America on the Eve of the 2020 Election... Is it Even Worth Saving?

This past summer there were a lot of American flags ripped, walked on and set on fire around the country.  Protesters pulled down statues, looted stores and set buildings on fire across the country.  They claim that America is racist.  They claim Donald Trump is a fascist.  They suggest Capitalism is a cancer and must be replaced.  And the Constitution, as it has been a tool of oppression since its writing, must be eliminated. 

To listen to protesters speak, the United States is a cesspool of racism and oppression where only the rich thrive.

Maybe they’re right.  Maybe America is nothing but one large work camp where citizens are oppressed by their overlords where they have no freedoms and experience a quality of life that is something out of Dickens. Maybe…

If that’s true, it should be easy to spot.  Below are a variety of tables listing measures of life ranked by country.  The sources for each set of data is different but most evaluate between 180 & 210 countries, depending on how that term is defined. 

So what do the data say about this fascist, oppressive American country? Well, as a journalist might say... lets's go to the data.  

How about we start off with the basics… Life Expectancy.  Below is a table of selected countries for life expectancy.  The world average is 72.6 and the United States comes in at 78.9, putting it solidly in the top 25%.  That’s not terrible.

Life expectancy:

Hong Kong	84.7
Japan	84.5
Singapore	83.8
Italy	83.6
Australia	83.3
South Korea	82.8
Sweden	82.7
France	82.5
New Zealand	82.1
Germany	81.2
United Kingdom	81.2
United States	78.9
Mexico	75.0
Russia	72.4
South Africa	63.9
Haiti	63.7
Kenya	63.3
Nigeria	54.3

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

But of course life is one thing… being happy is something else.  Here the United States comes in 19^th out of 156.  That’s pretty good.

Happiness: 

1	Finland
2	Denmark
3	Norway
4	Iceland
5	Netherlands
6	Switzerland
7	Sweden
8	New Zealand
9	Canada
10	Austria
11	Australia
12	Costa Rica
13	Israel
14	Luxembourg
15	United Kingdom
16	Ireland
17	Germany
18	Belgium
19	United States
20	Czech Republic

 https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world

Then of course there’s earning a living.  Below is a table with the average incomes around the world and the United States comes in at #5, with not a single country above the United States having more people than the city of New York. That matters of course because like herding cat, having a country where people are spread out over vast areas, have extraordinarily different backgrounds and heritages it’s far more difficult to get everyone on the same page in terms of what works to achieve prosperity.  America has done that.   

Average Wage:

1	Switzerland	$90,127
2	Iceland	$70,628
3	Luxembourg	$69,895
4	Denmark	$64,229
5	United States	$63,093
6	Ireland	$56,787
7	Norway	$53,049
8	Australia	$52,261
9	Netherlands	$51,313
10	Belgium	$48,797

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage

And of course everyone talks about GDP, the sum of all of the goods and services a nation produces. Below is a table of the 15 nations with the largest GDPs in the world.  The United States, with 5% of the planet’s population produces 24% of the world’s economic output:

GDP:

1	United States	$21,427,700
2	China	$14,342,903
3	Japan	$5,081,770
4	Germany	$3,845,630
5	India	$2,875,142
6	United Kingdom	$2,827,113
7	France	$2,715,518
8	Italy	$2,001,244
9	Brazil	$1,839,758
10	Canada	$1,736,426
11	Russia[n 3]	$1,699,877
12	South Korea	$1,642,383
13	Spain	$1,394,116
14	Australia	$1,392,681
15	Mexico	$1,258,287

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

Another way of looking at this is GDP on a per capita basis.  Here too none of the nations above the United States has a population above that of New York.  Again, none of the other countries on this list comes close to being similar to the United States in terms of size and diversity of our population, and with only Australia being similar when compared to geographic footprint.

