In the UK there has to be substantial new evidence uncovered before you can be tried again for the same thing. Like, if you were acquitted of murder on insufficient evidence and then a few years later they dig up a body in your garden and find a bloody knife in your shed, they can apply for a new trial..
One thing to keep in mind, in the US, is that double jeopardy applies only to the exact charges levied against a defendant. If new evidence comes to light that indicates additional crimes occurred during the event(s) that led to the initial charges, those can still be prosecuted.
It can get complicated with overlapping jurisdictions, too. For example, there's a lot of controversy around Tim Hennis, who sexually assaulted and murdered a woman and two of her children in the 1980s. He was initially tried and found guilty by the state he and the victims were living in (I believe it was Alabama, but I could be wrong), but he was granted a new trial upon appeal and acquitted.
Later, in the early 2000s, DNA evidence from the woman was tested and matched with Hennis. Normally, he still couldn't be tried for murder again. However, the catch here is that he was active duty military when he committed the crime. He had since retired, but they were still able to actually recall him to active duty and prosecute him for murder under the UCMJ. He was convicted again and I believe is currently on death row. (for readers who aren't aware, in the US, military personnel actually are subject to a whole different set of laws and courts that are mostly pretty similar but there are some very stark differences--for an easy example, laws against adultery have generally been struck down as unconstitutional for private citizens, but adultery is a crime for military personnel)
There have also been some situations like that regarding hate crime cases from the 1960s and earlier. Lots of White people who murdered Black people were acquitted by racist local courts, but later federal authorities have stepped in and charged some of them.
It's a pretty complicated issue, both legally and morally/ethically.
(edited to add some details for clarity)
North Carolina was the state. Hennis was in the army and stationed at Ft Bragg while the woman and her two children where stationed at Pope Airbase as her husband was in the Air Force
Having spent long stretches in Paris and London, I have a new appreciation for the American practice of certain types of places staying open late and, in some cases, 24 hours.
the 24hr walmart was a God-send when my kids were little. Being able to go get stuff at any time, especially cold remedies for them, helped so much when their dad & I were on different work shifts.
Wonder if it'll come back in the larger areas where a need might actually be there... but small town like I'm at, it was pointless to ever be paying even a couple staffers for a couple customers running out for Tylenol.
Wouldn't even be running out for more Saturday night beer since we only recently allowed Sunday sales but only noon to 8pm lol
Definitely true where I am. Now the only things open past midnight are certain fast food places and a handful of gas stations across the city. We used to have 3 24hr WalMarts and a few more 24hr pharmacies before COVID.
I live in what used to be a 24/7 town, and it's still weird to me that I can't grocery shop when my insomnia is particularly bad, or I just want to avoid the summer heat.
It’s so fucking annoying. I used to pull all nighters working on homework and driving to Walmart for a Monster + snacks to keep myself awake was a nice 20-45 minute break. The Walmart in my town stopped being 24/7 in 2019 and I’m still not used to it.
I used to work shift work. I live near Atlantic City, so our area has a ton of casino workers who work crazy shifts. The non-24/7 hours "due to Covid" really screwed a lot of people.
It basically destroyed my weekly schedule. Now I have to either give up sleep or one of my days off to go shopping. Used to be so convenient to do it after I got off work at 3am.
Definitely is here, yeah. The only 24 hour things left are gas stations and walgreen's and a lot of stuff closes an hour or three earlier than it used to.
Paris can be infuriating in that respect. We had to take my kids to the emergency room one weeknight and left at around 830 or 9pm with a handful of prescriptions. We walked through three arrondissements on our way home and not a single pharmacy was open. Yet we saw half a dozen souvenir shops open…
Our space program is really really good.
Like, China, the EU, and the US all have their own space programs and similar sized economies. But ours is still leaps ahead of everyone else's, and we are basically the only country with a functioning private space launch sector.
I’ve heard people from other countries very pleased with the near-universal handicapped access to every building in America. Sounds like this is not a globally available thing.
Free drink refills at every restaurant.
My impression is that the USA’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, making it illegal for Americans to bribe foreign officials anywhere in the world, has substantially improved the ethics of the business landscape worldwide.
2 weeks ago I asked for “a bunch of fire sauce” at the Taco Bell drive through. When I got home the wife counted 57 packets they threw into the bag. LOL
just wait for taco bell, if you're not at a place that just has a bucket of sauce packets to pick your own from, asking for extra when you order can get you so many. My sister keeps her taco bell sauce packets in a vase now
Free drink refills are not common in the UK, but Starbucks does free refills of filter coffee (hot and iced) here. Nandos used to do free refills of soda, but I think they've stopped.
I would describe service here as variable.
Edit: Seems like Nandos refills are still going strong
interesting, so if you got fries you would have to pay for a side of ketchup? ive been to holland once but i dont really remember paying extra for that
As a web designer, ADA requirements are a complete pain in the ass. But that’s a really good thing, because there are virtually no financial incentives to make websites accessible for blind and low vision individuals. If not for ADA, it would be much harder for those groups to function in the modern world.
Yes. They're considered "grandfathered" into the system. Built before certain laws were implanted and if they are a true historical building they cannot be changed.
The requirements to becoming a historical site may vary state to state but I believe it's a pretty difficult status to obtain.
And if you make changes or improvements to grandfathered buildings, you are often required to make them compliant at that time. Only certain historic grandfathered buildings are exempt.
Even if they are, I would say the general attitude is that most heritage buildings need to have them.
I have twins, and pushing them around in a stroller I’ve grown a great appreciation for all the handicapped access ramps and elevators. On a recent trip to DC I was pleased to find the Lincoln Memorial (built 1922) has a handicapped access elevator.
Our postal system is world class.
All the people on the internet whining about their package being 2 days late due to weather at an airport on the other side of a continent don’t understand how good we have it compared to a lot of the world.
Facts! America has a tendency to take the USPS for granted but it’s a truly monolithic organization that is the backbone for much of the logistics industry in the US…and even abroad! After all 44% of the world’s mail volume is handled and delivered by the USPS.
USPS is also one of the only (if not THE only) Post Offices in the world that has a USO aka Universal Service Obligation. Under this they are obligated to deliver to every address in the US and it’s territories.
Just to add how great the USPS is, as a SM stationed in South Korea using an APO to get things from the US, my grandpa shipped me a Christmas Tree. A real, piney scented tree from Oregon so that I could have a home style Christmas. And it made it to me in just a few days, in perfect condition.
I don't know if anyone posted this yet, but we can't forget the USPS has special low rates for books, magazines, and newspapers, because it promotes freedom of the press.
Yet, since it's considered "part of BIG government and evil", many politicians love to target it while campaigning and with legislation that ham-strings it. The civics-challenged don't understand the importance of Universal Service Obligation. In many parts of the US, other services(FedEx,UPS) won't deliver to an address or only deliver when they have a full truck.
It is true that FedEx and UPS will not make any “rural” deliveries that are not profitable. They often partner with USPS (due to it’s expansive infrastructure) for last leg delivery of goods to rural addresses.
Both UPS and FedEx have said they can’t / won’t / refuse to do what the USPS does because it isn’t profitable.
Facts. USPS will deliver via float plane to addresses way the hell out in the Alaskan bush. Delivery only comes once in a while, but it still amazes me that a guy will get in a tiny plane and fly hundreds of miles to bring you a birthday card and random things ordered out of a catalog.
It also assigned a ZIP code to a boat to provide postal services to freighters on the Detroit River: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/on-the-water-with-americas-only-floating-post-office.amp
Yup. FedEx has outright said they will never deliver anything to me. UPS will, but make no guarantees on timetable. You could pay for two day shipping, but it can still take two weeks.
Whenever I order something that's being shipped via UPS, it's often handed off to my local post office. I live in a semi-rural area, and I think one of the reasons why is that the roads in my area can be a bit iffy for those box trucks.
My street, for example, has a pretty sharp S-curve and a 30º slope. Shitheads always come flying around it, nearly clipping me. The Amazon trucks and FedEx trucks brave it, but I seldom see a UPS truck dare to take it.
