In an interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier
this year, comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert was asked whether or not he was hopeful
for America during these tough times. He said that he was indeed hopeful, and this
was his reasoning: [COLBERT:] We're based on an idea. That we imperfectly--a harrowing idea, a harrowing
challenge that we imperfectly embody at all times, which is that all men are created equal. And that they have equal access to justice. And as long as that idea does not disappear,
as long as our Constitution is not changed from that idea, and of course the non-constitutional
inspirational document like the Declaration of Independence. As long as we always keep that, there will
be good presidents, and there'll be bad presidents. There'll be good Congresses and bad Congresses. There'll be good judiciaries and bad judiciaries. But if we can all agree on that thing, then
America will always be the last best hope of mankind. [T1J:] Now I think, Colbert is doing a lot
of good work for political discourse in this country, don’t get me wrong. Colbert’s the homie. But honestly, I found this response pretty
annoying. Hi, I’m T1J. [WEIRD VOICE]: Follow me! [T1J:] I feel like Colbert’s idea is such
an awful standard for what makes a country great. It’s like no matter how awkward and unjust
the laws are, or how much inequality we have, no matter how many people die unnecessarily,
Some dudes wrote some shit down 400 years ago that vaguely implies an ambiguous idea
of freedom and justice. So America number 1. Not only is this obnoxious, but it’s potentially
dangerous. It encourages complacency. It’s as if America is this self-fixing machine,
and all of our problems will instantly be solved with a sprinkle of magical Constitution
dust. [COLBERT:] Because every bit of darkness is
only for now. The light always wins. [T1J:] Does it Stephen? How can you really be sure? And even if this is ultimately true, how much
darkness are you willing to tolerate until that light comes? Also I imagine it’s easier for a couple
of gazillionaires to weather the storm than it is for a lot of other Americans. Just saying. But this attitude isn’t unique to rich people. This idea that “America is the greatest
country in the world” is something that is quite common across classes, races, and
genders. It’s sometimes believed by people who aren’t
even American. Although, these are often people from developing
countries who see the USA as the ultimate land of opportunity. For others however, American customs can seem
pretty random and bizarre. [FIONA:] Why is there military support everywhere? It is so confusing. This is the only country--I've lived in multiple
countries by the way. I have my receipts, I've earned my position
to talk on this. We would go to a movie cinema, and they tell
us that they support the troops. You go to a supermarket and they're like,
"We support our troops!" I'm like, I'm just tryna buy some milk! I just want to see a film! I want to see Peter Rabbit, and I'm reminded
that the military exists? Why? In America, it's so weird, like if you're
driving around California, you'll see stickers on people's cars and they voted for Bernie
or Hillary. Or picket fences -- picket fences, is that
the right word? Pickets. Little signs in their garden telling us that
they voted for Trump. I can't imagine. Firstly it's weird that you guys vote for
the person and not the party, but I can't imagine in Australia being like, "I vote for
the Labour Party!" and put that on my window. You don't care that much! But it is bloody weird to advertise to the
world from the front of your house, or from your car, who you support politically. I can't imagine wearing merch from my President. Or Prime Minister as we have in Australia. In America, people have Trump hats and people
would wear Obama shirts. I have an Obama shirt to be honest. But I could never ever imagine wearing one
for an Australian politician. Apart from Penny Wong, Penny Wong is amazing. I'd wear her merch. Now because this is the internet, I need to
make it clear that America is obviously not the worst place in the world to live. I’m generally happy and safe and have lots
of opportunities that I wouldn’t have in a lot of other countries. But Americans talk about this country as if
no other country is even in its tier. Like if the USA was a Smash Bros. character
it would be Bayonetta. The first things people always bring up when
talking about how awesome America is, is “freedom” and “democracy.” This notion that America is exceptional because
it was founded on the principles of the Declaration of Independence and its assertion that all
men are created equal, or the Constitution which guarantees us basic
freedoms and rights; is kind of absurd. Because those ideas are definitely not unique
