QA问答：是什么让美国成为一个成功的国家?

Don Emerson
Yes, the United States has a very strong economy.
The problem of course that is illustrated by the article that you lixed to the question, is that the economy doesn’t distribute the enormous wealth equitably at all. That’s why in the “richest country in the world” we have growing poverty, and lower wages, a lower standard of living, and an overall decline in prosperity.
So if you are simply pondering the strength of the US economy, the answer is that it is second to none. If your question is asking “how is it that there is so much poverty and economic misery in the United States if indeed the US economy is so strong, the answer to that is, “because the wealthy class control the economy, and they take everything for themselves, leaving nothing for anyone else”.

的确是的，美国的经济非常强大。
但文章中提到的问题是，经济并没有将巨大的财富公平分配。这就是为什么在这个世界上“最富有的国家”，我们却面临着日益严重的贫困、工资降低、生活水平下降，整体繁荣度出现衰退。
因此，如果你只是在掂量美国经济的实力，它无疑是首屈一指的。但如果你问的是，“如果美国经济真的如此强大，为什么美国还有这么多的贫困和经济困境？”答案就是，“因为富有阶层控制了经济，他们把一切都据为己有，没有给其他人留下任何东西”。

Shawn Klein
Yes, very strong. And backed by the strength of our military too. We made most of the rules, and have a huge head start over most other countries. So we're still in the lead, if we're playing the ranking game.
The economy is a “religion” here, even a “person” or diety. It is very unhealthy. But it's a beast. And too big to fail. There are real, genuine, social issues we have, yes. And issues of fairness in representation and policy
America has become an oligarchy. People are suffering / struggling. Wealth is power, and power allows some people to do things others cannot. Equality is a problem, or the lack thereof. The people have done this to themselves… no one else is voting the same two parties into office, let alone career politicians. The people need to wake up, think, change their behavior. Get involved..
What the people are not doing is electing honorable and trustworthy characters. They choose celebrity and pitchmen instead. They are being conned, have been for decades. It wouldn't hurt to have some thinkers in office too, to help guide the honorable people that would put the flag first. Country above party, religion, self.
But none of this changes the fact that we have a big, strong, economy. With flaws. We are due for a correction… which will hurt the average person much more than the ones controlling the economy. They love the game. They should, since they lobbied for most of policy that is in place, or isn't in place (but should be).

是的，非常强大。并且得到了我们军事力量的支撑。我们制定了大部分规则，并且比大多数其他国家有一个巨大的领先优势。如果我们玩排名游戏的话，所以我们仍然处于领先地位。
经济在这里几乎是一种“宗教”，甚至被视为一个“个体”或神祇，这是非常不健康的，但它是个巨兽，而且大到不能倒。我们确实有一些真正的社会问题。还有代表权和政策的公平问题。
美国已经变成了一个寡头统治的国家。人们正在受苦和经历困境。财富就是力量，而力量让某些人能做其他人做不到的事。平等（或者说缺乏平等）是个问题。这是人们自己选择的结果……毕竟，没有其他人在投票给那两个轮流执政的政党，更不用提那些职业政客了。人们需要觉醒，深思并改变自己的行为，积极参与政治过程。
人们没有给正直和值得信赖的人投票。他们反而给名人和推销员去投票。他们被骗了，已经几十年了。办公室里如果有些思考者也会很有帮助，他们可以协助指导那些会将国家置于首位的正直人士。国家高于政党、宗教和个人。
但这一切都不能改变我们拥有一个庞大且强大的经济体这一事实。虽然有缺陷，我们也需要调整……这种调整对普通人的伤害远大于控制经济的人。他们喜欢这个游戏，他们本应如此，因为他们为大多数已经到位或尚未到位(但应该到位)的政策进行了游说。