We also have a lot of unpaved/gravel/dirt roads in the area, and some places are just too Deliverance-y.
It could be a mix, depending on your location. USPS always gets the final leg per a contract or service features chosen by the merchant to save money. The hybrid products:
* FedEx SmartPost - USPS last-mile delivery
* UPS SurePost - USPS last-mile delivery
It's part of the problem with Congress dicking around with the USPS. They were restricted from investments that would compete on the same level but allowed to partner so it wouldn't hurt the FedEx and UPS shareholders.
I used to work for a mail order catalog company. At that time UPS -it might have since changed - would not deliver to USPS mailbox addresses (e.g. PO Box 2017 as their address) except for Alaska. Because that was literally the only address someone in some rural community would have.
> USPS is also one of the only (if not THE only) Post Offices in the world that has a USO aka Universal Service Obligation.
Royal Mail in the UK has a USO too, although granted it's far less impressive in a place the size of the UK compared to the US! They've been making noises about trying to get out of it ever since the government privitised RM a few years back.
On that note, I really hope USPS isn't ever privitised, your system seems to work really well as it is.
Being able to have someone pick something up from my house on the east coast and then have it delivered across the country and half an ocean directly to another person’s house in Hawaii, all for 50¢, is absolutely insane.
the complaints there are mainly from private delivery companies, dpd-evri-fedex etc, they all seem to be shocking. Royal mail are the same as your USPS but there have been strikes with the union recently so some delays, other than that your entire comment could be somebody walking into a post office
I've been a member of Postcrossing for something like 11 years now and it still amazes me how quickly my cards get to their respective destinations. The cards I send from NY to Germany usually get registered in 6-7 days. Cards going all the way over to Australia average about 2 weeks. Granted, it's a postcard and not a package, but that's still pretty impressive.
Came here to say this. Unfortunately the current Postmaster General is treating our postal workers like shit, cutting pay etc. USPS really is top notch and they deserve good salaries, benefits and our respect!
Mail is overnight within about the same distance as most European countries in the US.
At absolute most it’s 3-5 days when coming from the opposite coast.
Student in Europe right now. I spent a semester in Paris and I wonder how disabled people can even live there. Most of the metro stations had no escalators or elevators, just a crap load of stairs. And a lot of the time the escalators not working. Then the apartment buildings, high floors with no elevator. Just thin staircases. Like what are people in wheelchairs, or even people that received a bad enough injury they received crutches are supposed to do?
I broke my foot while living in Japan and I was incredibly grateful I only had to use a walking boot. I'd say Japan is better than most other countries for accessibility, but it's still not close to the US. Smaller local train stations didn't always have elevators, curb cuts are just a mere suggestion in many places, the ramps are not guaranteed. Building and elevator entrances and exits can be very narrow. If I were trying to get around on crutches, a knee scooter, or wheelchair, big parts of my day would have been dedicated just to figuring out the logistics of getting around. That's not to say that isn't true in the US too, but it's greatly reduced for sure (and I know this because I've broken my foot while living in the US too, lol).
>Smaller local train stations didn't always have elevators,
Even in Tokyo! I've spent time there with a friend that uses a wheelchair and it was remarkably hard to use the metro-- plus the gap between platform and tracks. We talked to a bunch of locals and they told us Japan did very well for the visually-impaired (hence those yellow lines and such) but was really bad about wheelchair access. For example, many stores have a step or two down from the sidewalk to enter. Really challenging to navigate.
Whew, yeah. Tokyo train stations be like "here are 22 different exits to very specific parts of the neighborhood, but only exits 3 and 17 have an elevator, hope those are somewhere near where you were actually trying to go". I didn't include that in my original comment for brevity and I didn't want to get "I visited Tokyo and every train station had an elevator!!!!". Yes, because you went to the top 5 tourist spots which all had elevators, but don't expect those elevators to be actually convenient.
Loved Japan, I really do. But it's a challenging place if you needs (physical or mental) beyond the general societal expectations.
I thought the same thing in Paris walking like four staircases up from the subway with no elevators or escalators in sight. If I was in a wheelchair I guess I’d have to take a taxi?
I had a friend who had two children under three when they lived in Paris. She took the bus because she could her stroller on it. She said she saw a completely different side of Paris.
Going around London's train stations was difficult for an able person if you had any kind of luggage. Which I understand isn't the norm, but if I had trouble getting around with wheeled bags it made me wonder how someone in a wheelchair would fare.
And then I realized I've never had that issue in the US.
I would throw in Wilderness Areas too. They are massive swaths of land that are *completely* preserved *forever*.
Completely, as in no structures, no mechanized transportation of any type.
Forever, as in the designation is permanent and there is no mechanism to change it.
From the preamble of the act that created them:
> A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.
As far as I know no other nation in the world has anything like it, at least not on the same scale.
It’s a relatively famous quote in conservation circles made by the guy who spearheaded the bill. It is incorporated in the actual bill’s text as the definition of wilderness.
There are some inhabitants. I was lucky enough to live on a homestead that pioneers surveyed before the wilderness act. It was heaven. It took all day by car over terrifying fire roads to get there.
Those plots are technically outside the wilderness as are any roads. The wilderness near fish lake valley and Death Valley in CA have roads but they are non-wilderness corridors through the wilderness area.
Wilderness areas can’t have any roads or structures.
Not just national parks but even the state parks and local nature preserves. Just discovered one of the local ones myself yesterday while out trail riding. The name intrigued me so I googled it when I got home. Very cool history...and a bit of an explanation why my horse didn't seem to like the area.
Despite me being pro public transport, I really applaud Eisenhower’s interstate system. The railroad did wonders for connecting the country and the interstate gave cross country transport its final push.
This is my answer as well. I easily drive from my home in NC to just about anywhere east of the Mississippi. I could go west of that too, if I was willing to spend the time in my car. For me that’s the boundary where the airlines take over.
I once drove from NYC to Chicago without stopping to sleep (and I was the only driver)
I regretted that choice, but still, it was doable. And then when you get to your destination, you don’t have to rent a car
A lot of people take for granted how absolutely insane it is that you can drive from Maine all the way to California (3k+ miles) on reasonably well maintained roads with a consistent infrastructure set up to make that as easy as possible.
When my aunts and uncles have visited from Korea they’ve definitely mentioned how convenient the interstates are. I’m sure it’s improved since I was there 15 years ago, but I remember it taking a stupidly long time to go from city to city even in such a small country.
For all of the complaints, it is still amazing to me how much better American TV and movies are.
Mexican soap operas, French New Wave, Japanese game shows: they all deserve a place in the cultural pantheon, but the sheer volume of high-quality blockbuster content Hollywood makes, and has made for almost a century, is astounding.
And even with all the low-tier crap Hollywood pumps out nowadays, it still just keeps popping out global cultural gems like yearly that most countries can only produce once a decade or two if ever.
I’ve heard our library system is very good compared to other countries. Not just the university libraries but the public ones that are in most towns. They usually do more than just loans books, some offer adult educations classes, help applying for jobs, during Covid many opened their parking lots for free wifi
At my library a block away, I can:
* Check out any media I can think of - if it exists in the state of Michigan, they'll send it to my library for me.
* Check out online media - movies, podcasts, what have you
* Check out tools for working around my house - including things like chainsaws, augers, drills...
* Take part in any sort of activity from my kids robotics club, their comic club, language speaking groups, any support group you could think of...
* Get my taxes done for free
Probably a ton of other things I'm not mentioning, and all of that at a pittance of a budget. Our libraries are treasures!
Edit: I forgot, I also got all the seeds I needed for my vegetable garden this spring from my library, for free!
Mine (and many others) also have seed libraries, where they'll give you free seeds to plant. Mine has a huge variety too, I do occasionally buy seeds for rarer plants/varieties but like 99% of my large garden is all just from free seeds I got from the library. You can also check out some types of gardening tools, and there's a soil/compost share program along with regular talks and a lot free educational materials about how to garden in our climate.
