Independent Women's Forum report: America's Promise: Our Progress toward a Society of Freedom and Fulfillment

The Independent Women's Forum's recently published report, "America's Promise", was a subject of yesterday's C-SPAN Washington Journal ( 02:28:20 into the archived video).

The report does a good job of taking stock of America from a number of measurable metrics.

From the Executive Summary:

THE AMERICAN PROMISE: the dream of being a country that provides its citizens with limitless opportunity and where people enjoy a high quality of life in terms of health, safety, income, and well-being. America has made great strides in fulfilling this promise. As detailed in this report Americans are better off today than any other time in history on measures such as:

• HEALTH: Americans are living longer and healthier than anytime in history.
  
  
• SAFETY: Crime rates have plummeted. In the last thirty years, there has been a 40 percent decrease in the number of violent crimes against women and a 67 percent decline in violent crimes against men.
  
  
• INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT: More Americans are working today than ever before. Since 1967, per capita income doubled.
  
  
• WELL-BEING: Americans overwhelmingly report being happy and satisfied with their personal lives. Americans are far happier and more optimistic than
  their counterparts in Europe. However, there is a long way to go until the American promise is realized. Two areas are of particular concern and serve as stumbling blocks on the road to fulfilling America’s potential:
  
  
• THE BREAKDOWN OF THE AMERICAN FAMILY: More than one in every three children in America is born out of wedlock. These children suffer more hardships and are morelikely to engage in problem behaviors as they grow up.
  
  
• OUR FAILING PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM: Our public education system leaves many children without the skills necessary to compete in the modern economy. America lags behind much of the world in terms of the educational attainment of our children...