Dr. Balaji Viswanathan
What makes America be a successful country?
A democratic system that has been quite stable for more than 220 years, except for a couple of years during the civil war. Very few nations had such a long period of domestic stability.
A strong culture of innovation and creativity. Slightly open immigration, top class universities and a tradition of entrepreneurship has kept US in the cutting edge of technology for over 120 years.
A large nation with a good chunk of it is habitable. Majority of Russia is uninhabited. China has massive deserts and Brazil has a big portion of rain forests.
Large level of domestic resources. Like the other big nations, US has a large amount of natural resources - oil and food. US discovered crude oil and is the biggest producer of food. By being more self-sufficient than say Japan, US can produce a more aggressive trade policy that is less defensive.
Using the language of international business. British Empire made English as the predominant language of the globe and US has helped continue the trend with a strong feedback loop.
No major domestic threat. Other countries in the Americas are neither that hostile nor powerful to threaten the US. Except for Pearl Harbor and 9/11, US territory was never attacked in a big way in centuries. The oceans act as a buffer from other powers. Countries in Asia and Europe often have to deal with hostile neighbors who are ready to war anytime.

美国为何能成为一个成功的国家？
其民主体系在过去220多年里保持了相当大的稳定性，内战期间的几年是少数例外。很少有国家能享有如此长久的国内稳定时期。
美国拥有强烈的创新和创造力文化。适度开放的移民政策、世界级的大学和深厚的创业传统，让美国在超过120年的时间里保持了科技的领先地位。
作为一个幅员辽阔的国家，美国大部分地区适宜居住，这与俄罗斯的大片无人区、中国的广袤沙漠和巴西的大片雨林形成鲜明对比。
美国还拥有丰富的国内资源。和其他大国一样，美国拥有大量的自然资源，例如石油和粮食。美国是原油的发现国，也是世界上最大的粮食生产国。与日本等国家相比，美国更加自给自足，这使得它能够采取更具攻击性、不那么被动的贸易政策。
英语作为国际商务的通用语言，这一局面部分得益于大英帝国，美国则通过强大的正反馈循环继续推动了这一趋势。
美国没有面临重大的国内威胁。美洲其他国家既不敌对也没有能力威胁到美国。除了珍珠港事件和9/11恐怖袭击外，美国本土几个世纪以来从未遭受过大规模的攻击。海洋为美国提供了与其他大国之间的天然屏障。相比之下，亚洲和欧洲的国家常常不得不面对随时可能发动战争的敌对邻国。

Bring Back Democracy · 
The question is missing an unspoken clause: What makes America a successful country compared to other countries?
There is a great book out there that explains why nations succeed or fail, called “Why Nations Fail” and it looks at how countries grow, expand and be successful.
America is an extremely resource rich nation. We have an embarrassment of riches. The US, by itself, could feed the entire world if it so desired. Few other nations can say that. But that is not all. When it comes to resources, America is rich. But that is extractive wealth. Russia has as much or more extractive wealth and they are a totally failed nation. It’s not just education for the same reason. Russians are well educated but Russia is a failed nation.

这个问题遗漏了一个不言而喻的条件:与其他国家相比，是什么让美国成为一个成功的国家?
有一本很棒的书解释了国家成功或失败的原因，叫做《为什么国家会失败》，它研究了国家是如何成长、扩张和成功的。
美国资源极其丰富，我们拥有令人艳羡的丰富资源。如果愿意，美国完全有能力养活整个世界。这是很少有国家能够做到的。但这并不是全部。在资源方面，美国确实非常富有。但这些主要是开采型财富。俄罗斯拥有同样多甚至更多的开采型财富，但它们却是一个彻底失败的国家。教育同样重要，俄罗斯人教育水平很高，但俄罗斯却是一个失败的国家。

The factors that make America successful include lots of good resources, but England has few resources and Japan has few resources but both are very successful nations.
So while the factors that make America a successful nation includes resources and education, it must be more.
Those factors include the ability to control owns own intellectual property through patents and copyrights. These things began in Italy in the 1500s; the first patent holder was Brunelleschi. the world’s greatest engineer, but the ability to profit from your own IP propels and incents individuals to succeed, and their success makes the nation succeed.