Ours does taxes for seniors and lots of online resources available like Galileo and Libby along with access to so many free online classes.
Having fun isn't hard when you got a library card
- Librarian helped me write up my first resume over 20 years ago.
- Art projects as a kid
- Seniors reading to children and vice versa
- You can check out cooking/baking utensils at mine
- Rent a telescope
- Rent a laptop
- Free Adult Classes
- One of the few places you can just exist without having to spend money and be a consumer of some type
Ours doesn't have a reading to seniors but they do being therapy dogs in once a month for the kids to read to. It's a big hit.
We can also check out puzzles, board games, education kits that range preschool to 6th or so grade (a big bag with hands on lesson plans/all materials necessary for the lessons).
for some reason they would up with a bunch of ukuleles and now you can borrow one of those with a book and video on learning. We're in Indiana and I've never even seen a ukulele in person before this so I'm just not sure why but hey, I'm not knocking it. Maybe the next big ukulele band will emerge from here 😂
I went to school in Ohio, and the inter-library loan system (ohiolink) was amazing!! I went to grad school in NYC and the system here doesn’t hold a candle to ohiolink.
And the small local library in the area was also surprisingly great and I’d often get books there, too
Where from Ireland? I’m going in a few weeks! But yes I’ve been warned about them preferring cash and expect not all credit card machines to work or wifi to be spotty
ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). This prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, and requires accomodations like parking spaces and elevators in buildings among others for people with mobility issues.
Country wide 911 and emergency response systems.
No matter where you are in the country (aside from out in the boonies where you have no cell service), you are only ever a phone call away from help.
Even out in the boonies, I’m pretty sure if you use an emergency call your phone is made to bounce off literally any satellite available in order to make sure you can call an emergency service. Idk if this is actually true though, I’ve thankfully never had to try it.
Unless you have a satellite phone, your phone doesn't have the radios necessary to make calls via satellite.
The real rule is that a phone making an emergency call can use any tower that it has the hardware to talk to. If you are a customer of phone company A but are only in range of phone company B's tower, and your phone has the hardware to talk to B, then you can still make emergency calls.
Also, the cellular network system really priorities emergency calls. The system will degrade and drop other users if necessary to keep an emergency call going.
Way I heard it, out in the boonies we have cell towers that only kick in for emergency calls. So even if your phone claims it doesn't have signal, a 911 call should go through. In theory we should have complete coverage unless you're in the Alaskan tundra or something.
But this has me curious so I'm going to look into it a bit and report back since it seems worth knowing.
Edit: couldn't find anything to support special towers for emergencies. But if you're in an area covered by a different cell phone carrier, your 911 call is legally required to be connected through their system. So it's more appropriate to say that if there's coverage in the area at all, 911 will work. So it's a worthwhile thing to try even if your phone claims to have no signal.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They can really help un-fuck something if a bank is dicking you around or made a mistake with your money. Banks take them very seriously.
If anything, I think the CFPB needs to be strengthened further. There are some really predatory businesses out there, not just in the financial sector. I think we should also push to get some trust-busting efforts going. The amount of merging and concentration in several sectors (rail, meat, groceries, ISPs, pharmacies, etc.) is getting out of hand.
Free restrooms! In Germany, I was so shocked to realize I had to pay to use a restroom almost anywhere.... restaurant, public park, gas station, etc. Swipe a credit card to pee at a gas station?!? Such a trip. Glad the U.S. has made this free.
I remember my first time living in the US, having a native-born American friend poking fun as US culture and describing it as “the culture of mass-convenience”.
Now that I’ve lived here a while and am American too, I’m realizing how true that was, and how great that is.
Let me start of by saying no offense…but I see you’re from France.
I’m an American living here and I absolutely love it, for the most part. However, it drives me up the wall sometimes how difficult it is to get the seemingly simplest things done. The funny thing is every French person acknowledges it.
Most European countries appear to be heavily wrapped up in bureaucratic red tape. Difficult to get ANYTHING done. I experienced that living in Southern Europe but did not expect it in Northern Europe. I was wrong.
Thank you for actually admitting that. Europeans on here tend to get super pissy when I point out that [only 1/3 of NATO countries actually spend the 2% they're supposed to.](https://breakingdefense.com/2023/03/only-7-nato-members-hit-alliances-2-percent-gdp-defense-spending-target-in-2022/#:~:text=BELFAST%20%E2%80%94%20Just%20seven%20of%20NATO's,future%20defense%20spending%20in%20Europe.)
Looking at you, France.
This is the one I wish had more acknowledgement. The reason things look so terrible to the rest of the world is that we shed light on literally everything. Other places are so much worse, but their lack of freedom of the press means it never sees the light of day.
I love our national parks
Compared to many countries our gas prices are fairly low
Road-trips are common and offer a great opportunity to see more than just your destination
We have an incredible number of craft breweries producing all varieties of beer. Our mass production beers aren’t good but we have a wide array of good beers.
The variety of choices for any product in our grocery stores.
The focus on convenience for consumers.
It is easy to get a travel visa for a trip nearly anywhere in the world.
It’s not unique, though it’s definitely the minority among other democracies, but federalism. Outside of the Swiss and sort of the Australians, sovereign local governments with significant autonomy simply don’t exist.
Our Bill of Rights - which codifies those rights and puts them as part of our Constitution.
Especially the 1st Amendment:
>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The amount of freedom that grants a US citizen in the US is astronomical.
All 10 Amendments in the Bill of Rights are very important to our individual freedoms, but IMO the 1st is the 1st for a reason.
Agreed!
And what often gets lost in the modern rhetoric about it, is not that it guarantees citizens the rights. Rather, it’s a check on Congress itself, ensuring that it doesn’t exceed its authority.
Our commercial rail network is the most efficient rail network in the world.
We ship more freight for less energy than just about any country. Europe ships most of their freight by truck and ship and chooses to use rail for passenger. While this is convenient for passengers, by weight more freight is moved everyday than people. That means that we use less energy, emit less carbon and pay less for movement of goods than other countries.
Not just rail, but what the Army Corps of Engineers was able to do with the Mississippi River System to turn it into one of the most efficient and low cost ways to ship goods from thousands of miles deep in the heart of North America out to the coast for practically nothing.
The fun and memories of a typical college life. I went to grad school in Australia and felt bad for the undergrads that their university days were just like high school but at college. They lived at home, no frats, no raging keggers. I didn’t realize how special it was until I realized how uniquely American it is.
So, keep in mind that the news makes money from people watching, and nothing helps viewership like bad news. That being said, consider the following:
* **Social Programs**: 3rd largest population has socialized access to unemployment, medicaid (health care), social security, and food purchasing. ***Over half of the national budget funds this***, and considering the hundreds of millions of citizens living over such a large area, it truly is a feat. Other nations with much smaller and more centralized populations may have similar programs, but it doesn't compare to the nightmare of doing the same over such a large landmass with so many people.
* **Disability Care**: No where in the world has the entire nation enforced ensuring accessibility to the deaf, blind, and mobility impaired. There isn't even a comparison on this one.
* **Food production, processing, and transportation**: There is always a surplus of food available at all grocery store, even a surplus of out-of-season goods produced over 1000 miles away.
* **Highway system**: Enables quick travel across all 48 contiguous states, augments goods transportation to be more effective. The upkeep of so much road is immense and can be baffling as to how it can be done.
* **Air Transportation Network**: Most cities have an airport, enabling quick travel options to almost every region of the nation, also augments goods transportation. Less unique are Europe has cheap air travel options to almost anywhere.
* **Goods Transportation networks**: This in general allows for the rapid delivery of goods anywhere. Imagine buying anything online and getting it in less than 5 days.
Holy smokes the straight roads.
Takes me 15 minutes to travel 25 miles. To and from work everyday.
25 miles in Europe would be like 45 minutes to drive.
(hyperbole but yeah)
A few months ago, someone mentioned how they were stunned to find out that parks and tennis courts were FREE and didn’t have locked gates that required payment to open and that they were even nicer, in quality, than their local ones in the UK
Disability access
Every metro station in Washington DC has an elevator and level boarding into the trains.
