Who Has Been More Free, Prosperous, Secure Than America?

Michael, I didn't say we are "free"; I said we are more free/prosperous/secure than any others ever.  The way to competently disagree with my statement is to say "X has been (or was) more enduringly free, prosperous, and secure than America" for some significant society X in human history.  If you don't name us your X, you're just not disagreeing with me.  Care to try?

The only non-embarrassing candidate I can think of for X is Switzerland.  If that's your move, then I'd be happy to settle for #2 and point out that Switzerland is a minarchist success too.

Paulie, I'm glad to hear your modified advice is "ask for the stars unless the stars are not an option".  Well, my judgment is that no state is not an option, so your advice just doesn't work on people who don't already agree with you.

Rocky, it would be silly to pretend that taxation isn't mostly means-tested.  Your "no different" assertion is nonsensical to the extent that it even parses, and your subsequent comment is simply ignorant of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity.  If I ignore any subsequent comments from you, it's because I think they undercut my case even less than your latest ones do.

Michael, if you go by Purchasing Power Parity, then in per-capita GDP the U.S. tops Switzerland (and trounces Japan) no matter if you use data from the IMF, World Bank, or CIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita.  In all three data sets, the only non-city non-oil-kingdom nation that tops America is Norway.  QED, inasmuch as none of this GDP quibbling puts the slightest dent in the point I was making.