to America. In fact, there are many free countries throughout
the world where the people have basically the same rights and privileges that we do
in America. I literally think that some Americans imagine
people from other countries as if they’re still stuck in the 19th century, and somehow
we’re the only ones that progressed. Like I actually think a lot of Americans still
imagine English people to all be basically Bert and Mary Poppins. [BERT:] Mary Poppins, you look beautiful! [MARY POPPINS:] Do you really think so? [BERT:] Cross my heart you do! Like the day I met you. [T1J:]i’m not even British and even I can
tell that’s a bad accent. So then people elaborate, they say, 'Well
America is not the only democracy, but it is the oldest democracy." This specific phrasing, “oldest” democracy,
is intentionally used because anyone who has taken high school world history knows that
America was not the birthplace of democracy. I’m not here to give you a history lesson,
but elements of democracy or rule by the people can be traced as far back as Mesopotamia. But what we now vaguely refer to as democracy
is generally agreed to have begun in Ancient Athens. So, yeah America didn’t do it first. But is America the oldest existing democracy? Well it depends on how pedantic you want to
be about what qualifies as the oldest democracy. Some places like San Marino and Iceland established
republics centuries before America did. However, this democracy was not continuous
as there were periods where both were under authoritarian rule. Also, San Marino is not technically a nation. So does it even really count? I’m just kidding. No disrespect on the off chance that I have
viewers from San Marino. And even though the United States of America
and other European countries eventually established democracies, these were democracies that only
certain people could participate in. Generally, only white men. So if we want to be accurate then perhaps
the oldest true democracy is actually Finland, which was the first country to implement full
universal suffrage in 1906. So even the notion that America is the oldest
democracy, is pretty dubious. There’s no doubt that the formation of the
United States was a historical event, but the concept of democracy was not born here. But even if they were, being the oldest doesn’t
mean that you’re the best. Vince Carter is the oldest NBA player, and
that dude only got like a 73 rating on 2K, come on now. In fact, I feel that that might work against
you, because newer adopters can improve upon all the mistakes that you’ve made. And according to the Democracy Index, which
is compiled in the UK , the United States isn’t even in the top 20 of the world’s
most effective democracies. We’re officially categorized as a “Flawed
democracy.” Of course all of this implies that having
a well-formed democracy is necessary for a country to be considered great. This is something that I believe, but the
more time I spend on social media, and the more people I meet, the more I realize how
varied the political spectrum can be. And it’s not something that everyone agrees
with. But the Democracy Index is not the only index
out there. There are many ways to measure the success
of a nation. Like how free are the people? Well the United States is ranked 17 on the
Human Freedom Index. How healthy are the people? The United States has the worst healthcare
outcomes out of the top 11 wealthiest nations, even though we spend the most on healthcare. America is 14th in education. We’re 4th in median income. And I understand I’m doing the meme from
The Newsroom, but it’s true. [WILL MCAVOY:] When you ask, 'What makes us
the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck your talking about!" [T1J:] And look, none of these rankings are
like that bad in the grand scheme of things. Well, the healthcare thing is pretty bad. But obviously there’s room for improvement,
and there is for any country, but the point is, I’m failing to see the 'exceptional'
part. America has a unique, fascinating history
and has definitely played a large role in the story of humankind. But so have other nations. And quite objectively, we’re not the best,
at anything. Or at least anything that’s measurable. The only thing America seems to be literally
the best at is producing billionaires and blowing shit up. And while a lot of Americans think both of
those things are pretty cool, I’d argue that they actually count against our greatness. I think we take a lot of things for granted
in the United States just because we’re used to it. We just assume that everything we do is done
in the best way because that’s how we do it. But when you look from an outside perspective
you might see things a little differently. [FIONA:] Why do your drugstores sell things