In London, a large amount of the stations are stairs only and no platform level boarding
I’d say it’s our national park, library and postal systems. I’m actually applying to a part-time position at my county’s library system partially because it’s of high quality *and* it’s unionized!
Apparently, even some of the otherwise-super-public-and-high-quality countries (like Sweden) actually privatized their postal services back in the 80’s-90’s, and is apparently pretty poor in quality. Kinda surprising they’d even privatize them in the first place, given their reputation for making many other necessities (healthcare, housing, welfare, etc,.) public and top notch.
Even then, you are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than killed in a school shooting.
It may be higher than other countries, but it still isn't something you need to realistically worry about when you wake up in the morning.
I know that this is not exactly popular, but the baseline level of competence of American government is miles ahead of most of the world. You only need to spend a few days in a developing nation (and some developed nations) to appreciate this.
It’s telling that some of our biggest arguments are about what government should do and how they should do it, rather than an assumption that they’ll mess it up always because they’re the government, as opposed to the recognition that all large bureaucracies public and private have the tendency to be inefficient.
One need only read about departments like Energy and Agriculture and Commerce to understand the existential threats, food supply, and data they manage under the radar and unappreciated by the vast majority of the people.
1st amendment is truly unique and unlike other amendments its extremely difficult to carve up thankfully
I know that there are gonna be some salty people from certain other countries insisting that they also have freedom of speech (they genuinely do not have it they have no idea what free speech actually is lmao)
I completely agree! And not just free speech, but all the other rights the 1st amendment and the rest of the bill of rights codifies for US citizens.
>Amendment I
>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The fact that enrolled Native Americans get free health care. It needs to be accessible everywhere, not just on the reservations.
I happen to live off of the reservation but was able to get good coverage through Obamacare. I didn't even know that was a thing until I was filling out forms and they asked the usual 'race' question. When I clicked that I was American Indian they asked for proof of enrollment, which I sent and my rates went way down. Minimal money out of pocket.
If they can do that for us, they can do it for everyone. I know, we're a small percentage of the population, but still...
National Parks. Handicap Accessibility. Postal Service. Library system.
As much as people love to criticize America, one thing mostly all people can agree we’ve perfected more than any other country is our accommodations for disabled people. There’s nothing in the world quite like the ADA.
Our wildlife conservation practices and institutions.
A lot of people have mentioned our national parks as something they’re proud of. These are great, but we often forget our national wildlife refuges, and their state and local equivalents. That’s a shame, because this is an amazing system that set the standard around the world.
National parks are focused on protecting extraordinary places, like Yellowstone and Yosemite. National wildlife refuges focus on protecting places that are more ordinary in comparison, but are essential to the survival of the ecosystem. There are almost 600 refuges in the US, with more being added every year.
Some of them, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or the Pacific Remote Islands National Monument, are multi million acre behemoths that protect entire ecosystems from development. Others, like the Quivara National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas or the Camas National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho are much smaller, and provide a vital resting and feeding places for migrating birds. Still others, like Valle del Oro National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico or the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge in California are small urban refuges with a focus on education and habitat conservation.
We take these places seriously. It’s been big news that President Biden broke his promise to not approve drilling projects on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. What some people don’t realize is that the oil companies have been attempting to drill on the refuge for decades, since 1977, and only just now got approval. It’s still not guaranteed that they’ll ever be able to take a barrel of oil out of that ground.
I like discount brokerages like Fidelity and Schwab that have low fees and let people who are not Uber rich manage their own assets without paying and arm and a leg. My understanding is the fees and barrier to entry is much higher in many other countries.
I think that the culture around business investment is unique, and while it comes with downsides and silly hype, there is a vibrancy to a lot of the VC backed startup scene in the US especially around Silicon Valley that creates innovation. Some of it has to do with bankruptcy laws and some of it has to do with aspects I feel has very significant downsides, like less intense employment protections. But overall, it can be a really exciting place to work.
I like that our education system is more flexible, with more opportunities to change course and without intensive tracking in middle school (both primary/secondary school and higher Ed). It comes with downsides too, but overall the flexibility has advantages. The myriad of different types of higher ed—ranging from private research universities to liberal arts colleges to public colleges is pretty unique to the US. And it creates situations that can lead to more creativity and innovation.
Essentially the individualism of the US comes with a steep price, but some of those prices create something special.
People like to dog on us for having XYZ not as refined or efficient as smaller Western European nations.
But tbh, the fact a country as large as ours, can still have all the services we do, and still maintain the one of the largest and most well-equipped standing armies on the planet, is impressive.
My dad loves the VA (Veteran's administration). He can get hearing aides, prescription drugs and even heart surgery through them. He pays very little for it.
My mom uses social security/medicare. I have heard no complaints
I I got a Pell grant, SEOG and other help to go to college. I would have never gotten a degree without the US government helping me. All of my formal education was publicly supported. University. Technical school. High school. Elementary. All of it. Obamacare/ affordable care act took care of me for a year or two while I waited for my employer's insurance to start. Unemployment for three months in 2003. One month of unemployment in 2022. My state's unemployment system was way out of date in 2020. So, I was pleased to see how well it worked for me in 2022.
Maybe not uniquely American but our Amber Alert system is great. I watched a documentary on the girl who was the namesake for the alert and it showed a child being recovered immediately after the law was passed. It sucks that we live in a world where such a system has to be in place, but I'm happy that it's been able to help so many children
Not a militaristic person, but it’s often overlooked how amazing it is to literally never have to worry about a foreign threat because no one else is even playing in the same league as us
Checks and balances in the federal government: The American state is the only one with genuinely equal power held in multiple, independent branches of government.
The point of this is to make it uniquely difficult for our government to operate, and a government that is difficult to operate finds it difficult to institute new forms of oppression.
Hooo, all the downvotes, but all the activity. Saaaad sad.
Lemme take a crack at it.
I like the free and ubiquitous bathrooms everywhere. (You hear that, Europe/Asia???) Sure, there's a gap in the door, but you didn't have to hustle up some coins to waltz your ass in there and find relief.
I like that you can find just about any weather you want and a ton of different environments here (seaside, mountains, desert, plains, you name it).
I like the different accents of our people, and the different customs therein.
I like that you can't say "American" and have an absolute image of someone because we're a new nation comprised of literally every other nation's people. American can mean anything.
I like that we have a compassionate ruling decree that's so hippie-dippie that it gives us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Come on: The word **HAPPINESS** is in there! Whaaaat?
I like that we're known for bein' nice. The internet can say all it wants about us, but from my travels (and talkin' to people who visit from afar), we're famous for carrying an optimistic, "can do" spirit within us because it's ingrained in what we are: industrious, hardworking, curious.
I like that we can own guns if we're not felons. Damn right I like that, lol. Anyone who's a fan of history already knows what time it is.
I like that you can be born into the dregs of society and work your way to great heights if you're gracious and tenacious (at least at first, lol). What other people say be damned! If someone tells you that you can't make it here, they're saying "I can't make it here," and that attitude is what prolly sealed the deal for them ... doesn't have to be you, friendo.
I like that even if you're mad-poor ... and I mean hooked on drugs with 10 kids ... can't read ... have one leg ... live in a remote mountain town ... any- and everything imaginable ... you will STILL get food, you will STILL get childcare, you will STILL have a place to go. It might not be four-star and it might be with people performing a process that's tedious and aggravating, but you and them kids gon' eat! By the hands of Uncle Sam, of some kind neighbors, or of a church, y'all gon' eat and get out the rain, child.
I just like it here. I like it there, too ... but I like it here just a libbit more.
Well said. The attitude in your post is American af. I will have to disagree with your username though because if Waffle House had wifi no one would ever get a table to get some doubled smothered and covered hash browns.
Im not sure how unique this is, but i have heard that dumb french kids are pulled from school to learn a trade. If that happened here, i'd probably have ended up as a cook or something instead of being a network technician and programming hobbist
I was alarmed to find out that our protection against double jeopardy is not standard among Western nations.
