Although I'm no hater of the good old USA, this is a little self-congratulatory. You're certainly technological leaders in most fields for the understandable reasons of wealth, size and necessity (military driving cutting-edge research in order to maintain position as the dominant world superpower). But I'm afraid the 'unprecedented human happiness' you cite is only readily available to an elite few.
> You're certainly technological leaders in most fields for the understandable reasons of wealth, size and necessity
This ignores the history of capitalism, which is more important than the factors you mention. And capitalism was a philosophical and legal development.
> But I'm afraid the 'unprecedented human happiness' you cite is only readily available to an elite few.
That's just not true. The American sense of life is a happy one, unlike the British or continental European sense of nausea, dread, anti-semitism, nationalism, requiring one's brother to be one's keeper, and so on. Unfortunately I think the American sense of life is mostly gone in the east coast cities.
I'm not religious, but given that the context of that quote, being your brother's keeper is not that bad a plan. Better than murdering them.
To be simultaneously jingoistic about the USA while wagging a finger at Europeans for nationalism and bigotry reminds me of another bible quote. First cast out the beam out of thine own eye.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/23/swiss-reign-sup...