And we can prove it by pointing to how the poorest Americans live. From The National Review on-line:

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, taken from a variety of government reports:

46 percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

Only six percent of poor households are overcrowded; two thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

Nearly three quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.

97 percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

78 percent have a VCR or DVD player.

62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

89 percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

As a group, America’s poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100-percent above recommended levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, super-nourished and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and ten pounds heavier than the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.

While the poor are generally well-nourished, some poor families do experience temporary food shortages. But, even this condition is relatively rare; 89 percent of the poor report their families have “enough” food to eat, while only two percent say they “often” do not have enough to eat.

In other words, the poorest Americans live as well, if not better, than middle class Europeans and Latin Americans. This of course is due to our free market economy, boosted by W’s tax cuts, and the American willingness to work hard to earn money for what they want. Our unemployment is the lowest on the planet and our much slandered health care industry out performs any socialized scheme in the world.

Take that Commies!

h/t Dissecting Leftism

That’s what columnist Stu Bykofsky argues in this op-ed piece. He’s lamenting the lack of patriotism and cohesion in the American political landscape and in some respects he’s right. America has turned on itself and lost sight of the war we’re facing, the war we’re losing. Right and Left, we are all to blame because we won’t unite to save our civilization from a brutal enemy that recruits our own children through via Internet while the A.C.L.U. argues we shouldn’t be reading terrorists e-mail. America is the free worlds best hope for a Sharia free future, but somewhere in the political squabbling between the right and the left we’ve lost sight of that big picture and now we are attacking each other and letting the enemy gather strength here and abroad.

But to say we need another 9/11 is too much, it is beyond the pale. What America needs is leadership, not just from President Bush but from all our elected officials. We can argue and fight over internal politics, but we need to stand united against those who seek to enslave the world, who even now are committing genocide in Darfur, trading slaves in Saudi Arabia and planning a second holocaust. If Democrats and Republicans stand together, admitting that they have some key differences that divide them on domestic issues, but they are united in their belief that all people, Americans or not, deserve to be free from the tyranny of Taliban style rule, I think the American people would follow.

It is a small minority of Americans who believe that Al-Qaeda’s vision of the world, a vision they share with hundreds of other Islamist organizations, is acceptable. But we look to our leaders to articulate our stances, our hopes for a free and peaceful world where men and women of all races are accepted as equals. But instead we inundated with pseudo-Marxist propaganda from the left and a chaotic chorus of conflicting positions on the right.

Now is the time for America to speak with one voice, to work for one goal the liberation of world from oppression. The enemies of freedom are the enemies of us all, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Anarchist. They must be faced, they must be defeated and the world must be cleansed of the plague of violent Jihadism, Fascism and totalitarianism.

Some may argue that our nation is too weak and spoiled to live up to our responsibility to stop the Jihad before it truly becomes a world war, they say that we need another horrible attack on our soil to stiffen our spines, we need more blood spilled in our streets and more death in our cities. When that day comes, what will they then say? Will they crow and laugh and tell us all “I told you so!” Instead Stu Bykosfsky should use his bully pulpit to ensure that there isn’t another 9/11. Stu and others like him should be providing the leadership that our elected officials cannot and rally Americans, all Americans, to the defense of our flag, our country and our world.

To do otherwise is to invite another 9/11, and no American wants that to happen.