Is the Canadian Dream the New American Dream?
Has the “Last Best Hope” of Earth been passed by Canada in terms of Freedom Liberty and Prosperity?
CNN Ran an 8 Minute Segment with Fareed Zakria and Scott Gilmore pretty much saying America sucks and Canada rocks. Well lets get into these claims shall we?
“No matter how you cut the American dream or no matter how you describe the American dream, whether it’s life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness or a car, a job and a degree, it’s now become easier in Canada,” Gilmore told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria..
No, it has not Mr Gilmore.
In his essay, Gilmore notes that 46% of Americans have college degrees compared with 59% of Canadians.
So what? What does that have to do with the American Dream? The American Dream is the Equality of Opportunity. Not the Equality of Outcome. Each American has the opportunity to get a degree, even if they so choose not to. I Have the Opportunity to play in the NBA. Does that mean I will? Americans are doing just fine economically without degrees which I will get into later in this piece.
Canada has an Unemployment rate of 6.9%. Compared to Americas 5.3%. But Gilmore won’t mention that.
Canadians live 2.5 years longer, 81.2 years compared to America’s 78.2
A few years back, Robert Ohsfeldt of Texas A&M and John Schneider of the University of Iowa asked the obvious question: what happens if you remove deaths from fatal injuries from the life expectancy tables? Among the 29 members of the OECD, the U.S. vaults from 19th place to…you guessed it…first. Japan, on the same adjustment, drops from first to ninth.
This takes on additional significance when one considers that the United States has “the highest level of cigarette consumption per capita in the developed world over a 50-year period ending in the mid-80s.”
When Measuring Life Expectancy the WHO actually included immediate deaths from murder or fatal high-speed motor-vehicle accidents in their assessment, as if an ideal health-care system could turn back time to undo car crashes and prevent homicides. Ohsfeldt and Schneider did their own life-expectancy calculations using nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). With fatal car crashes and murders included, the U.S. ranked 19 out of 29 in life expectancy; with both removed, the U.S. had the world’s best life expectancy numbers.
And Canadians are the sixth happiest people in the world, according to the World Economic Forum. Americans lag behind in 13th spot.
Again. Who cares? What does this have to do with the American Dream nor the prosperity of Either Nation?
“The health care system for one,”
The United States has a much superior Healthcare system in comparison to Canada.
Of Canada’s approximately 33 million people, at least 800,000 are currently on waiting lists for surgery and other necessary medical treatments. Between 1997 and 2006, the median wait time between a referral from a primary-care doctor for treatment by a specialist increased from 9 weeks to more than 18 weeks. A study entitled Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada, conducted by the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, reports that Canadian health care patients must wait, on average, 17.7 weeks for admission to a hospital.
How about the 10s of Thousands of Canadians who flee Canadian Socialized Medicine to get treatment Here Mr Gilmore?
If you really want to measure health outcomes, the best way to do it is at the point of medical intervention. If you have a heart attack, how long do you live in the U.S. vs. another country? If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer? In 2008, a group of investigators conducted a worldwide study of cancer survival rates, called CONCORD. They looked at 5-year survival rates for breast cancer, colon and rectal cancer, and prostate cancer. I compiled their data for the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and western Europe. Guess who came out number one? The United States of America, that’s who
“We don’t have people going bankrupt because of health care costs. So our poor parts of the society can continue to thrive.”
Neither do we. We have things called Medicare and Medicaid for the elderly and Poor. Claims the American Healthcare System “Bankrupts” people have been repeatedly debunked.
In addition, he pointed out, “access to education is easier.”
We need an Elaboration on this. While yes, Canada has more Federalism and School Choice in Healthcare. Education is Compulsory in The United States. America has the highest PISA Scores when you break it down by race showing more Educational Opportunity in America. If Every American followed the Culture of Asian Americans, American Results would result its high levels of Opportunity.
“There are cheaper degrees. We don’t have the student loan problem that you have in the United States,” he told Zakaria.”
