To be fair, what we specifically have is a republic, although we do have democratic voting to elect our representatives.
Some of those representatives take the stance that they can choose whatever they want best, regardless of what their constituents want, because they were voted in.
Other representatives take the stance that they should vote for whatever the majority of their constituents want.
State-sponsored higher education that is later paid back through taxes. Free healthcare, also paid for by taxes, and affordable medicine. Decent mass transit, although railways are a disgrace. Labour laws. Paid sick leave and mandatory minimum vacation days. Paid maternity leave, and tax breaks for new mothers.
PM is a Russian asset, but still better than Trump.
Parliamentary democracy with proportional representation, affordable healthcare, affordable education, great roads and infrastructure with lots of cycling lanes, shops near homes, better labour laws, more vacation days, maternity leave, social safety net, less gun violence, police trained in de-escalation, affordable phone and internet plans, more affordable healthy food options, more egalitarian culture, none of those pesky hills or mountains, surrounded by countries that make good beer.
Healthcare, a sane leader who cares about his country, cheaper tuition, more than two parties, the metric system, less urban sprawl (though it’s still not great here), far less guns
Strike that. Let's try "What can America learn from your country to become a better nation?"
The value of human life and life in general.
If a foreigner comes to my country and suffers any ailment or accident, they receive treatment because life is understood as an absolute value. This implies that paying taxes goes towards creating a safety net that nobody really wants to rely on but is thankful to have when misfortunes happens.
If the spirit of thankfulness was stronger in this country (US) than the spirit of keeping good things from "those who don't deserve it", we wouldn't be dealing with the downfall we're experiencing now.
Public healthcare
Super annuation
Preferential & compulsory voting
No tipping culture
Consumer protection laws
Gun control laws
Weather service isnt privitised
Wide variety of multicultural foods
Farming sector isnt controlled by a few companies (ie chickens)/subsidy schemes (looking at you corn)
Organised religion has less participation and dropping steadily
Adoption of rooftop solar systems
Also significantly less instances of tech billionares, team factional politics, media oligarchs & donald trumps.
There are a lot of areas we could do better and are ashamed of though.
I'm on board except for the food variety, but I live in Chicago which attracts an amazing foodie scene. In bumbfuck Iowa you're probably more likely to have trouble getting some good Thai food.
Our target speed (the speed you are recommended to drive) is faster than the US speed limit.
I mean, it’s a nice tickling in the balls when you engage the warp drive on your way home. But it also inspires a lot of amateur race car drivers. Nah, I can do without.
Yes, but they are unreliable. Nuclear is an amazing option for base loads, and then adding renewables on top of that just makes sense. Battery energy storage is still insanely expensive, so nuclear is a very valid alternative in countries that haven't let their nuclear production capabilities fall off to the point of taking decades.
That’s not entirely true. Texas seems to have a problem with people leaving for various services and it’s a federal crime to transport certain flora between states, even if it is fine in both states.
Assuming you're from Canada based on the .CA and says provinces (vs oblasts, cantons, or some other regional division), I would point at the interprovincial trade barriers.
We, here in the UK, for all our faults, have waaaay fewer school shootings.... In fact way fewer shootings altogether (even when multiplied by ~5 for relative population size)
Actually diverse politics (though still dominated by moneyed right wing)
Amazon is not the nº 1 online retailer and there exists... some competition between the major ones
Significantly less infighting between federal govt and states - phones were recently banned from every school as federal law, no "let states decide" bullshit
We don't have to pay to make searches in justice databases
We have govt-funded hospitals and healthcare (doesn't always work and there's constant right-wing ill-will to sell it all off)
🏴☠️ So long as you don't pirate stuff for profit, nobody will go after you 🏴☠️
India - multi-party democracy. US is too big and too diverse of a place to have effectively have two parties for every region and every cohort of the country. It should try to copy some aspects of India's multi-party culture. Some states in India have parties that don't exist in any other state. And some parties exist across many states. Basically a mix of current US system and the European system.
In most urbanized areas, even in suburbs, you can buy daily necessities (food, personal hygiene, medicine, etc) in just a short walk. If in a subdivision, like in a suburb, there would be some houses with an attached corner store. Failing to find what you need there, a convenience store would be a bit further (either still inside the subdivision, or just out the gate).
If you need to do your groceries, you can use public transport to the market. Even within subdivisions (with some exceptions, like those for the wealthy), there usually would be some form of public transport that could take you to the main highway, and from there, to the market.
That's just one that immediately came to mind upon reading the prompt. Not sure if there are others, but it's the most striking to me, and one that I've taken for granted until hearing about the US' suburbs.
