I made the mistake of checking twitter as I was waiting for my flight to South Carolina. The very first tweet I read sent me over the edge.

I know I shouldn’t have read it and I know you can’t fact check someone who basically lives their life in the fact free MAGA universe:

Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio)

“55% of Democrats don’t think that America is the greatest country ever. “

And

“Crime has gotten so bad in liberal cities that stores are having to close early for safety reasons”

I know he is just baiting and trolling but the lack of intelligence and out right misinformation is stunning.

IF it is true that 55% of Democrats (or anyone) don’t think that America is the best country ever, all it is saying is that we have room for improvement.

I have lived in other countries. I CHOOSE to live here. There are many things that USA does great on. AND there are things we need to improve on.

Despite having the MOST police per capita and spending the MOST money on police and law enforcement IN THE WORLD the USA has the highest rate of violent crime (including murder, rape, school shootings, armed robbery) the highest rate of drug abuse and the highest incarceration rate as well as total prison population on the entire globe.

CLEARLY our criminal justice system is not working properly. Both Democrats and Republicans have been throwing money at the problem for decades. More money, more police, more tactical armor and vehicles in cities does not seem to be working.

To find the answer you need someone smarter than me. Liberals get accused of throwing money at a problem to fix it but both the left and the right have been throwing money at this problem for years and it doesn’t seem to be working. The “fiscally conservative” GOP wants to put even more money into this hoping it will go away. It seems when they preach about fiscal responsibility they are talking about YOU not THEM. When was the last time the GOP pushed for a middle class tax cut? They continue to cut taxes for the highest earners and hope that the money trickles down to us. Trickle down economics was debunked as a scheme (voodoo economics) in the 1980s.

Defund the police? NO

Require better education and training of those involved in the criminal justice system? YES. Most police officers in Europe get more than 5000 hours of training compared to just over 500 in the USA.

Do we need more police? No. We need better police.

The rate of murders in the USA has gone up at an alarming rate. Despite a media narrative to the contrary and an ill-informed tweet by Rep Jordan, this is a problem that afflicts GOP run cities and states at much or MORE than Democratic bastions.

In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40% higher in states won by Trump than those won by Biden. 8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2020 voted for the GOP presidential nominee in every election this century.

Other things which need improvement:

– The USA has the highest percentage of obese people in the world.

– The USA has highest divorce rate in the world by a wide margin

– The USA spends MUCH more on health care than any nation on the face of the earth.

– Americans have more student loan debt than anyone else in the world.

– The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than any other country in the world.

We can be better. Our citizens deserve better. Representative Jordan doesn’t address any problems or provide any solutions. He just wants you to hate the other guy. This is no way to run a house or a business let alone a country.

Is America the greatest country? We Could Be….