So what? Studies show Degrees arent worth it. Americans can be successful without college and in general are as reflected by higher American Incomes
As well as Higher Material Living Standards:
Higher Per Captia Nominal GDP
Higher GDP Per Captia PPP
Higher Median Incomes
Any absolute measure of the Material Quality of life in the Two Nations and the United States will always come out on top. Americans are wealthier then Canadians in every aspect.Not bad for uneducated yanks.
And as for the famed claim from “The Star-Spangled Banner” that America is the “land of the free,” Gilmore pointed out that US incarceration rates suggest otherwise.
No. It suggests America has a violent Crime Problem.
The U.S. does have the highest incarceration rate in the world (that is, among nations that list these data honestly),aside from Tuvalu but the assertion that most of the people incarcerated are there for non-violent crimes is false. Advocates for de-incarceration often cite the number of federal prisoners who committed non-violent drug offenses. This is highly misleading. Of the 1.6 million inmates in America, only about 200,000 are federal prisoners.
About half of federal inmates are sentenced for drug crimes, but this shouldn’t shock anyone. Nearly all violent crimes are state matters. It’s a federal crime to transport a kidnap victim across state lines, to attempt to assassinate a federal official, and so forth. But robberies, rapes, assaults, and murder are mostly state matters. Among state inmates, only one in six is a drug offender.
Among the 50 percent of “non-violent” federal drug offenders, it’s difficult to know how many were arrested for a violent crime and plea-bargained to a lesser offense. Nor do we have good data on how many were previously convicted of a violent crime. A 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that 95 percent of those who served time in state prisons for non-violent crimes had a preceding criminal history (typically 9.3 arrests and 4.1 convictions) and 33 percent had a history of arrests for violent crime.
Among state prisoners, 54 percent are there for violent offenses. Perhaps the 46 percent who are incarcerated for non-violent crimes should be punished some other way. But to design good policy on that, we’d have to grapple with a number of issues. What do you do with offenders who are placed on probation or parole but continue to offend? What about the “crime in the streets versus crime in the suites” problem? Should we sentence embezzlers, child-porn dealers, and Medicaid cheats to community service but keep armed robbers behind bars? How will that affect the perception that incarceration is the “new Jim Crow”?
Many on both sides of the political spectrum are eager to leap aboard the “de-incarceration” bandwagon. It’s a way to show sympathy with African Americans and (to a much lesser degree) Hispanics who are disproportionately represented among inmates.
But the primary victims of crime are also African Americans and Hispanics. If “unlock ’em up” becomes the new conventional wisdom, more innocent people will suffer and more businesses will flee.
We’ve become complacent about crime because the crime rate has declined drastically since 1990. According to the FBI, violent crime increased by nearly 83 percent between 1973 and 1991 — a period of criminal-justice leniency. From 1991 to 2001, when incarceration rates increased, violent crime declined by 33.6 percent. The decline has persisted. There are many theories about the cause of the drop in crime (abortion, removing lead from paint, the waning of the crack epidemic, policing strategies), and some or all of those factors may have played a part, but the “incapacitation” argument — criminals who are behind bars cannot be mugging people — seems awfully strong.
It would, of course, be a better world if fewer Americans were growing up in neighborhoods where fatherlessness, intergenerational government dependency, and poor schools contribute to high rates of crime. But it’s hard to see how releasing more criminals to prey upon those very neighborhoods is the answer.
In fact, he said, according to the Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index, Canada ranks sixth, compared to America’s placing of 23rd.
That’s because the Methodology and Numbers Used by the Cato Institutes Human Freedom Index are flawed.