美国之所以成功，包括了丰富的资源，但英国和日本资源并不丰富，却同样非常成功。
因此，虽然资源和教育是使美国成为成功国家的因素之一，但必然还有其他更重要的因素。
这些因素包括通过专利和版权来控制并保护自己的知识产权的能力。这些概念最早起源于16世纪的意大利；世界上第一位专利持有者是布鲁内莱斯基，他是世界上最伟大的工程师之一。但真正能够激励个人成功并推动国家成功的，是能够从自己的知识产权中获得利润的能力。

The second factor is that the Law is not arbitrary; such that people believe the Law applies to everyone and is specific, understood and equally applied makes it possible for people to freely associate and exchange ideas and take risks. American law, based after wildly successful English law (and all having basis in Roman law) has evolved to at least create the idea that “All men are equal under the law”. The practice is often different but to the extent that people can depend on the law for redress makes the nation successful. This is another reason Russia is a failure: there is no real rule of law. The law is bought.
A third factor is the ownership of property by individuals. Where people can own things and property they have the freedom to take risks, to offer inheritance, to grow wealth, not just riches and in wealth there is success. 

第二个关键因素是法律的确定性；人们相信法律对所有人一视同仁，具体明确且公正执行，这让人们能够自由地交流思想、交换意见并勇于冒险。美国法律沿袭了极为成功的英国法律体系（而英国法律体系又基于罗马法），至少在理念上已经形成了“法律面前人人平等”的观念。虽然实际操作中可能存在差异，但只要人们能够依靠法律来维护自己的权益，这个国家就能够成功。这也是俄罗斯失败的原因之一：那里缺乏真正的法治精神，法律可以被金钱左右。
第三个因素是个人财产所有权的确立。当人们能够拥有自己的财产时，他们就有动力去冒险、留下遗产、积累财富，而不只是暂时的富有。财富的增长本身就是一种成功。

A fourth factor is participative democracy or political institutions. Where people can change the direction of the country through direct access to the political process there will be success. Nothing stultifies and hinders success than a one party, one ideology system where the people have no say in how the country should be run.
A fifth factor is free and accessible education. It has often been said that education is the biggest investment a country can make and this is probably true. Where students are free to learn and explore and experiment, the fractious nature of development explodes. Where thinking is prohibited or directed or indoctrinated, the nations fail.

第四个因素是参与式民主或政治制度。在人们可以通过直接参与政治进程来改变国家方向的地方，就会取得成功；没有什么比一党专政、一种意识形态制度更愚蠢、更阻碍成功了，在这种制度下，人民对国家应该如何运行没有发言权。
第五个关键因素是教育的自由和可及性。常言道，教育是一个国家能进行的最重要的投资，这话确实不假。当学生能够自由地学习、探索和尝试时，发展的动力就会蓬勃而出。相反，在那些压制思考、限制思想自由或强行灌输特定观念的地方，国家往往难以取得成功。

Now, Jared Diamond has an opposing theory of development in his book “Collapse” that also discuses the trajectory of nations. And while he largely agrees with Why Nations Fail, he points out that the major factors in the failure of nations is primarily the result of income inequality, non-partiicpation in citizenship/army by complacent citizens and the overbearing theorcratic control of government and the people by religion. He looks at five failed societies and all of those factors come into play in advanced societies that have failed.

贾雷德·戴蒙德在他的著作《崩溃》中，提出了一个与《国家为什么会失败》相异的发展理论，该理论同样探讨了国家的发展轨迹。虽然他在很多方面与《国家为什么会失败》的观点一致，但他强调，国家衰败的主要原因在于几个核心问题：首先是收入分配的不公，其次是公民对于参与国家事务或军队的冷漠态度，再有就是宗教对政府和民众生活的过度控制。他分析了五个社会崩溃的案例，发现这些因素都在那些曾经繁荣却最终失败的先进社会中发挥了作用。

To the extent that citizens in America can succeed through their own efforts no matter where they start from on the economic or social scale; that the nation is secular; that people actually participate in the political process and vote and maintain their armed forces as citizens and not mercenaries, the nation can succeed. The sickness sets in when any of these factors is upset. For example, the advanced nation of Easter Island was devastated by insane religious civil wars. The Incas failed because their ruling class became so rich versus the average population that they moved their homes into the cliffs so they didn’t have to deal with the lower classes, and didn’t participate in citizenship activities and allowed the army to decay through use of mercenaries who had no stake in the success of the country.
So in the end, America is successful for a number of factors, any one of which is always at risk, and every one of which is the “leg” of a table that when kicked out, weakens the entire system until it collapses.

