On Thursday, Cory “Spartacus” Booker (see here) goofily lamented that Canada is “out-Americaning” the U.S.

His error, it seems, was not understanding what “Americaning” would mean.

Nevertheless, while speaking to students at Allen University in South Carolina, Booker decried the superiority of our weed-legalizing neighbor to the north:

“Every country we are competing with is driving down the cost of college. Germany – it costs between 0 and 4 percent of median income to go to college. Canada – I can’t stand how they’re out-Americaning us in Canada. Trudeau? Give me a break. It costs about 6 to 7 percent median income to go to college.”

Okay…Booker said other countries are “driving down” the cost of college. That sounds organic; it sounds capitalistic, similar to the proliferation of cellular providers “driving down” the price of service. But that isn’t what Cory means.

A more accurate statement would be, “They’re out-socializing us.”

Furthermore, what is the median income in those other countries? What is their standard of living?

[And, incidentally, Canada is no place to emulate; most especially because of this.]

Either way, I guess he really liked the sound of “out-Americaning.” Just like he was really psyched about the sound of “Spartacus.”

“What does it cost in America? Fifty-two percent of median income. And why are other nations out-Americaning us? Why are they out-investing in infrastructure the way we used to? Why are they out-investing in research and development the way we used to? Why are they out-investing in education the way we used to? Why are they doing universal preschool and we’re not? Why are they doing paid family leave and we’re not?”

“Investing?” The way we used to? America has indeed been a leader — in the employment of liberty and capitalism, an economic system based on a free-market economy in which an individual may own her or her own business.

And that’s how you drive down non-nanny-state prices.

Former congressman Joe Walsh gets it:

America was founded upon freedom. Not free college.

Somebody tell @CoryBooker.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 19, 2018

Stealing from the citizenry via inordinately high taxes and then filtering the take through bureaucracy in order to offer low-quality services is not leading the world in a “U.S.” kind of way.

But maybe Cory wants to gain the favor of out-and-about “everything is free!” socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She doesn’t seem all that picky (here and here). Perhaps they’ll share a ticket in 2020. In the meantime, for people who care about numbers, there’s this:

According to a report released by the World Economic Forum Tuesday, the United States is the most economically competitive nation on the planet. The study analyzed “the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country.” Nations behind the U.S., to name a few at the top, were Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, and Germany (#3). Canada didn’t make the top 10.

As it turns out, no one is out-Americaning America. Or out-ridiculousing Cory Booker.

Relevant RedState links in this article: here, here, here,and here.

See 3 more pieces from me: misinformation & Anita Hill, RNA discrimination, and the great Jim Brown.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below. For iPhone instructions, see the bottom of this page.

Find all my RedState work here.

And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.

If you have an iPhone and want to comment, select the box with the upward arrow at the bottom of your screen; swipe left and choose “Request Desktop Site.” You may have to do this several times before the page reloads. Scroll down to the red horizontal bar that says “Show Comments.”