The American National Anthem claims the United States is free in in the American sense of the world. So I will use Methodology that aligns with the concepts of Classical Liberalism and the American Revolution. Gilmore doesn’t explain why Canada has more Freedom. Just cites Indexes to prove his point. So I will explain why America is more Free then Canada using the Human Liberty Index
America:81.3
Canada:88.3
America:65.3
Canada:77.4
America:100
Canada:80
America:80
Canada:30
America:47
Canada:50
America:84
Canada:81
Overall:
America:76
Canada:68
The United States gets the highest Score of 76 while Canada only gets a score of 68. In the Human Liberty Index for 2016 which used Data from the Heritage Index of Economic Freedom, The Free Existence Index of Gun Freedom and Drug Rights, And the Freedom House Freedom of Speech Scores with Hate Speech adjusted America ranked #1 with a score of 75, compared to Canada who scored at 10th place with a score of 68. So are we the Land of the Free? Mostly. No country in the Human Liberty Index scored a complete 100 so no country is truly “Free”.Freedom in America has declined in the past 8 years. Property Rights have eroded due to Asset Forfeiture, a Bigger Tax Burden and More Burdensome Regulations. However the United States still holds a minor advantage in Freedom Estonia whom came in second. And a much larger advantage over Canada by 8 points
So yes, were more Free then Canada. And the Freest Country in the world.
Were not as free as we once were, but thankfully Drug Freedom is on the rise, by the end of 2017 we could have a score of 50 in Drug Freedom with 12 more states enacting Medical Marijuana Reforms. And a score of 78 in Tax Freedom due to Trump Lowering the Corporate Tax Rate to 15 and top individual rate to 33. This along with Americas low taxes as a % of GDP would give the US a score of 78.
Asset Forfeiture Reform is happening on State Levels and with the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act) which would federally put an end to the practice all together is gaining traction and support in the Public and with both parties whom in their official party platforms call for an end to Asset Forfeiture. If this bill is passed America will have a score of 90 in Property Rights, like it did before the Obama administration(Its not his fault).
While its hard to measure Business Freedom, the Trump Administration is planning to cut red tape and Business Regulations. Which could bring its score back to Bush Era Levels. At minimum Americas score could be from 88–90. Potentially hitting the Bush peak of 93 in 2005.Overall Americas score is expected to hit a 81 in the Human Liberty Index which would put it in the category (Free 80–100) compared to its score (Mostly Free 79.9–70) which it is now and has been for a while.
This suggests a trend of more Freedom in America in the coming years. While Canada is expected to go from a 50 to a 70 in terms of Drug Rights due to the likeliness of Recreational Marijuana being legalized in 2018. With more Anti Free Speech Measures, Canada could see its Free Speech score potentially reach 75.Canada has dropped 8 ranks in Business Freedom now ranking 22nd in the World Banks Ease of Doing Business now with a score of 78.6.
Canada is likely to see an increase of about 1–2 points giving it a score of 69–70. Without legalizing Recreational Marijuana Canada is expected to drop 2 points to a 66, tying it with Peru at #16. In coming years, America is expected to see higher levels of Freedom and Liberty, while Canada may see modest reforms and increases, America will still lead the pack in Human Freedom.
“The statistic that I find the most troubling is that in the United States, your average American is six times more likely to be incarcerated, in prison or in jail, than your average Canadian, or European, for that matter,” Gilmore said.
Yes. Because Americans are more likely to commit crimes compared to Canadians and Europeans. Barry Latzer explains this well here.
There’s a lot of historical amnesia about the cause of prison expansion, a mistaken sense that it was all about drugs or race and had very little to do with serious crime. This ignores the facts. Between 1960 and 1990, the rate of violent crime in the U.S. surged by over 350%, according to FBI data, the biggest sustained buildup in the country’s history.
One major reason was that as crime rose the criminal-justice system caved. Prison commitments fell, as did time served per conviction. For every 1,000 arrests for serious crimes in 1970, 170 defendants went to prison, compared with 261 defendants five years earlier. Murderers released in 1960 had served a median 4.3 years, which wasn’t long to begin with. By 1970 that figure had dropped to 3.5 years.
Unquestionably, in the last decades of the 20th century more defendants than ever were sentenced to prison. But this was a direct result of changes in policy to cope with the escalation in violent crime. In the 1980s, after well over a decade of soaring crime, state incarceration rates jumped 107%.
