Why are we so much better than everyone else

Man, I'm in a ranting mood after being gone for about 2 weeks. Anyway, while I was over in Bermuda I was in this Bookstore that was declaring itself as the second largest collection of books on a ship. It caught Suz's brother (Greg) and my attention that we had to go check it out. Anyway, we go onboard and find that it had to be a drug smuggling operation that uses the store as a cover up so it can dock in certain ports since the book selection makes Target's book department look like Barnes and Noble. Anyway, Greg and I had this little exchange in the middle of the ship in front of about 10-15 Irish and British couples;

Greg: Dude, this place sucks! (almost yelling it)
Derek: Um...your the reason why people hate Americans
Greg: No, places like this is why Americans feel that they are so much better than everyone else.

And on that note we left the ship. But that little exchange started to make me think, why is our country so much better than everyone else? Our economy is flourishing, our infrastructure is second to none, the political atmosphere allows for major disagreements without violence or corruption, and the products we have and the
conveniences that are supplied to us is the envy of just about every country. And most importantly our government is strong without heavy taxation and too many restrictions on many of our personal freedoms. You don't really appreciate it until you actually travel abroad. How are we able to maintain this type of economy and lifestyle all at once, when other countries can't even achieve one of these benefits?

Well, the answer came from my current bathroom reading book "Peace Kills" by PJ O'Rourke. He is examining the Middle East situation post 9/11 and takes a closer look at Egypt and how does a country go from having a powerhouse
economy, with substantial innovation, law and order, and learning when there was none. But something went wrong. How did the Arabs fall behind Europe, America, and now the Far East. Many blame it on the Islamic religion, but O'Rourke states that the Koran preaches the fulfillment of contracts, the payment of all debts, and actually states that "God hath permitted trade". He goes on to say that:

It was probably nothing so air-filled as "The experimental model and European rational thought" or "the Protestant work ethic" or "Confucian values" Civilizations, like people, trip over smaller things. The answer may be as boring as a real estate title search. It also has to do with the dearth of private land in the Islamic world is of a piece with the excessive government centralization that has always plagued the civilizations of the Fertile Crescent. Governments seemed to have reasoned that if they could earn so much a year by taxing Farmers or the pepper trade, they could earn even more by taking it over entirely. This works so well in Cuba.

He goes on to say that from 1952-1970, Gamal Nasser, the ruler of Egypt, we ahead and nationalized banks, insurance companies, and other major enterprises while limiting land ownership and cutting off imports so to give his nationalized companies the bulk of the markets. On a different but similar note, many European countries have extremely high tax rates to pay for nationalized healthcare and other services, forcing the removal of the middle class. And this isn't in third world countries either, but rather countries like France and Spain. And these high tax rates are why these countries economies are declining year after year.

The point of this post isn't to say that a low tax rate and deregulation is the key to a strong economy, but rather how amazing it is that America can have the best of both worlds; a strong economy along with a strong government that provides stability without over-reaching and removing many of our freedoms. And you don't really get to appreciate it until you go and spend some time out of the country in non resort areas. Here you will see how fucked up many of these other countries are and how nobody is doing anything to change it. And if you think I'm being arrogant, go ahead and try to spend a couple of weeks in a foreign country and just try to get around, buy decent groceries, find cheap gas, or even find a decent hospital. Sort of puts my airline post below in perspective.