Per Capita GDP

1	Monaco	$185,741
2	Liechtenstein	$173,356
3	Luxembourg	$114,705
4	Macau	$84,096
5	Switzerland	$81,994
6	Ireland	$78,661
7	Norway	$75,420
8	Iceland	$66,945
9	United States	$65,281
10	Singapore	$65,233
11	Qatar	$64,782
12	Denmark	$59,822
13	Australia	$54,907
14	Netherlands	$52,448
15	Sweden	$51,610
16	Austria	$50,277
17	Hong Kong	$48,756
18	Finland	$48,686
19	San Marino	$48,481
20	Germany	$46,259

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita

Of course it’s not all about income, it’s about what you can do with that income.  Below is a table showing the top 20 countries (out of 101) based on the cost of living which measures what one can actually purchase with the money they earn.  And the United States comes in at 4.

Cost of Living (Purchasing Power Index)

1	Macao
2	Qatar
3	Luxembourg
4	United States
5	Norway
6	Switzerland
7	Ireland
8	Bermuda
9	Sweden
10	Iceland
11	Singapore
12	Netherlands
13	Germany
14	Denmark
15	Austria
16	Australia
17	United Arab Emirates
18	Belgium
19	Finland
20	Hong Kong

 https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php

Most of us work for a living and sometimes things work out well and we accumulate significant assets, making us millionaires!  Sadly, I’m not one of them, but there are a LOT of millionaires in the United States.  As a matter of fact, the United States, which again is 5% of the world’s population, is the home of fully 40% of the world’s millionaires:

Millionaires: (in thousands)

1	United States	18,614
2	China	4,447
3	Japan	3,025
4	United Kingdom	2,460
5	Germany	2,187
6	France	2,071
7	Italy	1,496
8	Canada	1,322
9	Australia	1,180
10	Spain	979
11	Netherlands	832
12	Switzerland	810
13	India	759
14	South Korea	741
15	Taiwan	528

 And not only that, the number of millionaires as a percentage of the population is higher in the United States than any nation on the planet other than Switzerland… but in our defense, Switzerland has really good chocolate.

Percent of Population who are Millionaires

1	Switzerland	9.43%
2	United States	5.67%
3	Netherlands	4.87%
4	Australia	4.68%
5	United Kingdom	3.64%
6	Canada	3.53%
7	France	3.18%
8	Germany	2.62%
9	Italy	2.47%
10	Japan	2.39%
11	Taiwan	2.22%
12	Spain	2.10%
13	South Korea	1.45%
14	China	0.31%
15	India	0.06%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_the_number_of_millionaires

Particularly important in this discussion is who those millionaires are.  The makeup of American millionaires is below.  Minorities, making up 40% of the nation’s population, make up 24% of the millionaires. 

And what’s equally important about achieving economic success is mobility into America’s economic elite.  Forbes, which publishes its annual Forbes 400 chronicling the 400 richest Americans reports that fully 70% of America’s richest individuals are self made while only 30% inherited their fortunes.

American Millionaires By Race (and Population Race Breakdown):

		Of Millionaires	Of Population
White	14,146,640	76%	60%
Black	1,489,120	8%	13%
Asian	1,489,120	8%	6%
Hispanic	1,302,980	7%	18%
Other	186,140	1%	3%

 https://www.statista.com/statistics/300528/us-millionaires-race-ethnicity/

Forbes:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/09/08/self-made-score/?sh=4f077b3641e4

 But of course not everyone will end up millionaires, but opportunities exist nonetheless.  Below is a table that chronicles social mobility, which is roughly characterized as the ability to move from one economic level to another.  Of the approximately 180 countries in the world this table looks at the 82 with the most measurable opportunities.  The average of these 82 countries is 62.2, and the United States comes in position of 27 with a mobility score of 70.4, while Denmark is first with a score of 85.2 and Côte d’Ivoire is last with a score of 34.5.  A significant element of this measure is education and healthcare, both of which drag down the United States significantly thanks to excessive government intervention.

