I think it’s time for a reality check for us Americans. We walk around full of arrogance, thinking that this is the greatest nation on the planet. Well wake up people, this isn’t 1945. What are we number one in? Health care? Education? Infant Mortality? Freedom of Speech? Democracy? Lifespan? I’m sorry folks, none of these above. In fact I couldn’t find a single statistic where America was the leader of the pack. With recent events and tragedies that have occurred on American soil, there has been a much needed and appropriate surge in American patriotism. While I do recognize that much of it is for the love of our country, an overwhelming percent of it seems to fall in the areas of pretentiousness instead of nationalism. How can we claim that we are proud of our country when 37% of Americans can’t find their own country on a map? The view of America that the world takes on today is not the one once held post WWII or during the Cold War. Citizens of other nations see America as the bully of the world. With our recent deployments to Iraq, which was a very controversial issue, considering the lack of acknowledgement of the disapproval from UN, the rest of the world sees us as a nation full of ignorance and foolishness; a nation of people who wave around our right to bear arms while thinking that we own the place. And that is, in fact, what we do. America spends more money militarily than the rest of the world’s nations combined. We may not be the healthiest, smartest, fastest, or strongest people on the planet, but we have the biggest supply of weapons! And when it comes down to it, that’s all that really matters, right? I mean, we Americans invented the nuclear bomb, so what else is there? (Oh wait, those guys were from New Zealand, Germany, and Sweden.) Never mind. But really, what do we have to be proud of anymore? We all claim to love this country, but do you think you can pass the citizens test? Do you know the number of stripes on the American flag, or how about the number of Supreme Court Justices? What are the first ten amendments to the Constitution called? Can you name the original 13 states? Do you know who has the power to declare war? These are just a few questions on a United States Citizenship Test that every immigrant must take in order to gain their citizenship to this country. Could you keep your citizenship if you were forced to take this test? We are all ready to say that we are the greatest empire to ever grace this fine planet we call home. But, my friends, I think that the glory of the American Empire is fading. We aren’t the most democratic nation anymore; we are sixteen countries down the line. Our healthcare system is shameful, to say the least. We are ranked 37th in the world, with the infant mortality ranking at 30th and lifespan way down at 42nd. This country was founded on freedom of speech, and yet our nation ranks 53rd in the world when it comes to freedom of the press. The one place that we as Americans used to excel in were the fields of education, but now we barely break the top 20. How do we expect to compete in the future, when 17 other nations’ students already beat out ours? China and India have more honors students than we have total students. With the children of today being our successes of our tomorrow, I think that we may one day be turning to countries like China for inspiration for what our nation should be. So the next time you feel like bragging that you come from the best country, you should maybe rethink that opinion, although I don’t believe that our feelings will change anytime soon. We’ll just sit back, shoving McDonald’s in our faces, thinking we’re God’s gift to this tiny chunk of dirt floating around in the vast expanses of the universe while the rest of the world passes us by.