The world was divided into three groups after WWII.
The
USA, the UK, the NATO countries, and their allies were termed First World.
The Eastern Bloc, Russia, the Warsaw Pact, China, and their allies were deemed
to be Second World, and the Third World was
comprised of the Non-Aligned Movement[i] and their allies. Of
course, it was the first-world nations that decided who was in second and third
place!
At
the same time, the third world is referred to as countries with extreme poverty. When
you come of age, which school you attended, or whom you talk to on a regular
basis may determine how you configure the world.
And Today - Definitions do not change overnight but they do evolve. What seemed
appropriate eighty years ago, politically, or economically, is now thought to
be insulting to those in the “lower” classes. So, now we refer to nations as developed
and developing.
Developing - Mark Silver, in an op-ed piece for NPR last year, suggested that today,
developing countries are those that need better healthcare systems, better
schools, and better ways to bring water and electricity to their people. I
would add the need to build more democratic systems of government to the mix. One
can think of Nigeria, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Yemen, or Laos among the developing
countries. But, who else?
Us - It is hard to conceive of the USA as anything but the most advanced of
nations. We think of ourselves as the best, blessed to live in an exceptional
place.
Yet
too many of us have not left the state in which we were born or traveled
outside our national boundaries, except to fenced-in island resorts, or on cruise
ships to make that judgment. Much of the world has caught up to us or surpassed
us in some ways.
What
if someone told us we have lost our luster and are now part of the developing
world? How would we react?
Developing- We are impressive compared to a lot of spots on the globe, no doubt
about it. And yet, we do have some developing to do, don’t we?
· We are a divided
nation that needs to unify to remain a democratic republic. We
are generally rated as the 15th to 25th most democratic
country.
o
Many states are trying to take away people’s right to vote, making it
harder to vote, while some candidates this year will not even commit to
accepting the vote of the people in the coming elections
o
Nearly a million people are armed and ready to overthrow the
government if their side does not win
· We have a healthcare
system often ranked 11th in the world or 33rd among wealthy
countries.[ii] Our child mortality is rated
at least 15th in the world, or higher, depending on the source. Insurance
companies do not want to cover pre-existing conditions, and serious sickness
can result in financial bankruptcy. That doesn’t happen in other developed countries
· We allocate
healthcare based on a person’s employment or wealth. We need to change that.
· Political hacks
are trying to convince school boards to reform curriculum to their political
views.
o
Teachers are afraid to teach the truth about our country’s history
because it is against the law in some states to teach anything that would make white
students uncomfortable
· Over a million
people in California do not have clean drinking water in their homes
because the state is unwilling to spend the money to upgrade the infrastructure.
Flint Michigan went years without safe water, Jackson Mississippi went weeks
without clean water and people are afraid to drink it
· Puerto Rico lost
power nationwide in a recent hurricane because the electric grid and
power plants were not brought up to standards after a hurricane five years ago.
Slippery slope – For the most part, we were better once. The U.S. is still the most vibrant economy in the world. We invent technology that changes the world; we can do anything we set our minds to. But that is economics and technology, not democracy. Our democracy is on a slippery slope.
Bottom of the hill - No, we are not a third-world nation, but we have,
in many areas, slipped into the developing nation status.
We
need to fix our infrastructure, improve our educational system in many parts of the country, get college and university costs under control, and bring ourselves out of a 1776-bound country and into
the world of the 21st century.
We
must convince people that our democracy is in peril and needs to be shored
up. We could use some development here and there.
Bottom line – Let us get out the vote
in the next election. Let us vote against those who want to take away our
rights. Let us vote against any new law that would make it harder to vote, or
limit who can vote. Instead of voting for a party, let us vote for democracy.
The Non-Aligned Movement consisted of 120 countries,
including Yugoslavia, India, and Cuba who were not part of another bloc of countries.
[ii] OECD ranking. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development comprises 37 democracies that regularly shared economic and other data for decades. They rank U.S. healthcare 33rd of the 37 countries. Our child mortality rate is 33rd as well.