Social Mobility

1	Denmark	85.20
2	Norway	83.60
3	Finland	83.60
4	Sweden	83.50
5	Iceland	82.70
11	Germany	78.80
12	France	76.70
15	Japan	76.10
16	Australia	75.10
21	United Kingdom	74.40
22	New Zealand	74.30
27	United States	70.40
34	Italy	67.40
39	Russia	64.70
45	China	61.50
58	Mexico	52.60
66	Peru	49.90
67	Indonesia	49.30
81	Senegal	36.00
82	Côte d’Ivoire	34.50

 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-social-mobility-of-82-countries/

The reality of the fact that government intervention in healthcare and education handicap the country is be demonstrated by the following table that looks at the ease of doing business.  This metric includes starting a business as one of its measures, along with things like regulations, taxes, rule of law and others.  Starting a business is one of the most effective ways in which one might improve their family’s economic situation.  To the degree that the United States is ranked sixth out of 180 nations in terms of the ease of doing business yet 27^th in terms of social mobility suggests that that economic opportunity is very real, while other measures hold the country back. 

Ease of Doing Business

1	New Zealand
2	Singapore
3	Hong Kong
4	Denmark
5	South Korea
6	United States
7	Georgia
8	United Kingdom
9	Norway
10	Sweden

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ease_of_doing_business_index

How about getting to work to run that business or make that money – and hopefully have some fun too!  Americans love to drive.  As such, the price of gas is a big deal.  Below is what people pay in different countries for gas.  The world average is $3.80 and the US comes in at $2.15 per gallon while in France they pay $5.94 and in Hong Kong they pay $8.49!

Gas Price (Price Per Gallon on October 26, 2020)

Venezuela	$.08
Kuwait	$1.35
Nigeria	$1.51
Saudi Arabia	$1.60
Russia	$2.31
United States	$2.51
China	$3.39
Canada	$3.44
Australia	$3.34
Japan	$4.67
Luxembourg	$4.75
Spain	$5.14
New Zealand	$5.21
Germany	$5.37
Ireland	$5.60
United Kingdom	$5.65
Sweden	$5.94
France	$5.94
Norway	$6.09
Finland	$6.35
Italy	$6.69
Denmark	$6.30
Netherlands	$6.96
Hong Kong	$8.49

 https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/

But it’s not just gas, but there’s buying a car and maintaining it.  Below is a table that shows the percentage of annual salary it would take to buy a family car and operate it for one year.  These costs include not only the car and its gas, but insurance and maintenance as well.

Car Economics:

		Cost of buying a new family car	Cost of buying & operating as % of annual income
1	UAE	$15,383	1.20%
2	Australia	$16,418	4.08%
3	New Zealand	$20,031	4.86%
4	Germany	$19,114	5.22%
5	Canada	$12,704	6.01%
6	Japan	$18,236	6.83%
7	USA	$14,158	7.06%
8	UK	$18,058	7.42%
9	Ireland	$20,351	7.48%
10	Italy	$22,556	7.61%
	Others in the sample
	Russia	$13,912	18.03%
	India	$24,596	19.68%
	China	$14,819	22.16%
	Mexico	$11,421	24.91%
	Portugal	$22,610	49.00%
	Brazil	$24,827	55.51%

 https://www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/content/global-car-index/#pills-family-car

And where might an American drive?  How about home!  Below is a table showing the size of homes for various countries around the world.  The only nation where homes are bigger on average than in the United States is Australia, but that should be expected as apparently all Australians keep pet crocodiles!

Comparison of Home Sizes Measured by Square Foot:

Australia	2,032
US	1,901
Canada	1,792
UK	1,590
France	1,556
Germany	1,477
Mexico	1,416
Spain	1,314
Brazil	1,288

 https://www.point2homes.com/news/canada-real-estate/how-large-are-canadian-homes.html

It’s not just the freedom to drive around that American’s like.  For a nation that was founded on the pursuit of freedom, freedom of all sorts is still important.  Below are two tables, one measuring Economic Freedom and the other Personal Freedom. 

The freedoms in the following two tables in this analysis encompass a variety of measures including these: Rule of Law / Security and Safety / Movement / Religion / Association, Assembly, and Civil Society / Expression and Information / Identity and Relationships / Size of Government / Legal System and Property Rights.  The numbers below are the top nations of the total pool of 162 nations measured.