When crime began to drop in the mid-1990s, so did the rise in incarceration rates. From 2000 to 2010, they increased a negligible 0.65%, and since 2005 they have been declining steadily, except for a slight uptick in 2013. The estimated 1.5 million prisoners at year-end 2014 is the smallest total prison population in the U.S. since 2005.
Those who talk of “mass incarceration” often blame the stiff drug sentences enacted during the crack-cocaine era, the late 1980s and early ’90s. But what pushed up incarceration rates, beginning in the mid-1970s, was primarily violent crime, not drug offenses.
The percentage of state prisoners in for drug violations peaked at only 22% in 1990. Further, drug convictions “explain only about 20% of prison growth since 1980,” according to a 2012 article by Fordham law professor John Pfaff, published in the Harvard Journal on Legislation.
Relatively few prisoners today are locked up for drug offenses. At the end of 2013 the state prison population was about 1.3 million. Fifty-three percent were serving time for violent crimes such as murder, robbery, rape or aggravated assault, according to the BJS. Nineteen percent were in for property crimes such as burglary, car theft or fraud. Another 11% had been convicted of weapons offenses, drunken driving or other public-order violations.
That leaves about 16%, or 208,000 people, incarcerated for drug crimes. Of those, less than a quarter were in for mere possession. The rest were in for trafficking and other crimes. Critics of “mass incarceration” often point to the federal prisons, where half of inmates, or about 96,000 people, are drug offenders. But 99.5% of them are traffickers. The notion that prisons are filled with young pot smokers, harmless victims of aggressive prosecution, is patently false.
The other line of attack is that the criminal justice system is racist because blacks are disproportionately imprisoned. About 35% of all prisoners, state and federal, are African-American, while blacks comprise about 13% of the U.S. population. But any explanation of this disparity must take blacks’ higher rates of offending into account.
From 1976 to 1995, blacks were identified by police as the perpetrators in more than half of homicides, according to FBI data compiled by the BJS. During this same period, individuals interviewed for the national crime-victim survey described robbery perpetrators as black more than 60% of the time. While the rate of black violent crime fell dramatically after the mid-1990s, it remains disturbingly high. From 2000 to 2014, African-Americans were murdered eight times as often as whites per capita, nearly always as a result of black-on-black assaults.
Such serious crimes are still the main driver of African-American incarceration. The latest BJS figures, from the end of 2013, show that 57% of blacks in state prison were convicted of violent crimes. Only 16% were in for drug crimes. Those numbers nearly match the figures for the state prison population overall.
Nor have blacks always served longer sentences than whites once incarcerated. In 1993, at the peak of the prison buildup, blacks and whites in state prison served identical terms, a median 12 months, for all offenses. For drug crimes, whites actually served slightly more time than blacks, 12 months to 11 months.
A growing consensus now supports making the criminal-justice system less punitive. But prison rates won’t drop dramatically unless serious crime declines further, which is unlikely. It certainly didn’t happen in 2015, when homicides in the 50 largest U.S. cities increased 17%. Nor are racial disparities likely to diminish so long as African-Americans commit a disproportionate number of violent crimes.
He goes on to say.
“I don’t think that’s something that Americans realize, how the prison system and the justice system here is so different from the rest of the Western world,” he added.
The first thing to understand about the myth of the non-violent offender is that he isn’t necessarily non-violent. Prosecutors reduce charges in plea deals that allow violent offenders to plead to non-violent offenses. Alternatively a violent offender may not have actually hurt or threatened anyone.
Burglary, for example, may or may not be a violent crime, depending on the state and depending on whether anyone was on the premises. Weapons possessions also, may or may not be a violent crime. On the other hand election fraud and child neglect are considered violent offenses in some jurisdictions.
A non-violent offender might have broken into a home while carrying a gun. A violent offender might have left his kids in the car.
The term doesn’t tell you that one is safe and that the other is a danger to society. Selling reforms based on it creates a misleading comfort level that is not warranted by how the system actually works.
The Bureau of Justice found that a third of non-violent offenders had a history of arrests for violent crimes. 95% had been arrested in the past. 8% had used a weapon during their offense.
