Here are some questions that many of us are likely to ask or to be asked at some time:

• What is the largest nation in the world in area? In population?
• Are the people of the United States free? Healthy? Long-lived? Rich?
• Is the government of the United States a democratic nation?
• Is the government of the United States upright, rather than corrupt?

Although we may or may not know the answers, questions such as "What is the largest nation in the world in area?" appear to be simple. We could certainly figure out the answer to this question ourselves: We would simply use modern tools and techniques to measure the number of square miles (or hectares) occupied by all the territory within the boundaries of each nation in the world and then search our findings to see which resulting number is largest. Of...