Freedom:

Economic Freedom			Personal Freedom
1	Hong Kong		1	Sweden
2	New Zealand		2	Netherlands
3	Switzerland		3	New Zealand
4	US		4	Finland
5	Ireland		5	Luxembourg
6	UK		6	Norway
7	Canada		7	Germany
8	Australia		8	Austria
9	Malta		9	Switzerland
10	Denmark		10	Denmark
11	Estonia		11	Canada
12	Luxembourg		12	Australia
13	Taiwan		13	Iceland
14	Germany		14	Estonia
15	Finland		15	Taiwan
16	Iceland		16	Ireland
17	Sweden		17	UK
18	Netherlands		18	Malta
19	Austria		19	US
20	Norway		20	Hong Kong

 https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/human-freedom-index-files/cato-human-freedom-index-update-3.pdf (Page 8)

And of course the number one freedom someone can have is the freedom of speech. Without the freedom to say what’s on your mind without fear of retribution from the government is the strongest tool available for keeping a government honest.  Below is a table demonstrating something that anyone paying attention this summer would recognize, Americans have a level of free speech unfettered by government authorities that is unprecedented in the world. 

Free Speech:

1	United States
2	Poland
3	Spain
4	Mexico
5	Venezuela
6	Canada
7	Australia
8	Argentina
9	South Africa
10	United Kingdom

 https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-freedom-of-speech

Another part of freedom is access to information, which is increasingly delivered via the Internet.  Below is a table that looks at the percent of the population with Internet access for 214 countries. 

Internet access:

1	Falkland Islands	99%
2	Andorra	98%
3	Bermuda	98%
4	Iceland	98%
5	Liechtenstein	98%
6	Kuwait	98%
7	Luxembourg	97%
8	Faroe Islands	97%
9	Aruba	97%
10	Monaco	97%
11	Norway	96%
12	Sweden	96%
13	United States	96%
14	Qatar	95.%
15	Bahrain	95.88%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users

Here are some other measures of the United States and its opportunities, possibilities and successes.

Education.  Below is a table looking at what nations spend on primary education.  The United States sits at #1 by a significant margin.  (Sadly we don’t get the results one might expect from such spending, but that’s a story for another day… (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/)

Education Spending:

1	United States	$26,021
2	Canada	$23,225
3	Switzerland	$22,881
4	Denmark	$21,253
5	Sweden	$20,818
6	Norway	$18,840
7	Finland	$18,001
8	Netherlands	$17,549
9	Germany	$16,722
10	Japan	$16,445
11	Australia	$16,267
12	Ireland	$16,095
13	Belgium	$15,420
14	France	$15,374
15	Austria	$14,894

 https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=RGRADSTY

While the United States may lag far behind on academic success in primary education, our university system is the best in the world by far.  Below are the 15 best universities in the world and the only two on the list that are not from the United States are Oxford and Cambridge in the UK. 

World’s Best Universities

1	Harvard
2	MIT
3	Stanford
4	UC Berkeley
5	Oxford
6	Columbia
7	Cal Tech
8	University of Washington
9	Cambridge
10	Johns Hopkins
11	Princeton
12	Yale
13	UCLA
14	University of Pennsylvania
15	University of California SF

 https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings

Americans also spend a great deal of resources on healthcare, again with mixed results. (https://ceoworld.biz/2019/08/05/revealed-countries-with-the-best-health-care-systems-2019/)   Below are the per capita dollars spent on healthcare in a variety of nations.  The United States is again at the top, by a substantial margin.

Healthcare Spending (2016)

1	United States	$9,892
2	Switzerland	$7,919
3	Luxembourg	$7,463
4	Norway	$6,647
5	Germany	$5,551
6	Ireland	$5,528
7	Sweden	$5,488
8	Netherlands	$5,385
9	Austria	$5,227
10	Denmark	$5,205
11	Belgium	$4,840
12	Canada	$4,753
13	Australia	$4,708
14	France	$4,600

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita

Then there is charity.  The United States spends more money on charity than any other nation by far.  That is a function of both the largest GDP as well as the percentage of giving.  That is reflected in the table on the left below.  The table on the right measures a more holistic giving approach that combines donations, volunteering and helping strangers.  Here the United States sits at number two.

