An independent / bipartisan organization should be created with the responsibility of objectively measuring and reporting the United States' ranking in the world on a small (~4-5) set of metrics, with the goal of focusing the Nation on actually being first in the world in each measure.
Selection of the metrics should include careful consideration to ensure that they are deemed universally worthwhile and that they can be objectively measured and tracked over time.
The action of citizens and government could then be rallied around the mission of making us number one in the world by those measures, and we should all be encouraged to do whatever we can to help.
Finally, a well designed dashboard website should be built to allow us to track our progress over time.