This article provides a little insight IMO to the ongoing discussion here. I guess it explains the reason I rankle when I hear the "we're number 1" or "we're the best" rhetoric when hard data shows otherwise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/op...brooks.html?hp
"Americans are similarly endowed with self-esteem. When pollsters ask people around the world to rate themselves on a variety of traits, they find that people in Serbia, Chile, Israel and the United States generally supply the most positive views of themselves. People in South Korea, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan and Morocco are on the humble side of the rankings. Yet even from this high base, there is some evidence to suggest that Americans have taken self-approval up a notch over the past few decades."
And to think, this article is from a conservative (though not a dark red one).
Have you ever noticed that a person who is willing to brag that he's the smartest person in the room rarely is?