The non-violent offender is still a career criminal. Often a violent one.
The reform pitch focuses on non-violent offenders convicted of drug offenses, but the majority of these non-violent offenders, 1 in 5, had been convicted of drug trafficking.
We’re being sold the myth of prisons filled with innocent minority kids whose only crime was being caught with a joint. The prisons are actually a revolving door for drug dealers. There are cases of unjust sentences, but for the most part the book is being thrown at the people it ought to be thrown at.
Only 4 percent of the inmates in state prisons are there for drug possession. 12 percent are there for manufacturing, trafficking and selling drugs.
What is really on the table is making life easier for drug dealers. This is not about a kid smoking a joint in a corner. This is about the drug dealing that led to an epidemic and nationwide support for a crackdown.
Just as with amnesty, the left side of the partnership is more honest about the endgame than the right. It is willing to talk openly about drug dealers as non-violent offenders and about the impossibility of significantly lowering the prison population numbers without freeing violent criminals. The libertarians meanwhile offer soothing nonsense about non-violent offenders camouflaged in ‘security first’ rhetoric.
They talk about vague “drug offenses” committed by “non-violent offenders” and “first-time offenders”. How could such harmless people possibly be dangerous? Surely it’s wrong to lock them up for life.
The ACLU’s profile of the kinds of non-violent offenders it thinks are wrongly locked up includes Jesse Webster, who was convicted of a conspiracy to distribute around 500 pounds of cocaine. Webster has become a cause célèbre for the left which is demanding that Obama commute his sentence.
Another non-violent offender, Robert E. Booker, ran a crack house and was caught with three assault rifles.
The ACLU describes them as “first-time offenders” and “non-violent offenders” when they were really dangerous drug dealers. The reforms it wants would help that harmless “first-time offender” selling millions in cocaine or the heavily armed “non-violent” criminal running a crack house.
“First-time offender”, like “non-violent offender”, is a misleading term that makes us think of a man who only made a single mistake. But the real mistake is falling for those misleading terms.
Are these the kinds of non-violent first-time offenders that conservatives are comfortable with freeing?
We’ve already tested the left’s crime theories in the past. They don’t work.
Being soft on crime destroys cities. It kills innocent people. The justice system isn’t perfect, but making common cause with the left-wing pro-crime lobby will take us back to a truly broken society.
There are no simple solutions to the problems we face and the reformers don’t have any to offer us. Instead they’re selling the same old liberal policies as fiscally conservative. While prison is expensive, having entire neighborhoods run by men like Booker and Webster is a lot more expensive. Having cities where the weekend begins with six shootings and ends with a full morgue is downright priceless.
The Democratic Party has become powerful through this way of life. Perpetuating it only plays into their hands and alienates potential voters who won’t see a difference between Republicans and Democrats because both seem to care more about illegal aliens and about criminals than about working Americans.
Conservatives have known this all along.
President Reagan said, “We do not seek to violate the rights of defendants. But shouldn’t we feel more compassion for the victims of crime than for those who commit crime?” Unleashing criminals isn’t compassionate. It’s the worst form of cruelty.
When Reagan talked about criminal justice reform, he meant putting away more criminals behind bars. He understood that to win, Republicans had to boldly talk about the real problems instead of launching yet another futile attempt to beat the left by adopting its agenda.
“We figured out how to deal with the crime problem,” Charles Murray wrote. “The key insight was a very old one; Lock ’em up, as we have done in unprecedented numbers.”
The Coalition for Public Safety believes that’s a problem. The low crime rates say it’s a solution.
We’ve been down this road before. It doesn’t work. We don’t need prison reform. We need social reform. A society with values can reach bad men and prevent kids from turning into them. A society without values will instead romanticize them and fight for their freedom as if it were a moral cause.
Canada also ranks higher for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, Zakaria noted. In addition, The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, also ranks Canada much higher for economic freedom.