I guess history and a sense of being part of an established culture.
Do also want to point out though that Americans talk their country down on here. It's a place of extremes but that diversity in theory means anyone could find their niche. They also have pretty much every biome you might want to live in from desert, to parks to icy tundra - I can see why you might not need a passport.
Almost always higher pay but worse everything else. It's a golden goose to extract revenue from but actually being American is kinda cringe especially when the USA chants break out.
One of the things that concerns me about Trump is that his politicking strategy may be an effective one in an era of social media. If that is true, it may be that other politicians will take it up.
Trump is done in four years. But having highly-misleading-but-attention-attracting narratives can live on for a very long time, absent a change in the media environment.
Ow
To be fair, what we specifically have is a republic, although we do have democratic voting to elect our representatives.
Some of those representatives take the stance that they can choose whatever they want best, regardless of what their constituents want, because they were voted in.
Other representatives take the stance that they should vote for whatever the majority of their constituents want.
We have a Constitutional Republic...
Which is a type of democracy
Oh that there’s the Republicans.
Found the Democrats.
I come from a third world country that is worse than the US in a lot of ways, but I don’t have to worry about getting shot by a rando with a gun.
Which country, if you don't mind me asking?
Just off the top of my head:
State-sponsored higher education that is later paid back through taxes. Free healthcare, also paid for by taxes, and affordable medicine. Decent mass transit, although railways are a disgrace. Labour laws. Paid sick leave and mandatory minimum vacation days. Paid maternity leave, and tax breaks for new mothers.
PM is a Russian asset, but still better than Trump.
wondering which country out of the many performing all this better than the US is described
Ah, got it.
What's your guess?
I was sure this was a dunk on Deutsche Bahn, but now you're making me doubt it.
DB would be an improvement.
I am so incredibly sorry.
Healthcare, climate, food, democracy, measurement system, no death penalty, houses in concrete
Parliamentary democracy with proportional representation, affordable healthcare, affordable education, great roads and infrastructure with lots of cycling lanes, shops near homes, better labour laws, more vacation days, maternity leave, social safety net, less gun violence, police trained in de-escalation, affordable phone and internet plans, more affordable healthy food options, more egalitarian culture, none of those pesky hills or mountains, surrounded by countries that make good beer.
En het is er gewoon gezellig.
A president cant win without getting majority of votes. If there is no one with over 50% of the votes, a second round happens between the top 2
Romania
Healthcare, a sane leader who cares about his country, cheaper tuition, more than two parties, the metric system, less urban sprawl (though it’s still not great here), far less guns
Strike that. Let's try "What can America learn from your country to become a better nation?"
The value of human life and life in general.
If a foreigner comes to my country and suffers any ailment or accident, they receive treatment because life is understood as an absolute value. This implies that paying taxes goes towards creating a safety net that nobody really wants to rely on but is thankful to have when misfortunes happens.
If the spirit of thankfulness was stronger in this country (US) than the spirit of keeping good things from "those who don't deserve it", we wouldn't be dealing with the downfall we're experiencing now.
We don't think we're the only and best in the world. We are interested in the culture of our neighbours. And we respect them.
We already went through the phase you just began.
Germany?
Yeah.
Yeah Germany is about to launch into this again though
Absolutely, it's not looking to hot here either. For those who don't know should look into our west/east split.
Public healthcare
Super annuation
Preferential & compulsory voting
No tipping culture
Consumer protection laws
Gun control laws
Weather service isnt privitised
Wide variety of multicultural foods
Farming sector isnt controlled by a few companies (ie chickens)/subsidy schemes (looking at you corn)
Organised religion has less participation and dropping steadily
Adoption of rooftop solar systems
Also significantly less instances of tech billionares, team factional politics, media oligarchs & donald trumps.
There are a lot of areas we could do better and are ashamed of though.
Australia?
Correct
We've got one media oligarch and that's one too many.
Assuming you're talking about Australia since you mentioned Super.
Would we consider him australian still?
No chance.
I live in Japan and we tick most of these boxes as well
I'm on board except for the food variety, but I live in Chicago which attracts an amazing foodie scene. In bumbfuck Iowa you're probably more likely to have trouble getting some good Thai food.
If you get cancer, you can have access to chemotherapy for free. And that’s basically it
I’m allowed to walk across the street without being arrested for ‘jay walking’.
Instead of starting a list of those things and ending up with my App crashing, I will name the one thing I think the US does better.
I think having a speed limit on your highways is kinda a sane thing to have.
Thats not a speed limit. That's a speed minimum.
Our target speed (the speed you are recommended to drive) is faster than the US speed limit.
