The United States, for all its immense power and ‘prosperity,’ is somehow also a uniquely bleak and depressing society. It’s not among the most bleak or depressing nations — countries like Russia, Afghanistan, and North Korea can claim that dubious honor — but the U.S. is way, way down the list of ‘happiest societies.’

In fact, this year, we fell completely off the Top 20 list of happiest countries.

Do you know what the happiest nation/society in the world is? Finland (for many years already)! Yes, that small, frozen nation astride the Arctic Circle is home to the most contented people on Earth.

According to a 2023 NY Times article on Finnish happiness:

Wait — ENOUGH!? Who ever heard such ridiculous, un-American nonsense!?

What makes for a happy nation?

Here are the top ten nations listed in The World Happiness Report:

· Finland

· Denmark

· Iceland

· Sweden

· Israel

· Netherlands

· Norway

· Luxembourg

· Switzerland

· Australia

One striking thing about this list is that most of these nations, by far, are in or near Europe. The only nations that aren’t part of Europe or the ‘Nordic’ cluster are Israel and Australia (and Israel has likely fallen far down the list now, given its perennial war status and increasing fascism and unrest at home.)

The question that immediately arises, of course, is: Why? Why are these particular nations so much happier, in general?

Several possible answers come to mind. These are all fairly small nations, with the exception of Australia, and most have a more cohesive ‘monoculture’ rather than a vast, diverse, and often fragmented cultural landscape like that found in the U.S.

Most of these nations also feature more ‘social-democratic’ governments that blend aspects of democracy with aspects of socialism and offer more public support and a far stronger social safety net.

The bottom line is that these nations have created societies that actually work for their people. They are fortunate that they don’t face all the problems and issues that accompany being a large empire with a highly diverse and fragmented population — like the U.S. — but that fact alone can’t explain their superiority on the ‘happiness scale.’

Cooperation and actively supporting the ‘common good’ are essential

Here’s what I’ve observed: The happiest nations and societies all believe in the usefulness and vital importance of good, functional government and a responsive, compassionate social system.

These societies believe in — and actively support — a strong ‘social contract’ based on social cooperation and commitment. And the end result is a workable, mainly beneficial social system that provides high levels of opportunity, security, and contentment.

. . .

So, what do we do in the United States? We usually do the exact opposite.

Crazily, we live in a society that doesn’t even believe in the vital importance of society, and is unwilling to offer much in the way of social support and a decent safety net. In the U.S., capitalism is king, and we glorify the strong, ‘separate’ individual who ‘pulls himself up by his bootstraps.’ (And yes, I deliberately used the male pronoun because the U.S. is still very much a patriarchal, misogynistic society.)

Everything in the U.S. is all about individual profit and ‘advancement,’ while social progress and sociopolitical advances that support the common good come in a distant second — or worse, are often scorned as ‘socialism’ and rejected altogether.

The U.S. is a deeply weird society

Think about how deeply weird this is: We Americans live in a nation that doesn’t believe in the power and efficacy of good government (the GOP has long aimed to ‘drown the federal government in the bathtub’!); plus, we live in a putative ‘society’ that doesn’t even want to be a cohesive, functional society that works for everyone!

Instead, life in the U.S. revolves around social and economic competition and the pursuit of individual satisfaction through endless ‘wealth-building’ and non-stop consumption. It’s all ‘me, me, me,’ all the time — and the dire, misery-producing results have been metastasizing fast, all around the country.

You see, those European and Nordic nations know something that we have forgotten — or willfully denied. They know that leading a healthy, happy human life often depends greatly on having and participating in a healthy, cooperative society and a well-functioning government — and that the lack of these things can easily lead to profound misery and social dysfunction.

The U.S., however, was founded on entirely different ideas and principles. Sure, we have our famed Constitution and a ‘representative democracy,’ but these barely functional features merely provide the backdrop for our true interests and actual ‘social commitments’ — which are to capitalism, competition, and money-making. True, deep commitment to social progress and social cooperation are nowhere to be found.

Yes, this is the supposed ‘land of the free’ and ‘home of the brave’ — but it’s also the land of the selfish, uncooperative, class-conscious, belligerent, and defiantly ignorant. Not every type of ‘freedom’ is worthwhile or beneficial.

Exactly WHY is life in the U.S. a giant rip-off?

Now, we can begin to answer the crucial question posed in the title of this article: WHY is life in the U.S. a giant rip-off?

To me, it’s pretty obvious:

• We live in a society that refuses to be a decent, supportive society;
• We have a government that is highly dysfunctional 90% of the time;
• We live in a ‘culture’ that celebrates greed and self-centeredness;
• We glorify individualism and competition over social cooperation;
• We vilify basic social safety nets as ‘socialism’;
• We despise the poor and try hard to provide as little relief for them as possible;
• And we also arrogantly proclaim that we are by far ‘the greatest nation on Earth.’

Thus, we’ve created a perfect recipe for widespread social dysfunction, disillusionment, anger, pain, and misery.

. . .

Plus, if we then factor in the immense and growing wealth disparities here, and the burgeoning ‘loneliness epidemic’ our young people are experiencing (despite our now-ubiquitous social networks — go figure!), we’ve got a deep and massive social, economic, and psychological disaster on our hands.

Friends, I don’t know how else to put it: life in today’s U.S. truly IS a giant rip-off.

We’re ripped off emotionally.

We’re ripped off economically.

We’re ripped off politically.

We’re ripped off socially.

We’re ripped off psychologically.

We’re even ripped off spiritually.

The underlying ‘social philosophy’ of the U.S. is dead WRONG

Unfortunately, the entire basis and underlying ‘social philosophy’ of the United States is all wrong. It’s wrong for creating a viable, supportive society; it’s wrong for human nature; it’s not conducive to happiness and contentment, for most of us; and it’s about as wrong as a society can get short of being a full-blown totalitarian/fascist nightmare.

That’s why — exactly why — things in the U.S. are such a hot mess today. It’s why the U.S. seems to be edging closer and closer to total collapse, and why so many Americans are fed up, frustrated, and angry as hell.

In today’s U.S., many of our most basic human and social needs are simply not being met. We are being massively ripped off, yet all we seem able to do — even determined to do — is… more of the same noxious, toxic BS.

This has to change. If Americans are to experience anything resembling real happiness and contentment, we’ll have to change our entire system from the ground up. And for this to happen, our entire system may need to collapse into total dysfunction first.

Our inhumane, happiness-shredding American system needs to be totally de-structured and restructured. De-structured as in… utterly dismantled from within.

It looks like we’re fast approaching this crucial de-structuring (destruction) point — now, today. And as our American collapse intensifies, we’re also entering an extended period of much-needed social transformation.

RIP, U.S.A. Long live U.S.A.2.0!

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This post was previously published on Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs.

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