Polls in recent months show Americans in a foul mood when it comes to the economy, their personal finances and the general direction of the nation.
Most Americans think the great American Dream – the idea that our children will achieve a standard of living higher than our own – is dead. Others say that the environment is on a crash course with planetary devastation due to global warming. And if that doesn’t do us in, the deadly virus Ebola is wreaking havoc across parts of the Third World.
Not a lot to be thankful for.
Or is there?
Thanksgiving is a time to cast aside the gloom and pessimism and look to the things that have gone right in the last year. It turns out there are lots of things going right in America today. I always challenge college and high school kids: When was there a better time to be alive than today? And what country would you rather live in than the United States? Only a fool who knows nothing about the past would say that things were better 25 or 50 or 100 years ago than now.
So here are my 14 reasons to give thanks in 2014.
1. You are likely to live a longer and healthier life than any other generation. Life expectancy in the United States rose by close to another year in just the last five reported years and has hit a new high of 78.8 years in 2012 (the latest year available). Death in childhood or even as a young adult is rarer than ever. In the last 100 years Americans have miraculously tacked on almost 25 years of additional life. We are living healthier at every age. Sixty is the new 40.
2. We are making progress in the race to discover cures for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease and other destructive diseases. For example, data from the National Cancer Institute show the 5-year relative survival rate from most forms of cancer was the highest it has ever been over the most recent period (2004-2010). The age-weighted death rate from heart disease has been more than cut in half in less than 30 years.
3. Ebola has been contained. No, we are not all going to die from this killer virus. Medical researchers now report that a vaccine for Ebola may become available by the end of year – potentially eradicating the disease forever.
4. The stock market is on a wild upward ride making us all wealthier. Stocks hit another all-time high in late October. Trillions of dollars of new wealth have been created since the lows of the Great Recession. These gains benefit far more than just the “wealthy” few, since nearly half of Americans own stock directly or through pension and 401k plans. Valuations have nearly tripled since the March 2009 stock market lows.
5. America is within sights of becoming energy independent. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is nearly dead. The shale oil and gas boom has increased U.S. Energy production by 50 percent in the last six years. We are now the largest producer of natural gas in the world (so sorry, Vladimir Putin) and we will soon be the largest oil producer. By 2020 the U.S. will be the world’s dominant energy player.
6. Gas prices have fallen to below $3 a gallon in most states. This Thanksgiving the pump price will be lower than at anytime since late 2010. Fill ‘er up!
7. Flying and driving in the United States are safer now than at anytime in history. Visiting grandma this Thanksgiving? Highway death rates over the past five years (deaths per million miles traveled) is at an all-time low. No major U.S. airlines experienced a crash in the last 12 months despite billions of passengers traveling.
8. Your laptop or tablet computer has more computing power than every computer used by all countries in World War II. You have more information at your fingertips than you would if you had all the books in the Library of Congress.
9. Violent crime rates in the U.S. have fallen to their lowest levels in at least 40 years. The streets in America are safer overall than at any time in recent history.
10. The planet is not warming, according to trend-lines based on Remote Sensing Systems satellite data over the past 18 years ending in September 2014. And across the United States, temperatures overall are little changed from 30 years ago. Also, there were no major North American hurricanes in 2014. The climate change alarmists and their prediction models have been dead wrong about a catastrophic warming trend. Look for them to pivot back to their 1970s primal scream about a second ice age coming.
11. America has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions more than any other nation in the last six years. That’s because we are burning more natural gas and less coal.
12. America is still by far the No.1 desired destination nation for the world’s immigrants. We take in about 1 million immigrants each year. These freedom seekers still see America as the greatest land of opportunity.
13. The Google car is right around the corner—if bureaucrats get out of the way. Very soon, smart, driverless cars may take you anywhere you want to go, whenever you want to go, at a fraction of the cost of owning or leasing a car. And by the way, “smart cars” will be safer too!
14. Last but not least: Fat is good for you, after all. So while you give prayers of gratitude this Thanksgiving, eat up. Smother that bird with grease and gravy and buttered mashed potatoes and all the fixings. No need to feel guilty–just be happy to be alive in America at this amazing point in time on earth.
A shorter version of this was published on FoxNews.com originally.