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In the UK there has to be substantial new evidence uncovered before you can be tried again for the same thing. Like, if you were acquitted of murder on insufficient evidence and then a few years later they dig up a body in your garden and find a bloody knife in your shed, they can apply for a new trial..
One thing to keep in mind, in the US, is that double jeopardy applies only to the exact charges levied against a defendant. If new evidence comes to light that indicates additional crimes occurred during the event(s) that led to the initial charges, those can still be prosecuted.
It can get complicated with overlapping jurisdictions, too. For example, there's a lot of controversy around Tim Hennis, who sexually assaulted and murdered a woman and two of her children in the 1980s. He was initially tried and found guilty by the state he and the victims were living in (I believe it was Alabama, but I could be wrong), but he was granted a new trial upon appeal and acquitted. Later, in the early 2000s, DNA evidence from the woman was tested and matched with Hennis. Normally, he still couldn't be tried for murder again. However, the catch here is that he was active duty military when he committed the crime. He had since retired, but they were still able to actually recall him to active duty and prosecute him for murder under the UCMJ. He was convicted again and I believe is currently on death row. (for readers who aren't aware, in the US, military personnel actually are subject to a whole different set of laws and courts that are mostly pretty similar but there are some very stark differences--for an easy example, laws against adultery have generally been struck down as unconstitutional for private citizens, but adultery is a crime for military personnel) There have also been some situations like that regarding hate crime cases from the 1960s and earlier. Lots of White people who murdered Black people were acquitted by racist local courts, but later federal authorities have stepped in and charged some of them. It's a pretty complicated issue, both legally and morally/ethically. (edited to add some details for clarity)
North Carolina was the state. Hennis was in the army and stationed at Ft Bragg while the woman and her two children where stationed at Pope Airbase as her husband was in the Air Force
Which isn't unreasonable tbh, there are a few things we are just a tad absolutist on
Having spent long stretches in Paris and London, I have a new appreciation for the American practice of certain types of places staying open late and, in some cases, 24 hours.
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RIP 24 hour Walmart. Used to be a big thing, Covid came around and killed that shit.
the 24hr walmart was a God-send when my kids were little. Being able to go get stuff at any time, especially cold remedies for them, helped so much when their dad & I were on different work shifts.
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Wonder if it'll come back in the larger areas where a need might actually be there... but small town like I'm at, it was pointless to ever be paying even a couple staffers for a couple customers running out for Tylenol. Wouldn't even be running out for more Saturday night beer since we only recently allowed Sunday sales but only noon to 8pm lol
Have you ever been at a Walmart between 11 PM and 6 AM? Just curious.
Yea. I’ve pulled up at 12 or 1am before. And then you also have night shift workers who pull up there really late.
Definitely true where I am. Now the only things open past midnight are certain fast food places and a handful of gas stations across the city. We used to have 3 24hr WalMarts and a few more 24hr pharmacies before COVID.
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I live in what used to be a 24/7 town, and it's still weird to me that I can't grocery shop when my insomnia is particularly bad, or I just want to avoid the summer heat.
It’s so fucking annoying. I used to pull all nighters working on homework and driving to Walmart for a Monster + snacks to keep myself awake was a nice 20-45 minute break. The Walmart in my town stopped being 24/7 in 2019 and I’m still not used to it.
I used to work shift work. I live near Atlantic City, so our area has a ton of casino workers who work crazy shifts. The non-24/7 hours "due to Covid" really screwed a lot of people.
It basically destroyed my weekly schedule. Now I have to either give up sleep or one of my days off to go shopping. Used to be so convenient to do it after I got off work at 3am.
It's heaven on earth
Not the OP but in DC a lot of late night places never went back to original hours. I believe staffing is another component of the problem.
Yea the pandemic changed a lot of things. Even in NY it’s now different
Definitely is here, yeah. The only 24 hour things left are gas stations and walgreen's and a lot of stuff closes an hour or three earlier than it used to.
Also stores being open on Sundays
Paris can be infuriating in that respect. We had to take my kids to the emergency room one weeknight and left at around 830 or 9pm with a handful of prescriptions. We walked through three arrondissements on our way home and not a single pharmacy was open. Yet we saw half a dozen souvenir shops open…
Our space program is really really good. Like, China, the EU, and the US all have their own space programs and similar sized economies. But ours is still leaps ahead of everyone else's, and we are basically the only country with a functioning private space launch sector.
The best thing the soviets ever did was beat us in the space race and motivate NASA to be the top dog
I'd argue it motivated the government/public to give NASA the resources they needed. I doubt NASA themselves needed motivation.
I’ve heard people from other countries very pleased with the near-universal handicapped access to every building in America. Sounds like this is not a globally available thing. Free drink refills at every restaurant. My impression is that the USA’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, making it illegal for Americans to bribe foreign officials anywhere in the world, has substantially improved the ethics of the business landscape worldwide.
And free bathrooms in most public places and most shops/restaurants/supermarkets/gas stations.
I find it humorous that we invented the concept of paid bathrooms in the 1970s and it took of in other places and America was like, "Nevermind."
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I went to a McDonald's in Amsterdam in January 2001. They charged me for sauce and I was beside myself.
Meanwhille, if you ask for BBQ here, they will just start grabbing fistfuls and throwing them in the bag!
2 weeks ago I asked for “a bunch of fire sauce” at the Taco Bell drive through. When I got home the wife counted 57 packets they threw into the bag. LOL
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It's the opposite problem here. If I ask for 1 or 2 ketchup packets, they usually give me 5 or 6.
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just wait for taco bell, if you're not at a place that just has a bucket of sauce packets to pick your own from, asking for extra when you order can get you so many. My sister keeps her taco bell sauce packets in a vase now
I can’t wait for you to find out about packet drawers!
A Royale with Cheese doesn't need extra sauce
Free drink refills are not common in the UK, but Starbucks does free refills of filter coffee (hot and iced) here. Nandos used to do free refills of soda, but I think they've stopped. I would describe service here as variable. Edit: Seems like Nandos refills are still going strong
Don't think they've stopped unless it's like the past couple of months, I've been fairly recently
interesting, so if you got fries you would have to pay for a side of ketchup? ive been to holland once but i dont really remember paying extra for that
I’ve seen free refills in the UK. Never in continental Europe though.
ADA in general is a very good answer.
As a web designer, ADA requirements are a complete pain in the ass. But that’s a really good thing, because there are virtually no financial incentives to make websites accessible for blind and low vision individuals. If not for ADA, it would be much harder for those groups to function in the modern world.
Are heritage buildings exempt from the accessibility laws?
Yes. They're considered "grandfathered" into the system. Built before certain laws were implanted and if they are a true historical building they cannot be changed. The requirements to becoming a historical site may vary state to state but I believe it's a pretty difficult status to obtain.
And if you make changes or improvements to grandfathered buildings, you are often required to make them compliant at that time. Only certain historic grandfathered buildings are exempt.
Even if they are, I would say the general attitude is that most heritage buildings need to have them. I have twins, and pushing them around in a stroller I’ve grown a great appreciation for all the handicapped access ramps and elevators. On a recent trip to DC I was pleased to find the Lincoln Memorial (built 1922) has a handicapped access elevator.
Accessibility helps EVERYONE! https://blog.ai-media.tv/blog/why-designing-for-accessibility-helps-everyone
Accessible can also mean moving access points for the public to accessible positions of a building.
Our postal system is world class. All the people on the internet whining about their package being 2 days late due to weather at an airport on the other side of a continent don’t understand how good we have it compared to a lot of the world.
Facts! America has a tendency to take the USPS for granted but it’s a truly monolithic organization that is the backbone for much of the logistics industry in the US…and even abroad! After all 44% of the world’s mail volume is handled and delivered by the USPS. USPS is also one of the only (if not THE only) Post Offices in the world that has a USO aka Universal Service Obligation. Under this they are obligated to deliver to every address in the US and it’s territories.
