries belch more carbon dioxide per capita than any other top-20 nation and its citizens smoke more cigarettes per capita than all but four of the top 20 (yes, even more than France!). This is not even to mention the gun violence that plagues America's cities, neighborhoods and now even schools, reaching a level of mortality that far surpasses that of any of our peer nations.

I do not presume to explain why these things are the way they are. Maybe Europeans elect more women to parliament because they are naturally romantic people who would rather watch a beautiful woman talk to them about tax policy. Maybe America's poor are just lazier than Europe's poor, which is why they just can't seem to pull themselves out of that 15:1 income gap. Maybe Americans just happen to like smoking more than other people, and it has nothing to do with unfettered peddling of cigarettes to kids.

Don't get me wrong - I don't wish to live in Turkmenistan, and that country has a lot of growing to do to catch up with the United States. But as long as we are bragging about being the richest country, the pioneer of equality of opportunity or the beacon of democracy, we should consider the numbers behind those claims. How can a country where women are outnumbered more than five to one in government boast of equality? How can a country where children are shot in their schools - or have to be frisked at the door - boast of a high quality of life? And how can a country where "poor" is further from "rich" than in any other developed society boast of its wealth? I love America, but there are many things in this country that are decidedly unlovable. Once we get to work on that, I'll feel better about devoting billions to blowing up Iraq.