"Why is the United States the most violent country on the face of the earth?" I'm not sure exactly how Peter is defining "most violent" but if he's talking about how the domestic population interacts with one another, it's decidedly not the most violent place in the world today. It's not even the most violent first world nation. I guess one could say that our violence is more extreme, but also rarer than most other places. In other words, when we commit to fighting, as a society, we mean business, and the results speak for themselves.

It's also important to note that from a historical perspective that with the advent of more open and free markets, it is coincident that the amount of violence overall in the world has precipitously declined, life expectancy has more than doubled pretty much everywhere on the planet, we have fewer wars, more food, better shelter and other quality of life items.

If you're interested in a more optimistic view of all of this, follow Steven Pinker. He has some not-so-nice things to say about yours truly and the extreme views we libertarians hold, but he's worth listening to because he provides an analytical perspective of the world and the trends we're witnessing that's decidedly optimistic and positive. His assertions are data-based, and they refute the basis of Peter's argument that change won't happen without fundamental changes away from market-driven competitive psychology. These qualities in our society are what make the world better than it used to be, not the other way around.