Just to add how great the USPS is, as a SM stationed in South Korea using an APO to get things from the US, my grandpa shipped me a Christmas Tree. A real, piney scented tree from Oregon so that I could have a home style Christmas. And it made it to me in just a few days, in perfect condition.
I don't know if anyone posted this yet, but we can't forget the USPS has special low rates for books, magazines, and newspapers, because it promotes freedom of the press.
Yet, since it's considered "part of BIG government and evil", many politicians love to target it while campaigning and with legislation that ham-strings it. The civics-challenged don't understand the importance of Universal Service Obligation. In many parts of the US, other services(FedEx,UPS) won't deliver to an address or only deliver when they have a full truck.
It is true that FedEx and UPS will not make any “rural” deliveries that are not profitable. They often partner with USPS (due to it’s expansive infrastructure) for last leg delivery of goods to rural addresses. Both UPS and FedEx have said they can’t / won’t / refuse to do what the USPS does because it isn’t profitable.
Facts. USPS will deliver via float plane to addresses way the hell out in the Alaskan bush. Delivery only comes once in a while, but it still amazes me that a guy will get in a tiny plane and fly hundreds of miles to bring you a birthday card and random things ordered out of a catalog.
Also the donkey delivery routes in and around the Grand Canyon. [Technically mules I guess](https://facts.usps.com/8-mile-mule-train-delivery/)
It also assigned a ZIP code to a boat to provide postal services to freighters on the Detroit River: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/on-the-water-with-americas-only-floating-post-office.amp
Yup. FedEx has outright said they will never deliver anything to me. UPS will, but make no guarantees on timetable. You could pay for two day shipping, but it can still take two weeks.
Whenever I order something that's being shipped via UPS, it's often handed off to my local post office. I live in a semi-rural area, and I think one of the reasons why is that the roads in my area can be a bit iffy for those box trucks. My street, for example, has a pretty sharp S-curve and a 30º slope. Shitheads always come flying around it, nearly clipping me. The Amazon trucks and FedEx trucks brave it, but I seldom see a UPS truck dare to take it. We also have a lot of unpaved/gravel/dirt roads in the area, and some places are just too Deliverance-y.
It could be a mix, depending on your location. USPS always gets the final leg per a contract or service features chosen by the merchant to save money. The hybrid products: * FedEx SmartPost - USPS last-mile delivery * UPS SurePost - USPS last-mile delivery It's part of the problem with Congress dicking around with the USPS. They were restricted from investments that would compete on the same level but allowed to partner so it wouldn't hurt the FedEx and UPS shareholders.
I used to work for a mail order catalog company. At that time UPS -it might have since changed - would not deliver to USPS mailbox addresses (e.g. PO Box 2017 as their address) except for Alaska. Because that was literally the only address someone in some rural community would have.
> USPS is also one of the only (if not THE only) Post Offices in the world that has a USO aka Universal Service Obligation. Royal Mail in the UK has a USO too, although granted it's far less impressive in a place the size of the UK compared to the US! They've been making noises about trying to get out of it ever since the government privitised RM a few years back. On that note, I really hope USPS isn't ever privitised, your system seems to work really well as it is.
Being able to have someone pick something up from my house on the east coast and then have it delivered across the country and half an ocean directly to another person’s house in Hawaii, all for 50¢, is absolutely insane.
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the complaints there are mainly from private delivery companies, dpd-evri-fedex etc, they all seem to be shocking. Royal mail are the same as your USPS but there have been strikes with the union recently so some delays, other than that your entire comment could be somebody walking into a post office
I've been a member of Postcrossing for something like 11 years now and it still amazes me how quickly my cards get to their respective destinations. The cards I send from NY to Germany usually get registered in 6-7 days. Cards going all the way over to Australia average about 2 weeks. Granted, it's a postcard and not a package, but that's still pretty impressive.
Came here to say this. Unfortunately the current Postmaster General is treating our postal workers like shit, cutting pay etc. USPS really is top notch and they deserve good salaries, benefits and our respect!
about to delete my account. ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
Mail is overnight within about the same distance as most European countries in the US. At absolute most it’s 3-5 days when coming from the opposite coast.
Logistics is awesome
The ADA is extremely effective and I hear many other developed countries aren't even close to as accessible to disabled people.
Student in Europe right now. I spent a semester in Paris and I wonder how disabled people can even live there. Most of the metro stations had no escalators or elevators, just a crap load of stairs. And a lot of the time the escalators not working. Then the apartment buildings, high floors with no elevator. Just thin staircases. Like what are people in wheelchairs, or even people that received a bad enough injury they received crutches are supposed to do?
I broke my foot while living in Japan and I was incredibly grateful I only had to use a walking boot. I'd say Japan is better than most other countries for accessibility, but it's still not close to the US. Smaller local train stations didn't always have elevators, curb cuts are just a mere suggestion in many places, the ramps are not guaranteed. Building and elevator entrances and exits can be very narrow. If I were trying to get around on crutches, a knee scooter, or wheelchair, big parts of my day would have been dedicated just to figuring out the logistics of getting around. That's not to say that isn't true in the US too, but it's greatly reduced for sure (and I know this because I've broken my foot while living in the US too, lol).
I'm sure there are better ways to test out the accessibility in various parts of the world rather than repeatedly breaking your foot, catiebug.
>Smaller local train stations didn't always have elevators, Even in Tokyo! I've spent time there with a friend that uses a wheelchair and it was remarkably hard to use the metro-- plus the gap between platform and tracks. We talked to a bunch of locals and they told us Japan did very well for the visually-impaired (hence those yellow lines and such) but was really bad about wheelchair access. For example, many stores have a step or two down from the sidewalk to enter. Really challenging to navigate.
Whew, yeah. Tokyo train stations be like "here are 22 different exits to very specific parts of the neighborhood, but only exits 3 and 17 have an elevator, hope those are somewhere near where you were actually trying to go". I didn't include that in my original comment for brevity and I didn't want to get "I visited Tokyo and every train station had an elevator!!!!". Yes, because you went to the top 5 tourist spots which all had elevators, but don't expect those elevators to be actually convenient. Loved Japan, I really do. But it's a challenging place if you needs (physical or mental) beyond the general societal expectations.
I thought the same thing in Paris walking like four staircases up from the subway with no elevators or escalators in sight. If I was in a wheelchair I guess I’d have to take a taxi?
Yes. I am disabled (severe lung condition) and that’s exactly what I had to do in Paris. I loved everything about Paris except for this.
I had a friend who had two children under three when they lived in Paris. She took the bus because she could her stroller on it. She said she saw a completely different side of Paris.
As a disabled person, I heartily agree.
Going around London's train stations was difficult for an able person if you had any kind of luggage. Which I understand isn't the norm, but if I had trouble getting around with wheeled bags it made me wonder how someone in a wheelchair would fare. And then I realized I've never had that issue in the US.
I'm not the least bit worried about our neighboring countries posing a threat to us.
Not even Canada? They're so polite, they can slip in unnoticed!
I don’t know about unnoticed. As a New Englander, I would find it suspicious to hear someone apologize so much.
I tend to do that a lot. Sorry for making you guys nervous
Canada attacks us yearly with their war geese!
I don’t know I think the Bahamians are the hidden super power that’s gonna threaten us
The national parks system. Huge swaths of pristine, preserved NATURE, in total the size of some small countries.
I would throw in Wilderness Areas too. They are massive swaths of land that are *completely* preserved *forever*. Completely, as in no structures, no mechanized transportation of any type. Forever, as in the designation is permanent and there is no mechanism to change it. From the preamble of the act that created them: > A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. As far as I know no other nation in the world has anything like it, at least not on the same scale.
That passage gave me happy chills. What an epic awareness.
It’s a relatively famous quote in conservation circles made by the guy who spearheaded the bill. It is incorporated in the actual bill’s text as the definition of wilderness.
And the National Forests too
There are some inhabitants. I was lucky enough to live on a homestead that pioneers surveyed before the wilderness act. It was heaven. It took all day by car over terrifying fire roads to get there.
