America the Backward

closed prison

do we realize how much,  in this "greatest god given nation in the history of this earth" or whatever the asshole Sean Hannity says?

• most of the industrialized world (Europe, Canada, etc): free health care, higher quality of life, more peace, cheaper higher education, higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality, more time off from jobs. America: at times violent opposition to health care, huge differences between poor, rich, middle, biggest military industrial complex in history, exorbitant prices for college, higher crime rates, struggling middle class.
• again most of the industrialized world: more gay rights for marriage and military service. that includes much of S America. gays can also openly serve in places like Catholic Ireland, Italy and Spain,  Russia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_orientation_and_military_service
• America often builds up the reputation of the rich, putting people like Trump, Paris Hilton, asshole athletes, "successful" criminals like Charlie sheen, up on a pedestal, saying that they deserve their money, their success, they've worked hard etc. the poor are often seen as lazy, stupid, uneducated, McDonald eating, smoking, welfare sponging. in Europe etc the percentage of people that think that the poor's lot is their own fault is much lower. hence more of a safety net, more views that more problems are social diseases like drugs.
• side note: New York City has had drops in crime since the early 90s like most other American cities, but the prison rate is also dropping. not true for other cities and the nation which builds prisons more than any other nation. e.g in Brooklyn near borough hall there's a closed jail. again if lower level, less violent criminals are not locked up as much, where their problems can be seen as social problems, and they are given more access to rehab, crime rates and [prison populations can go down. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/nyregion/11jails.html?scp=1&sq=New%20york%20prison%20population&st=cse