The Hightower Report

A Beacon of Social Justice?

"USA: We're No. 1!"

Oh, wait – Iceland is No. 1. But we did beat out Poland and Slovakia, right? Uh ... no. But go on down the rankings and ... there we are! No. 27, fifth from the bottom. So our new national chant is, "USA: At least we're not last!"

A foundation in Germany has analyzed the social justice records of all 31 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, ranking each nation in such categories as health care, income inequality, preschool education, and child poverty rate. The overall performance by the U.S. – which boasts being an egalitarian society – outranks only Greece, Chile, Mexico, and Turkey. Actually, three of those countries even performed better than ours in the education of preschoolers, and Greece did better than the U.S. on the prevention of poverty.

Being at the bottom of the heap in social justice confirms the reality of both economic and political inequality that the Occupy Wall Street movement is protesting. It also helps explain why Occupy's grassroots uprising in America has spread so rapidly to more than 600 communities and has generated such broad public support. After all, our nation is fabulously rich, ranking well ahead of nearly all OECD members in national wealth, so there is no excuse for us to sit at the bottom of the list in education, health care, poverty, and other measures of a democratic and egalitarian society.

Bluntly put, We the People have let today's elites abandon America's founding principles of fairness, justice, and equal opportunity for all. These privileged few have purchased our government, stolen the wealth and economic futures of working families, and reduced America to a plastic imitation of the country we thought we had. The Occupy rebellion is long overdue and on target. Join it!

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For more information on Jim Hightower's work – and to subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter, "The Hightower Lowdown" – visit www.jimhightower.com. You can hear his radio commentaries on KOOP Radio 91.7FM, weekdays at 10:58am and 12:58pm.