I mean, it’s a nice tickling in the balls when you engage the warp drive on your way home. But it also inspires a lot of amateur race car drivers. Nah, I can do without.
I say minium because if you're not doing it you'll get hell from all drivers around you and realistically everyone is pushing 10 over.
Speed limits are great until some idiot decides to follow it.
And nuclear energy
(Germany I guess)
Why?
Even when ignoring environmental concerns and purely looking at it from a financial perspective: Renewable energy is more profitable already.
Yes, but they are unreliable. Nuclear is an amazing option for base loads, and then adding renewables on top of that just makes sense. Battery energy storage is still insanely expensive, so nuclear is a very valid alternative in countries that haven't let their nuclear production capabilities fall off to the point of taking decades.
Hydro power can be great for baseload and storage
Agreed, but it is so incredibly geography dependant that you can't really generalize with it.
You definitely have to ignore ecological concerns when talking about hydro.
There is no 100% clean energy, but hydro is pretty good
We don't have a 2 party political system and have functional public transport.
Being able to walk in the cities! And healthcare is also a big reason
Literally all of them except size of military.
In new ways every passing day!
It doesn't have a traitor as a president
We have the four freedoms that guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people as part of the European single market.
You realize that between the states the US has all of those?
That’s not entirely true. Texas seems to have a problem with people leaving for various services and it’s a federal crime to transport certain flora between states, even if it is fine in both states.
Those certain flora can’t be transported between European states either.
You’re still one country. Having states/provinces isn’t even a unique thing to the US
Assuming you're from Canada based on the .CA and says provinces (vs oblasts, cantons, or some other regional division), I would point at the interprovincial trade barriers.
We elected a fascist leader once and then we learned from it.
If you're from Germany or Italy: I don't think this is really true anymore. The fascist parties in these countries got 30%/21% of votes.
We, here in the UK, for all our faults, have waaaay fewer school shootings.... In fact way fewer shootings altogether (even when multiplied by ~5 for relative population size)
To be fair, the UK includes the Scots and they are pretty much in the top 3 of most chill people.
5 weeks paid leave
A smidgen fewer school shootings, although the reason for that is very ephemeral and incomprehensive.
At this point. If youre a democracy and just voting against money in all ways, shapes, and forms you're oopsed.
We care about the planet.
India - multi-party democracy. US is too big and too diverse of a place to have effectively have two parties for every region and every cohort of the country. It should try to copy some aspects of India's multi-party culture. Some states in India have parties that don't exist in any other state. And some parties exist across many states. Basically a mix of current US system and the European system.
In most urbanized areas, even in suburbs, you can buy daily necessities (food, personal hygiene, medicine, etc) in just a short walk. If in a subdivision, like in a suburb, there would be some houses with an attached corner store. Failing to find what you need there, a convenience store would be a bit further (either still inside the subdivision, or just out the gate).
If you need to do your groceries, you can use public transport to the market. Even within subdivisions (with some exceptions, like those for the wealthy), there usually would be some form of public transport that could take you to the main highway, and from there, to the market.
That's just one that immediately came to mind upon reading the prompt. Not sure if there are others, but it's the most striking to me, and one that I've taken for granted until hearing about the US' suburbs.
I guess history and a sense of being part of an established culture.
Do also want to point out though that Americans talk their country down on here. It's a place of extremes but that diversity in theory means anyone could find their niche. They also have pretty much every biome you might want to live in from desert, to parks to icy tundra - I can see why you might not need a passport.
Every?
The only thing the US got going for itself is that it has a bunch of really rich oligarchs. Oh, it has (soon, had) nice nature too, that's it
Almost always higher pay but worse everything else. It's a golden goose to extract revenue from but actually being American is kinda cringe especially when the USA chants break out.
Almost always higher pay? Maybe for <5% of the higher salary jobs, but most jobs pay less as many states have no or just shitty minimum wage laws
Face it, the USA sucks from every side you look at it
A sane head of government, just that akone is priceless but apparently not that common anymore.
One of the things that concerns me about Trump is that his politicking strategy may be an effective one in an era of social media. If that is true, it may be that other politicians will take it up.
Trump is done in four years. But having highly-misleading-but-attention-attracting narratives can live on for a very long time, absent a change in the media environment.
He's not the first, Italy suffered Silvio Berlusconi for years before.
I'm not familiar with Berlusconi's domestic politics, but I do recall people saying during Trump's first campaign that he was similar to Berlusconi.
We're small, and that means a lot of the problems facing America just pass us by.
we've got free healthcare and free universities =) (I'm from Brazil)
Australia: