America Is No Longer Number One in Anything. Except What?

My wife, Pat, and I were talking this morning about politics, what else, and she stated that she, "Was tired of hearing how we are drowning our children and grandchildren in debt."  While this is true, why is it only important now, when talking about programs for the average America?  Where have these brave politicians been over the last forty years, when the elite in this country was amassing huge wealth and prosperity for them? This ties in with my headline in this way. Next college football season, I want to see students shout into cameras, "We are number 25 or we are number 17." What do these kids shout? "We're number one!" The real legacy we are leaving future generations is that at best America and Americans are mediocre. We have become delusional and complacent. Look at some recent studies. The U.S. in education is #25 out of 30. Yeah, "We're 25th, we're 25th. Go America"! Infant mortality 180th out of 224 countries. Let's hear that chant! Medical Technology at or near the bottom of the industrialized nations. Infrastructure, #25 out of 30. Technology we are moving up to 10th. Now we are talking. "Hey, Hey, When When  We are only number 10. Go U.S.A." Now what are we the best at. Yeah, we are still the number one consumers in the world and we still produce more waste. Now we are talking. What really sets us apart from the rest of the world. We can kick just about every bodies ass, because we have the best military in the world. This is not to take anything away from our fighting men and women, who are the best, but wouldn't it be great to leave our children and grandchildren something more then we could beat other countries into submission, or we consumed more then everyone else? We used to be the leaders and the doers in the world. Now we follow. I heard the other day that 16 other countries lead us in "green technology". We used to have big ideas and bold thoughts. Now we meekly sit back and watch as everyone else rushes past us. The politicians have convinced everyone that we are spending too much. I say, we are not spending nearly enough. Politicians say, we have a spending problem. I say, we have a revenue problem. As we fall further behind the rest of the world, we protect the interest of the wealthy elite and corporations, while we destroy our nation. We need corporate responsibility. We need the wealthy to become responsible. We need all of us to  become responsible and rebuilt and rethink the American dream. This dream was never about being last, it was about being first. This dream was never about following it was about leading. This dream was never about individual and corporate greed, it was about the prosperity and success of all Americans. I want to end with a quote from the late James William Fulbright, who served the state of Arkansas in the U.S. Senate from 1945 to 1975.
"We must dare to think the "unthinkable" thought. We must learn to explore all the options that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world."
Let's dare to be NUMBER ONE again!