that aren't drugs? When I go into a pharmacy, I'm expecting to
pick up either some over the counter medicine or some prescription medicine. Just medicine. Sometimes they have jellybeans. Is that an Australian thing? There's always jellybeans at the pharmacy. But in America, the drugstore has like an
entire clothing aisle, you can buy so much chocolate, you can buy cigarettes! There are cigarettes behind the counter sold
in a pharmacy! The obvious one, tipping. Tipping is dumb. Your system is broken. Fix that. I shouldn't have to go and pay for my meal,
and they pay the servers so they can have a living wage. Like I will do it, because I don't want them
to not have money to live. But it shouldn't be the consumer's responsibility. It should be the business that just pays their
staff a living wage. Another one is people to bag your groceries?! This has never happened in any other country
I've been to. You have the person who scans the groceries
and then you have an extra person to put them in a bag! It should either just be that first person,
or you just do it yourself! You've got a bag, thank you for the item,
pop it in there. Why is there an extra person to fill your
bag at the grocery store. I feel like all your issues are down to individualism
by the way, that's just like the main thing. Like you're out for yourself, if that makes
any sense. "Oh I don't want MY guns taken away" but you
don't think about the wider impact, cause you're a good gun owner. But the wider impact of there are not good
gun owners doesn't register. or "I have good health care, why do we need
to give health care to the poor people, I just worked my way here"
Like have you thought outside of you? Anyway [laughs] but what's a whole other topic! [T1J:] So a person who, in spite of all the
problems, and all of the weird bizarre shit we do here, still wants to say that America
is the greatest country in the world would have to appeal to some vague, intangible idea
about what makes a country cool. And I think this is what people like Stephen
Colbert have done. Bret Stephens, a columnist for the New York
Times wrote that “Greatness, like happiness, lies less in the achievement than in the striving—and
in the question of what we are striving for.” That sounds very poetic, but again it’s
impractical and complacent. If we “strive” for centuries and still
end up doing a shitty job of protecting the health and well being of our citizens, ensuring
social and economic justice, or preventing needless deaths in wars – to name a few
things. At some point, someone has to say, “Hey
maybe this country isn’t that great at what it claims it wants to do.” Especially when other nations in the world
are demonstrably closer to that ideal than you are. Look, as far as world nations go. America is more good than bad. There are many, many issues, and a lot of
weird stuff we take for granted. But we have extensive freedoms, universal
suffrage, and relatively high standards of living. But I think that we have to do away with this
idea that America is the greatest country in the world. It’s just not. There are several other countries who are
better are doing the things we claim to be so great at. Just look at any study or any index comparing
countries with regard to, well anything; freedom, equality, healthcare, happiness, education,
wealth--The United States is never at the top of any of those lists, many times it doesn’t
even make the top ten. But that’s okay! I feel like some people are immediately defensive
at the mere suggestion that America isn’t perfect. And that’s kind of childish, right? It reminds me of the kids who used to throw
their controllers across the room when they lost in a game of Mortal Kombat. If we really want to be the greatest, then
we need to get rid of this complacency and dogmatic belief in the self-fixing magic of
the Constitution and actually take some notes from our world neighbors. DAS JUS ME DOE. What do you think? [FIONA:] Thanks for watching. Subscribe to my channel. I'm--a YouTuber? What the fuck. How do I end this? What do you want me to say, Kevin? What do you want me to say?! Ok. Bye. [T1J:] Big thank you to Fiona for helping
me out with this one. Please go subscribe to her, she’s great. There’s a link in the description below. Congratulations to these people, for winning
the t-shirt and wristband giveaway. I will be getting in touch with you soon! If you’d like to support this channel and
help make it more sustainable, consider becoming a patron on Patreon, which is a site where
you can donate a couple bucks a month to help me create better content for you guys. Big shoutouts to all of my existing patrons. And I will see you all in the next video. Bye.
Kevin, I really enjoyed this perspective, and introduced my kids to you with it.