Maggie Young
   News Editor

Land of the free and home of the brave.

It’s election season, and politicians can be seen making speeches about ensuring a brighter future, “making America great again,” or discussing the threat of losing what an innumerable amount of public figures have called “the greatest country in the world.”

Inspirational political jargon is used to amp up the spirit of crowds, column readers or news clip watchers. There are many factors that make America great, but there is an alarming number of factors that make justifying the superlative “greatest” increasingly difficult.

Patriotism is something voters want to see in candidates. Patriotism is something that unites a country, and it is something America has had no shortage of.

A Gallup poll in 2015 found that 81 percent of Americans were in the range of “very” to “extremely” proud to be American.

This patriotism, however, cannot be confused with other, less-attractive attributes. With the current Republican frontrunner being Donald Trump, season four of House of Cards says it best in that “the moment bigotry becomes a form of patriotism, America is no longer America.”

With Trump rallying hatred, bigotry, violence and a blatant disregard for truth, now is the time to assess just where America is going wrong.

Patriotism must also be called into question when what is touted as being a trademark for America’s “greatness,” turns out to be lackluster or not great at all.

A common platform of Republicans, and something that has come to be seen as “patriotic”  is protecting the guns of the citizens who have or who want them.

Although some recent legislation has been introduced in an effort to reduce the danger of guns falling into the wrong hands, Republicans have pushed back against the proposals.

Speaker Paul Ryan has even called President Obama’s executive actions regarding gun control as being “a form of intimidation that undermines liberty.”

The Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva has the US ranked as number one in total number of civilian-owned firearms with an estimated 270,000,000 guns in the US — that’s 89 guns for every 100 people.

This seems contrary to popular opinion on gun purchases, considering that last July the Pew Research Center produced a poll that showed that 85 percent of Americans are in favor of gun control that would increase “universal background checks on gun sales.”

With the number of citizens in favor of closing loop-holes for gun purchases, the question is, why has gun control not been heartily accepted?

“The right to bear arms” is the second amendment in the Constitution. For some, it has become a symbol of liberty and personal freedom.

But where do we draw the line?

In 2012, CNN reported that America owned as many as one-third of the total number of guns in the world.

The per capita ownership of guns surpasses war zones such as Yemen, Serbia and Iraq. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that, in 2015, the US ranked number two in the number of gun-related homicides in the developed world, only behind Mexico.

Humanosphere.org reported in an article last October that “Atlanta has the same gun murder rate as South Africa, Detroit as El Salvador, Phoenix equal to Mexico’s gun homicide rate.”

But guns aren’t all that’s killing Americans.

Despite the fact that the media reports heavily on gun violence, much of what threatens Americans often goes unreported, or unnoticed.

The US, as of 2012, was also ranked number one in the world for deaths related to car accidents, number two for deaths by coronary heart disease and lung disease and the highest percentage of women dying due to complications with pregnancy and childbirth, according to the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.

The report did conclude that Americans are more likely to survive cancer, which is no small matter considering the World Cancer Research Fund ranks America number six in number of people with cancer, out of 50 countries worldwide.

We also boast an alarming 297 per 100,000 women to have cancer — a percentage that lands us the number two spot for number of women with cancer within a country.

Of course, many would argue that America itself cannot be blamed for a higher risk of cancer, lung disease or complications with pregnancy. But then again, it can be blamed for cost of treatment.

In 2014 the Commonwealth Fund reported that out of eleven countries, the US ranked last in quality of healthcare, access and affordability of healthcare, efficiency, equity and number of healthy lives.

If cancer and pregnancy complications aren’t an issue for women, the cost of childbirth might be.

The New York Times has stated that only 62 percent of insurance companies cover the costs of hospital childbirth, which The Times says costs an average of nearly $10,000 and upwards of $15,000 for Cesarean Sections.

Whether or not a woman is able to pay for in-hospital birth, high rates of childhood obesity are a serious threat to those just past the precipice of immediate danger in infancy.

The World Obesity Federation recorded in 2012 that 35.2 percent of adolescent girls and 33.2 percent of adolescent boys were overweight.

Childhood obesity leads to greater risk in type-2 diabetes, fortunately, however, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage for persons with preexisting conditions.

In 2008, 25.5 percent of Americans were obese according to a Gallup study. The number of overweight persons in 2014 was at 35.3 percent. Gallup stated that, “as in the past,” blacks and hispanics were the demographics with the highest percentages of obesity.

Among other concerning ranks, the US has led the world in number of citizens with anxiety disorders, number of incarcerated persons, energy use per person, military size and expenditures and cocaine use.

In an election season, it can become easy to get swept away by rousing speeches and viral political videos, but what seems to be a bigger threat than certain political candidates is that our country has reached an impasse.

Partisan politics have become so entrenched in the American way of life that the Republican party is suddenly rallying behind a fear-mongering demagogue.

They are willing to support a man who has openly supported violence at his rallies, who has called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,”  who has called immigrating Mexicans, rapists, all because they don’t want to support a democrat.

Trump is not the real threat — the threat is the avoidance of bridging the gap between republican and democrat.

Since the inception of political parties, the chasm between them has only grown wider. Without bipartisan cooperation, legislation that could help reduce or eliminate threats such as healthcare unaffordability, mass shootings, water crises, air pollution and systematic racism may never be secure.

It’s time to come together; the greatest country in the world is becoming it’s own biggest threat.