Then why do their countries suck so bad? Why are they worse off by every metric? We have better education, healthcare, air quality, social safety nets..

Cuba was doing pretty well there for a while before the US decided they were doing too well and boycotted them. A boycott that remains to this day.

Democracies have a history of using economic and military force as well as propaganda to suppress other forms of government. It's very difficult for any of them to thrive now that democracy has "won" as the defacto form of government.

Also, given the US education, healthcare, air quality, and social safety nets are rapidly declining, I question how much longer they will be better than something like China.