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Thom's blog
Should the US aim to be number one in everything?
The United States is number one... or at least, that's what politicians love to claim. However, our lawmakers fail to mention what it is that makes American so exceptional.
According to Lawrence Wittner of the State University of New York, violence is one of the only reasons we find ourselves at the top of any charts. In 2014, the United States ranked 24th in nutrition and basic medical care, 34th in water and sanitation, and 69th in ecosystem sustainability. But, we are number one in military spending, gun ownership, and weapons exports.
A recent report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says that the U.S. government accounts for 37 percent of world military expenditures. Our closest competitors are Russia and China, and together they only account for 16 percent of global military spending. The United States lags far behind other developed nations when it comes to child poverty and life expectancy, but our poor and our sick are better armed than any citizenry in the developed world. In 2013, we had 88 guns for every 100 people, and 40 gun-related deaths per 400,000. In comparison, Britain only has 6 guns per 100 people, and only 1 gun-related fatality for every 400,000 people.
Is this what politicians mean when they talk about “American Exceptionalism?” Do we really want to be number one in death and destruction?
If we diverted just a fraction of our massive military spending to other programs, we could be exceptional in so many meaningful ways. Investments in education, healthcare, and infrastructure would improve the lives of millions of Americans, and improve our ability to measure up with the rest of the developed world. We can't bomb or shoot our way to a better nation, but we can invest in our country to make it truly exceptional.
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Dr. Reza Aslan, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam / Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
 Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON & LAST HOURS - both narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio
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Monday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: Who's watching you...do you self-censor?
Hour Two: Time to close Gitmo for good? Neil McCabe- Neil McCabe, Guns & Patriots Newsletter 
Law: " Boland Amendment", 1982 - 1984 (limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua) by Wikipedia.
Hour Three: How BP screwed the Apalachicola Bay fishermen- Scott Carruthers, Carruthers Law Group.
Speech: " Cross of Iron" - Address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower "The Chance for Peace" delivered before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16,1953. " Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." |
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Today on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET
I'll be debating religion and schools with Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association.
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Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village (NESCV) in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow. Can you help? Now on Facebook. |
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 10/17/14: Dear MSM, Stop Freaking Everyone Out On Ebola
Tonight’s “Big Picture Rumble” discusses how raising the minimum wage would allow many Americans to get off social safety net programs, how we could have sent everyone in America to college for free for almost a decade with the money we’ve spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and how the U.S. is the only developed country without paid maternity leave. Tonight’s “Bigger Picture” panel discusses the latest Ebola news and solutions to contain the deadly virus.
Caller: I'm Afraid to put a Bumper Sticker on my Car...
Who's Watching you...do you Self-Censor?
Thom Hartmann on Economic & Labor News: October 20, 2014
Ferguson...the Bigger Picture
Libertarian, Conservative Ideology is Killing Health Care!
Time to Bring Back FDR's Second Bill of Rights...
Why a Travel Ban Won't Stop Ebola...
The Gas that Could end the World...
Janet Yellen's Liberal Bias?
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