Reporters Without Borders is a Left Wing Organization with an Anti American Bias and has been debunked for years. No one in the Press in the United States can be arrested for Hate Speech. That’s not the case in Canada. This is largely due to Americas First Amendment which protects Freedom of Speech Expression and the Press. We have this thing called the First Amendment that protects not only the (rich, powerful, rumor-mongering, election-steering, career-destroying, reputation-ruining, personal-life-wrecking) press, but also ordinary people like us.
Canada, where a few years back both Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant were hauled before Human Rights Commissions for writing critically about Islam. Although the Ontario Human Rights Commission declared that the offending article by Steyn — which had appeared in the new magazine Macleans — was beyond its jurisdiction, it condemned the article anyway, rendering, in effect, a guilty verdict without a trial on a matter that it acknowledged was none of its business.
Steyn’s article appeared in 2006, and his cases before the Ontario and Canadian Human Rights Commissions were wound up in 2008; so were two cases against Levant before the Alberta Human Rights Commission. But there’s no indication that anything has changed in Canada to render critics of Islam less vulnerable to government harassment in 2011 than Steyn and Levant were in 2008. In any event, it’s worth noting that Canada’s Press Freedom ranking in 2008 was #13, while the U.S. was tied with several other countries for 36th place.
With press freedom genuinely imperiled across the world, RWB’s downgrade of the U.S. seems to be little more than an attention-grabbing stunt. In the final analysis, RWB’s report highlights a decline not of the freedom of the press but of its seriousness.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, also ranks Canada much higher for economic freedom.
Much Higher? The United States ranks 3.2 points lower then Canada.And that’s only because America had a Left Wing Government for 8 years and Canada had a Conservative Government. This like I have noted on my Medium, will likely change in the Trump-Trudeau Era. While Canada may have a minor advantage in Economic Freedom, America has a much higher Advantage in Overall Freedom as Noted Above.
To Compare Actual Economic Freedom I will break this down based on my own definitions of Economic Freedom as cited from the Heritage Index
Property Rights:
USA:80.1
CA:88.3
Business Freedom:
USA:84.4
CA:81.9
Labor Freedom:
USA:91
CA:73
Monetary Freedom:
USA:80.1
CA:77.8
Government Spending:
USA:55.9
CA:52.3
Tax Burden:
USA:65.3
CA:77.4
Trade Freedom:
USA:87.1
CA:88.4
Investment Freedom:
USA:80
CA:80
Financial Freedom:
USA:70
CA:80
America gets a score of 77, 2 points higher then its actual score. While Canada gets a score of 77 as well, 1 point lower then its original average. The only reason Canada scores higher in the first place is due to its lower Levels of Corruption, a Superior Judicial System and Lower levels of Debt. Something America should aim for, but have nothing to do with Economic Freedom. So while yes Canada has a higher Economic Freedom Score, it does not necessarily have more Economic Freedom. America would tie Canada at 7th place if only the above were used.
A Lack of Economic Freedom has not made America less competitive then Canada either. According to the Global Competitiveness Index The United States ranks 3rd for the third consecutive year, while Canada ranks 15th. According to the 2017 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking America ranks 4th compared to Canada at 12th So Americas Economy remains just as Competitive and as Free, as Canada’s. However this won’t be pointed out as it doesn’t fit their narrative of Canada>America.
“There is a recognition that overall welfare of the society is driven by a healthy private sector,” Gilmore explained.
There was by the Conservative Harper, however now Canada is again reverting to its history of Big Government like it has been for its entire history. In General Americans understand this as well,however with Social Democracy gaining traction this view of American Free Enterprise is threatened. However with Conservatives Libertarians and Federalists. We do hold this view.
And though Gilmore insisted that, in 2017, the Canadian dream certainly seems more attractive than its American counterpart, he insisted that his home country still had “problems” it needed to address. “But overall,” he concluded, “we seem to be muddling through and doing a little bit better.”
Oh boy Canada does have some issues. Including a massive Housing Bubble like we had in 2008.