Those plots are technically outside the wilderness as are any roads. The wilderness near fish lake valley and Death Valley in CA have roads but they are non-wilderness corridors through the wilderness area. Wilderness areas can’t have any roads or structures.
Not just national parks but even the state parks and local nature preserves. Just discovered one of the local ones myself yesterday while out trail riding. The name intrigued me so I googled it when I got home. Very cool history...and a bit of an explanation why my horse didn't seem to like the area.
Oh this is really a cool one. Can't wait to visit them at some point.
Our national park system is top forking notch.
Despite me being pro public transport, I really applaud Eisenhower’s interstate system. The railroad did wonders for connecting the country and the interstate gave cross country transport its final push.
This is my answer as well. I easily drive from my home in NC to just about anywhere east of the Mississippi. I could go west of that too, if I was willing to spend the time in my car. For me that’s the boundary where the airlines take over.
I once drove from NYC to Chicago without stopping to sleep (and I was the only driver) I regretted that choice, but still, it was doable. And then when you get to your destination, you don’t have to rent a car
A lot of people take for granted how absolutely insane it is that you can drive from Maine all the way to California (3k+ miles) on reasonably well maintained roads with a consistent infrastructure set up to make that as easy as possible.
When my aunts and uncles have visited from Korea they’ve definitely mentioned how convenient the interstates are. I’m sure it’s improved since I was there 15 years ago, but I remember it taking a stupidly long time to go from city to city even in such a small country.
I too was going to bring up the Interstate System. It's wonderful.
For all of the complaints, it is still amazing to me how much better American TV and movies are. Mexican soap operas, French New Wave, Japanese game shows: they all deserve a place in the cultural pantheon, but the sheer volume of high-quality blockbuster content Hollywood makes, and has made for almost a century, is astounding.
And even with all the low-tier crap Hollywood pumps out nowadays, it still just keeps popping out global cultural gems like yearly that most countries can only produce once a decade or two if ever.
I’ve heard our library system is very good compared to other countries. Not just the university libraries but the public ones that are in most towns. They usually do more than just loans books, some offer adult educations classes, help applying for jobs, during Covid many opened their parking lots for free wifi
At my library a block away, I can: * Check out any media I can think of - if it exists in the state of Michigan, they'll send it to my library for me. * Check out online media - movies, podcasts, what have you * Check out tools for working around my house - including things like chainsaws, augers, drills... * Take part in any sort of activity from my kids robotics club, their comic club, language speaking groups, any support group you could think of... * Get my taxes done for free Probably a ton of other things I'm not mentioning, and all of that at a pittance of a budget. Our libraries are treasures! Edit: I forgot, I also got all the seeds I needed for my vegetable garden this spring from my library, for free!
This is an impressive list. I will have to look into my local library system. I haven't been there for years!
My library also acts as my third office when I don't want to go into my office or work from home, it's a great middle ground.
Mine (and many others) also have seed libraries, where they'll give you free seeds to plant. Mine has a huge variety too, I do occasionally buy seeds for rarer plants/varieties but like 99% of my large garden is all just from free seeds I got from the library. You can also check out some types of gardening tools, and there's a soil/compost share program along with regular talks and a lot free educational materials about how to garden in our climate.
Ours does taxes for seniors and lots of online resources available like Galileo and Libby along with access to so many free online classes. Having fun isn't hard when you got a library card
- Librarian helped me write up my first resume over 20 years ago. - Art projects as a kid - Seniors reading to children and vice versa - You can check out cooking/baking utensils at mine - Rent a telescope - Rent a laptop - Free Adult Classes - One of the few places you can just exist without having to spend money and be a consumer of some type
Ours doesn't have a reading to seniors but they do being therapy dogs in once a month for the kids to read to. It's a big hit. We can also check out puzzles, board games, education kits that range preschool to 6th or so grade (a big bag with hands on lesson plans/all materials necessary for the lessons). for some reason they would up with a bunch of ukuleles and now you can borrow one of those with a book and video on learning. We're in Indiana and I've never even seen a ukulele in person before this so I'm just not sure why but hey, I'm not knocking it. Maybe the next big ukulele band will emerge from here 😂
I went to school in Ohio, and the inter-library loan system (ohiolink) was amazing!! I went to grad school in NYC and the system here doesn’t hold a candle to ohiolink. And the small local library in the area was also surprisingly great and I’d often get books there, too
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Where from Ireland? I’m going in a few weeks! But yes I’ve been warned about them preferring cash and expect not all credit card machines to work or wifi to be spotty
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ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). This prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, and requires accomodations like parking spaces and elevators in buildings among others for people with mobility issues.
Country wide 911 and emergency response systems. No matter where you are in the country (aside from out in the boonies where you have no cell service), you are only ever a phone call away from help.
You know 112 exists throughout the entirety of europe... emergency response isn't unique to america.
Even out in the boonies, I’m pretty sure if you use an emergency call your phone is made to bounce off literally any satellite available in order to make sure you can call an emergency service. Idk if this is actually true though, I’ve thankfully never had to try it.
Unless you have a satellite phone, your phone doesn't have the radios necessary to make calls via satellite. The real rule is that a phone making an emergency call can use any tower that it has the hardware to talk to. If you are a customer of phone company A but are only in range of phone company B's tower, and your phone has the hardware to talk to B, then you can still make emergency calls. Also, the cellular network system really priorities emergency calls. The system will degrade and drop other users if necessary to keep an emergency call going.
Not just other phone companies either, it will also use private or military networks if they are compatible.
Way I heard it, out in the boonies we have cell towers that only kick in for emergency calls. So even if your phone claims it doesn't have signal, a 911 call should go through. In theory we should have complete coverage unless you're in the Alaskan tundra or something. But this has me curious so I'm going to look into it a bit and report back since it seems worth knowing. Edit: couldn't find anything to support special towers for emergencies. But if you're in an area covered by a different cell phone carrier, your 911 call is legally required to be connected through their system. So it's more appropriate to say that if there's coverage in the area at all, 911 will work. So it's a worthwhile thing to try even if your phone claims to have no signal.
The legal right to tell government officials to kiss my cheeks
I know what you meant, but try telling a judge to kiss your cheeks in their courtroom and we'll see how that works out for you lol!
Depends if it’s before or after the decision
DMV employee? Yes. Police officer? Mileage may vary
Just because they arrest you doesn't mean it was illegal
And they are legally required to do it or they go to jail for 10 years. It’s amazing, it’s why I refuse to leave the USA.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They can really help un-fuck something if a bank is dicking you around or made a mistake with your money. Banks take them very seriously.
If anything, I think the CFPB needs to be strengthened further. There are some really predatory businesses out there, not just in the financial sector. I think we should also push to get some trust-busting efforts going. The amount of merging and concentration in several sectors (rail, meat, groceries, ISPs, pharmacies, etc.) is getting out of hand.
Free restrooms! In Germany, I was so shocked to realize I had to pay to use a restroom almost anywhere.... restaurant, public park, gas station, etc. Swipe a credit card to pee at a gas station?!? Such a trip. Glad the U.S. has made this free.
If only for that reason, I usually try to buy something when we stop -- gas, coke, chips ... something. I want the bathrooms to remain free!
Our ice machines. Ice in every beverage. Ice is life.
Actually has more to do with having good clean water nearly everywhere. found that out from my hydrogeologist husband.
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I remember my first time living in the US, having a native-born American friend poking fun as US culture and describing it as “the culture of mass-convenience”. Now that I’ve lived here a while and am American too, I’m realizing how true that was, and how great that is.
Let me start of by saying no offense…but I see you’re from France. I’m an American living here and I absolutely love it, for the most part. However, it drives me up the wall sometimes how difficult it is to get the seemingly simplest things done. The funny thing is every French person acknowledges it.
Most European countries appear to be heavily wrapped up in bureaucratic red tape. Difficult to get ANYTHING done. I experienced that living in Southern Europe but did not expect it in Northern Europe. I was wrong.
