Define the question.
Ok, that's oversimplifying. But here's what I mean.
Who are you? What do you want? "Number One" is subjective if you're just going to lump everything into one sound-bite-sized basket.
I'm sure you've seen those articles about "best place to live" or Rand McNally's old "Places Rated Almanac". They take a shopping cart full of variables, rank each place on them and then churn the numbers through a formula. Money magazine did the same things and proclaimed that Nashua NH (the city next to where I live) as the best place to live in 1987 and 1997.
So I'll ask you - "Number One" at what? ...and for whom?
My first wife seems to think Canada is the place to be. She's got 3 kids, the middle one is about to graduate and as soon as that happens, she's moving there with the youngest. She likes the health care, reduced stress and the fact that she'll be getting back together with the father of her youngest.
My best friend came here legally from South Africa (though you'd swear he was from London). He jokes about being an "African American" when his skin complexion resembles that of copier paper
He jumped through all the flaming hoops to go through the process to become a citizen. For him, safety (crime was exploding in South Africa) and opportunity were paramount.
For me, I wouldn't permanently move anywhere else. Sure, I want to travel internationally - and I finally get my chance later this year. That doesn't mean I think my country is perfect. No matter how good, there is ALWAYS room for improvement.
Again, it's subjective. Take universities - since people like to point out that, by most measures, we still have the best universities (as a whole) in the world. Now look at tuition inflation, professors protected by tenure who make 6 figures and work 10-12 hours a week and drawing that salary from the backs of those who can least afford it (the proitotypical 'starving college student'). Overall, is that better than, say, Costa Rica where everyone gets a college education? My oldest daughter could NEVER have gone to college if it weren't for the $15,000/semester in scholarships she got from the school. My younger daughter, who's grades were still good but not quite as good, has no such prospect.
What if you love to drive? Is the wide-open U.S. the best (except where there are traffic jams) or is it Germany where you can go as fast as you want on the autobahn?
What if you came down with cancer and your health insurance company just cancelled your insurance?
Those are all subjective. There are things that can be measured objectively (like the life-expectancy stats I quoted yesterday, or things like military and health-care expenditures). You can say "most expensive" or "cheapest" for a lot of things.
But you're asking a subjective question. So I'll ask you - "Number One" by what measure?
As far as I'm concerned, I'll repeat what I said to my fiancee this past weekend. In my opinion, the United States is still the country that exists under the best of all practical possibilities. But, like our forefathers, we have to WORK and PLAN to make it so. We have to get off the oil drug, have a comprehensive transportation and energy plan - after all that's what helped us get to our position. We need to find a way to stop wasting so much money (i.e. objectively, we pay more for health care than anyone, subjectively, we're not getting what we pay for by a lot of metrics). We need to talk more and shout less. We need to think more long-term instead of Next Quarter. We need to hold corporations responsible for their actions instead of bailing them out.
Yes, we're still known as The Land Of Opportunity - but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see how much more difficult that is.