The United States had our adjustment in 2008, which’s why it’s been so hard here. They’ve delayed the day of reckoning. If you think 2008 was bad here, just wait to see what happens when these things come crashing down in Australia, Canada, and Scandinavia.
Ill suspect Canada’s crash will happen in 2–5 years. Any time you see any kinda asset shift off its fundamentals (house prices should track rents, stock prices should track earnings) it’s always gonna end badly. It ALWAYS does. It’s herd behavior. Gambling doesn’t make anyone wealthier. Wealth comes from hard work and careful study. Wealth is hard to create.
The bubble in Canada is twice as bad as the US. There’s been no correction. Regulation doesn’t (and can’t) control bubbles.
As for the American Dream. Its Far from Dead
America has the Highest Disposable Income in the West. Canada at 11th
The United States has the Overall Highest Income Net Adjusted after Taxes.
The United States has the Highest Mean Equalized Disposable Income at 32,195. Canada at second with 26,602
The United States has the Highest Material, not Social Standard of Living in the West. By the way, since the OECD is a left-leaning bureaucracy that is guilty of periodically rigging numbers against the United States, you can be confident that this AIC data isn’t structured to favor America.
Americans are also the richest on an Individual Basis as well.
The United States has the more Millionaires and Billionaires then any other country.
I can find 10s of Income/ Per Captia GDP Metrics and in every single one of them the United States is ranked ahead of Canada. This is not to bash Canada, like Mr Gilmore bashes America. However its to refute this myth that the United States is supposedly Canada’s Mexico, despite the fact the United States is significantly richer in GDP terms and richer on an Individual Basis as well. America has a superior healthcare system Criminal Justice System as well as more Freedom. Then our Counterparts in Canada.
To Summarize:
- The United States of America is the Freest Nation on Earth as evidenced by the Human Liberty Index. The United States gets a score of 75 at #1. While Canada gets a score of 68 at #10. The Free Existence measures Freedom in a more Classically Liberal way as compared to the CATO Index which scores its Freedom Index off of things that have little to do with Freedom. The Human Liberty basis Freedom off of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
- The United States has the Freest Press in the World despite its low Rankings on the Press Freedom Index. Reporters cannot be arrested for “Hate Speech” here like they can in Canada. Americas high Press Freedom is due to its Bill of Rights which specifically protect Press Freedom
- The United States has the Highest Material Living Standards in the World. Scoring 147 on the OECD Average Individual Consumption Rates. Canada only scores at 109
- The United States leads the world in Educational Opportunity
- Violent Crime, not Racism nor Drugs or long sentencing rates has led to Americas large Prison Population. America needs more incarceration, not less to combat crime and to protect Americans. True Criminal Justice Reform would be to make the system more Punitive and tougher on crime, excluding using Drugs.
- The United States leads the World in Life Expectancy excluding Fatal Injuries as evidenced by the Study Earlier
- The United States has the best Healthcare System in the World as Evidenced by its Survival Rates and Short Wait Times
- America has a much more competitive economy then Canada, ranking 3rd to Canada’s 15th. Despite Canada ranking higher in Economic Freedom.
- Americans have Higher Median Incomes then Canadians
- Americans have higher Per Captia incomes both Nominal and PPP then Canadians
- Canada and the United States both have the same levels of Economic Freedom at 76.
- The United States in General is a More Free and Prosperous then any other nation on Earth. Including Canada
Is the United States perfect? No. We could enact numerous reforms to boost our Freedom and Prosperity and to restore our nation to our founders vision of Limited Government and Economic Freedom. However despite our issues, America is still the Greatest Nation Mankind has ever known. And likely will ever know. While Canada is a great Country, probably one of the best in the world. It has not surpassed the United States in Prosperity,Overall Freedom, Economic Freedom nor Competitiveness. It outperforms America in some areas such as Property Rights, Lower Levels of Corruption, a superior Judicial System, a better tax system(For Now), lower levels of Debt, Freer Trade, and more Financial Freedom. Despite Gilmores wishes to portray America as Canada’s Mexico, the reality shows otherwise.