Most Charitable Nations:

Charity as % of GDP (1)				Overall Giving (2)
1	United States	1.44%		1	Myanmar
2	New Zealand	0.79%		2	United States
3	Canada	0.77%		3	Australia
4	United Kingdom	0.54%		4	New Zealand
5	South Korea	0.50%		5	Sri Lanka
6	Singapore	0.39%		6	Canada
7	India	0.37%		7	Indonesia
8	Russia	0.34%		8	United Kingdom
9	Italy	0.30%		9	Ireland
10	Netherlands	0.30%		10	UAE

 (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_charitable_donation

(2) https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/1950a_wgi_2016_report_web_v2_241016.pdf

But it’s not just charity that demonstrates America’s willingness to help, it’s the total social welfare spending.  For whatever one’s views on such endeavors, the United States is behind only France in social welfare spending.  This measure includes things such as public and private social expenditure, the effect of direct taxes (income tax and social security contributions), indirect taxation of consumption on cash benefits, as well as tax breaks for social purposes.

The table below is a demonstration of something that most Americans would never imagine to be ture, but it is:  the average poor person in the United States has a standard of living that is above that of the average European. (https://fee.org/articles/the-poorest-20-of-americans-are-richer-than-most-nations-of-europe/)   

Total Social Welfare Spending (Public & Private)

1	France
2	United States
3	Belgium
4	Netherlands
5	Denmark
6	Italy
7	Finland
8	Germany
9	Sweden
10	United Kingdom
11	Austria
12	Switzerland
13	Australia
14	Japan
15	Portugal

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_welfare_spending

Given that life is not all about economics or education or healthcare, here are some other measures of America on the world stage:

Individuals in the United States have garnered more Nobel Prizes of all sorts than the next five countries combined. 

Nobel Prizes:

1	United States	390
2	United Kingdom	135
3	Germany	108
4	France	70
5	Sweden	32
6	Russia/ Soviet Union	31
7	Switzerland	28
8	Japan	28
9	Canada	27
10	Austria	22
11	Netherlands	21
12	Italy	20
13	Poland	19
14	Denmark	13
15	Hungary	13
16	Norway	13
17	India	12
18	Australia	14
19	Israel	12
20	Belgium	11

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_country

 Although not as overwhelming, Americans also top the Olympic medal count.

Olympic Medals

1	United States	2,828
2	USSR / Russia	1,751
3	Germany / East Germany	1,374
4	Great Britian	883
5	France	840
6	Italy	701
7	Sweden	652
8	China	608
9	Norway	520
10	Australia	512
11	Canada	501
12	Hungary	498
13	Japan	497
14	Finland	470
15	Netherlands	415

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table

 We are slight slackers however when it comes to spending on video games.  Americans come in number 3 behind Japan and South Korea on this important measure.

 Video Game Spending – Per Person

1	Japan	$98.63
2	South Korea	$78.87
3	US	$65.56
4	UK	$52.74
5	Canada	$47.67
6	Germany	$44.03
7	France	$36.72
8	Spain	$33.28
9	Italy	$25.10
10	China	$15.88

 https://www.gamespot.com/articles/here-are-the-top-100-countries-ranked-in-terms-of-/1100-6431484/

There is one last measure that must be looked at.  That is Defense.  The United States spends more on defense than the next 10 countries combined.  For some that might sound problematic, but the reality is that American spending on defense has allowed the world, particularly Europe to thrive.  The second table below shows defense spending as a percent of GDP.  One of the reasons that European nations are able to generate such extensive welfare spending programs is that they have kept their defense spending low for decades while the United States defense expenditures brought about the longest period of overall peace in Europe in history.  That spending may not show up in happiness measures or salary measures, but it most certainly shows up in the fact that both Europe and the United States remain bastions of freedom, democracy and peace, and the carnage of a world war is a distant memory we read about rather than something we all experienced firsthand. The first table shows absolute defense spending and the second shows spending as a percentage of GDP.

