By what metric is he, or anyone using to measure greatness? There are plenty of organizations and surveys that do measure the things that most people believe are markers for greatness. Things like education, healthcare, life expectancy, happiness of their citizens, prosperity, and yes, even personal freedom. Look up any of these sources such as the Legat Prosperity Index and you can see facts, not nationalistic jingoism. I’ve got sad news for Mr. Cole, in none of them is the U.S. at the top or anywhere near it. I understand national pride but it takes more than a catchy chant of “we’re number one” or “USA, USA” to make it true. We lead the world in two categories, the percentage of our people behind bars and defense spending. If we are truly going to ever be the greatest country in the world again, we have to admit that other countries do a lot of things better than us, and be willing to learn from them. There isn’t much motivation for improvement if you constantly brag that you are already the best.