Joe. My. God. EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty. What Paul Gregory is Writing About. The Becker-Posner Blog. There are, especially in Europe and East Asia, and to a limited extent in the Western Hemisphere, small countries that are well governed. But among large, populous countries, there appears to be only one well-governed country: Germany. The United States is the third largest country by land mass (after Russia and Canada) and population (after India and China), the wealthiest, the militarily most powerful, and generally regarded as the leading nation in the world—its geopolitical center.
But all these are negatives from the standpoint of governance, as are the nation’s ethnic and cultural diversity, political divisiveness, high crime rates, and highly unequal distribution of income. Another major negative is the difficulty of changing the U.S. Constitution. Compare the federal government. The President has a personal staff (officially the “Executive Office of the President”) that numbers more than 2000. Of course these are not feasible reforms. Hoover Archivists' Musings. Anonymous Banker.