Defense Spending:

Absolute Dollars:

1	United States	$685
2	China	$181
3	Saudi Arabia	$78
4	Russia	$62
5	India	$61
6	United Kingdom	$55
7	France	$52
8	Japan	$49
9	Germany	$49
10	South Korea	$40
11	Brazil	$28
12	Italy	$27
13	Australia	$26
14	Israel	$23
15	Iraq	$21

 As a Percentage of GDP

1	Saudi Arabia	$78	8.00%
2	Israel	$23	5.30%
3	Russia	$62	3.90%
4	United States	$685	3.40%
5	South Korea	$40	2.70%
6	Iraq	$21	2.40%
7	Australia	$26	1.90%
8	France	$52	1.90%
9	Germany	$49	1.90%
10	United Kingdom	$55	1.70%
11	Brazil	$28	1.50%
12	Italy	$27	1.40%
13	China	$181	1.30%
14	India	$61	1.30%
15	Japan	$49	0.90%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

At the end of the day, this is piece is a chronicle of the reality of America. America is indeed imperfect, no doubt for every table here someone can find their own tables that paint a far darker picture using their own sources.  America does have inequality, dysfunctional education and healthcare systems and too much government regulation, but at the same time, Americans have done more with what they have than any nation on earth.  America offers economic opportunities on a wider scale (both geographic and occupational) than any nation on earth. From Florida to New York to California to Wyoming the opportunities are simply staggering from doctor to scientist to graphic designer to business consultant to startup founder to mechanic to plumber to Instagram model…  

What many of the protesters don’t care about is the fact that the United States Constitution guarantees Americans freedoms that people in most of the world can only dream of and to the degree that others share some of them, those freedoms are often at the mercy of political majorities.  That includes minority opinions because things that the majority agree with don’t generally need protection. 

At the same time, the United States regularly receives more immigrants from more places than any nation on earth and gives them opportunities and freedoms most would or could not dream of at home.  And it integrates immigrants at a pace that no nation has in history.

While there are racial tensions in the United States as there have been since its founding, in the last half century the country has made extraordinary leaps which can be seen in both culture and economics, the former can be seen on televisions, on sports shows and regularly on the radio while the latter is demonstrated by the fact that 8% of American millionaires are black, 8% are Asian and 7% are Hispanic.  I’ve not found a source thus far, but one can imagine that those numbers were far smaller during the 1950’s and 1960’s. But I can say that the story the Democrats and the media try and foist on us that America is indeed a bastion of racism is fiction.  (https://imperfectamerica.blogspot.com/2020/06/data-shows-driving-while-black-meme-is.html)

For those who want to tear apart American culture because it’s not what they like, denigrate American values because we’ve not achieved them on their timetable, want to overthrow America’s capitalist system because they’d prefer the “equality” promised by socialism or Communism, I’d ask, what place in the world today, or in world history has a nation done a better job than America of giving opportunity to its citizens, generating prosperity for its citizens, protecting its citizens’ freedoms and at the same time helping drive prosperity and peace around the world?  If such a nation exists perhaps I’d certainly be interested in reading about it.

Tomorrow there are two choices on the ballot.  One candidate, a very flawed but passionate man, understands that the United States is the greatest nation to ever grace the face of this earth and sees his role as protecting that legacy and rolling back government intervention to allow Americans of all stripes to address the country’s shortcomings and achieve even greater success in the future. 

The other also an imperfect man, but he sees the United States as a highly flawed nation, he sees Americans of various identities as victims and the Constitution as a roadblock to change rather than a guarantee of freedom and a limit on government intervention on behalf of the majority. 

If you like what you’ve seen in the streets of America over the last six months and would like to see more of it, Joe Biden is your man and the Democrats are your party.  If however you believe like Ronald Reagan that America’s best days are ahead of her and that freedom and opportunity are the solutions to most of the problems we face, Donald Trump is your man and the Republicans are your party.