美国之所以成功，是因为多个因素共同作用，任何一个因素都至关重要，就像桌子的腿一样，一旦失去任何一个因素，整个结构就会变得脆弱，最终可能导致崩溃。这些因素包括：
无论公民在经济或社会阶层中的起点如何，他们都有机会通过个人努力获得成功。
美国是一个世俗国家，这意味着宗教不会过度干预政府和公民生活。
公民积极参与政治过程，通过投票行使权利，并作为公民身份参与维护武装力量，而不是雇佣雇佣兵维护武装力量。
当这些因素中的任何一个失衡时，就会引发问题。例如，复活节岛上的发达国家被疯狂的宗教内战摧毁了。印加帝国的失败部分原因是统治阶级与普通民众之间贫富差距过大，导致他们与社会脱节，不再参与公民活动，甚至让军队依赖于对国家成功无利益关系的雇佣兵，从而导致军队的衰败。
总之，美国的成功依赖于这些支柱因素的稳定，任何一个因素的弱化都可能对整个国家体系产生不利影响。

Nikola Tosic
Why is the United States so successful as a country compared to other countries?
Slavery - any country which had slaves, or any similar cheap labour, is ahead of those who didn't. South Africa Apartheid is another example, making South Africa much richer than most African countries.
Lack of really bloody wars - USA participates in wars in other locations. This is very different from what most European countries experienced - bloody wars exterminating large percentages of population and economy.
Consistent system - some countries went through several systemic changes and revolutions, from monarchy, to Communism, to transition, to capilaist democracy. USA has a single system for most of its life which allows accumlation of capital and know-how.
Immigrants - USA gets the best immigrants. The most talented and driven people don't go to China or Switzerland, but to USA, to do whatever they want to do. If someone wants to be the best in something eventually they must immigrate to USA.
Business support - USA is a horrible place to be an employee but the best place to be an entrepreneur. It is a country designed to make products and sell them to hundreds of millions. No other country can compare. Try selling with such efficiency in Argentina or Russia. Also there is an enormous range of business services for all needs.

相较于其他国家，美国为什么如此成功？
奴隶制， 任何拥有奴隶或类似廉价劳动力的国家，都会领先于那些没有这些的国家。南非的种族隔离制度是另一个例子，它使南非比大多数非洲国家都要富裕得多。
缺乏毁灭性的战争， 美国在其他地方参与战争。这与大多数欧洲国家所经历的非常不同——血腥的战争消灭了大量的人口和经济。
一致性的体系， 一些国家经历了多次体制变革和革命，从君主制到共产主义，再到转型，最后到资本主义民主。美国在其大部分历史中都保持着单一的体制，这有助于积累资本和专业知识。
移民 ，美国吸引了最优秀的移民。最有才华和动力的人不会去中国或瑞士，而是去美国，去做他们想做的事情。如果有人想在某个领域成为最好的，他们最终必须移民到美国。
商业支持，美国对雇员来说是个糟糕的地方，但对企业家来说是最好的地方。它是一个设计用来制造产品并向数亿人销售的国家。没有其他国家可以与之比拟。试着在阿根廷或俄罗斯以这样的效率销售吧。此外，还有各种各样的商业服务来满足所有需求。

Imad Hashmi
1. This is the post WWII world. The nation which won that war is the hero until another nation emerges through another war. WWII pretty much destroyed all potential competitors of US.
2. US has a huge population resource. There are many western countries in the world which enjoy the same level of QoL as the US but collective GDP of those countries is far less than the US because of its population. Many progressive modern economies have the fundamental strength to innovate and grow but they can't compete with US because their markets are not backed by such a huge population.

我们所处的是二战之后的国际秩序。在那场战争胜利的国家自然成为英雄，直到有其他国家通过战争崛起。二战基本上摧毁了美国的所有潜在对手。
美国拥有庞大的人口优势。世界上有很多西方国家的生活品质与美国相近，但由于人口规模的差异，这些国家的总体GDP远低于美国。许多具有前瞻性的现代经济体虽然具备创新和增长的基础实力，却因市场规模不及美国庞大而难以与之竞争。