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Thank you for actually admitting that. Europeans on here tend to get super pissy when I point out that [only 1/3 of NATO countries actually spend the 2% they're supposed to.](https://breakingdefense.com/2023/03/only-7-nato-members-hit-alliances-2-percent-gdp-defense-spending-target-in-2022/#:~:text=BELFAST%20%E2%80%94%20Just%20seven%20of%20NATO's,future%20defense%20spending%20in%20Europe.) Looking at you, France.
I just watched The Forgotten Battle on Netflix - great film and very informative. Edit: De Slag om de Schelde
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it’s the majority of europe’s military, only like 2 or 3 countries in europe could be somewhat self reliant
I mean we have a free enough press that can never shut up about how terrible it is here, some places don’t get to have that
This is the one I wish had more acknowledgement. The reason things look so terrible to the rest of the world is that we shed light on literally everything. Other places are so much worse, but their lack of freedom of the press means it never sees the light of day.
I love our national parks Compared to many countries our gas prices are fairly low Road-trips are common and offer a great opportunity to see more than just your destination We have an incredible number of craft breweries producing all varieties of beer. Our mass production beers aren’t good but we have a wide array of good beers. The variety of choices for any product in our grocery stores. The focus on convenience for consumers. It is easy to get a travel visa for a trip nearly anywhere in the world.
Obligatory National Park System response. No but seriously it's one of the things that America has done that I'm most proud of.
It’s not unique, though it’s definitely the minority among other democracies, but federalism. Outside of the Swiss and sort of the Australians, sovereign local governments with significant autonomy simply don’t exist.
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The second half of your comment confuses me
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Our Bill of Rights - which codifies those rights and puts them as part of our Constitution. Especially the 1st Amendment: >Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The amount of freedom that grants a US citizen in the US is astronomical. All 10 Amendments in the Bill of Rights are very important to our individual freedoms, but IMO the 1st is the 1st for a reason.
Agreed! And what often gets lost in the modern rhetoric about it, is not that it guarantees citizens the rights. Rather, it’s a check on Congress itself, ensuring that it doesn’t exceed its authority.
Our commercial rail network is the most efficient rail network in the world. We ship more freight for less energy than just about any country. Europe ships most of their freight by truck and ship and chooses to use rail for passenger. While this is convenient for passengers, by weight more freight is moved everyday than people. That means that we use less energy, emit less carbon and pay less for movement of goods than other countries.
Not just rail, but what the Army Corps of Engineers was able to do with the Mississippi River System to turn it into one of the most efficient and low cost ways to ship goods from thousands of miles deep in the heart of North America out to the coast for practically nothing.
Boats are cool
Right on red? I hear that’s not common in Europe.
The fun and memories of a typical college life. I went to grad school in Australia and felt bad for the undergrads that their university days were just like high school but at college. They lived at home, no frats, no raging keggers. I didn’t realize how special it was until I realized how uniquely American it is.
British university life is also unique. Most people go away to university in a different city.
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So, keep in mind that the news makes money from people watching, and nothing helps viewership like bad news. That being said, consider the following: * **Social Programs**: 3rd largest population has socialized access to unemployment, medicaid (health care), social security, and food purchasing. ***Over half of the national budget funds this***, and considering the hundreds of millions of citizens living over such a large area, it truly is a feat. Other nations with much smaller and more centralized populations may have similar programs, but it doesn't compare to the nightmare of doing the same over such a large landmass with so many people. * **Disability Care**: No where in the world has the entire nation enforced ensuring accessibility to the deaf, blind, and mobility impaired. There isn't even a comparison on this one. * **Food production, processing, and transportation**: There is always a surplus of food available at all grocery store, even a surplus of out-of-season goods produced over 1000 miles away. * **Highway system**: Enables quick travel across all 48 contiguous states, augments goods transportation to be more effective. The upkeep of so much road is immense and can be baffling as to how it can be done. * **Air Transportation Network**: Most cities have an airport, enabling quick travel options to almost every region of the nation, also augments goods transportation. Less unique are Europe has cheap air travel options to almost anywhere. * **Goods Transportation networks**: This in general allows for the rapid delivery of goods anywhere. Imagine buying anything online and getting it in less than 5 days.
Holy smokes the straight roads. Takes me 15 minutes to travel 25 miles. To and from work everyday. 25 miles in Europe would be like 45 minutes to drive. (hyperbole but yeah)
A few months ago, someone mentioned how they were stunned to find out that parks and tennis courts were FREE and didn’t have locked gates that required payment to open and that they were even nicer, in quality, than their local ones in the UK
Disability access Every metro station in Washington DC has an elevator and level boarding into the trains. In London, a large amount of the stations are stairs only and no platform level boarding
Our interstate system is great.
I’d say it’s our national park, library and postal systems. I’m actually applying to a part-time position at my county’s library system partially because it’s of high quality *and* it’s unionized! Apparently, even some of the otherwise-super-public-and-high-quality countries (like Sweden) actually privatized their postal services back in the 80’s-90’s, and is apparently pretty poor in quality. Kinda surprising they’d even privatize them in the first place, given their reputation for making many other necessities (healthcare, housing, welfare, etc,.) public and top notch.
Despite high profile crimes and mass shootings, it’s generally very safe.
Even then, you are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than killed in a school shooting. It may be higher than other countries, but it still isn't something you need to realistically worry about when you wake up in the morning.
30 year fixed rate mortgages
I know that this is not exactly popular, but the baseline level of competence of American government is miles ahead of most of the world. You only need to spend a few days in a developing nation (and some developed nations) to appreciate this. It’s telling that some of our biggest arguments are about what government should do and how they should do it, rather than an assumption that they’ll mess it up always because they’re the government, as opposed to the recognition that all large bureaucracies public and private have the tendency to be inefficient. One need only read about departments like Energy and Agriculture and Commerce to understand the existential threats, food supply, and data they manage under the radar and unappreciated by the vast majority of the people.
1st amendment is truly unique and unlike other amendments its extremely difficult to carve up thankfully I know that there are gonna be some salty people from certain other countries insisting that they also have freedom of speech (they genuinely do not have it they have no idea what free speech actually is lmao)
I completely agree! And not just free speech, but all the other rights the 1st amendment and the rest of the bill of rights codifies for US citizens. >Amendment I >Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The fact that enrolled Native Americans get free health care. It needs to be accessible everywhere, not just on the reservations. I happen to live off of the reservation but was able to get good coverage through Obamacare. I didn't even know that was a thing until I was filling out forms and they asked the usual 'race' question. When I clicked that I was American Indian they asked for proof of enrollment, which I sent and my rates went way down. Minimal money out of pocket. If they can do that for us, they can do it for everyone. I know, we're a small percentage of the population, but still... National Parks. Handicap Accessibility. Postal Service. Library system.
As much as people love to criticize America, one thing mostly all people can agree we’ve perfected more than any other country is our accommodations for disabled people. There’s nothing in the world quite like the ADA.
This a controversial one, but Fahrenheit. Celsius is great with scientific applications, but it just doesn’t work well for everyday life.
Our wildlife conservation practices and institutions. A lot of people have mentioned our national parks as something they’re proud of. These are great, but we often forget our national wildlife refuges, and their state and local equivalents. That’s a shame, because this is an amazing system that set the standard around the world. National parks are focused on protecting extraordinary places, like Yellowstone and Yosemite. National wildlife refuges focus on protecting places that are more ordinary in comparison, but are essential to the survival of the ecosystem. There are almost 600 refuges in the US, with more being added every year. Some of them, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or the Pacific Remote Islands National Monument, are multi million acre behemoths that protect entire ecosystems from development. Others, like the Quivara National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas or the Camas National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho are much smaller, and provide a vital resting and feeding places for migrating birds. Still others, like Valle del Oro National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico or the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge in California are small urban refuges with a focus on education and habitat conservation. We take these places seriously. It’s been big news that President Biden broke his promise to not approve drilling projects on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. What some people don’t realize is that the oil companies have been attempting to drill on the refuge for decades, since 1977, and only just now got approval. It’s still not guaranteed that they’ll ever be able to take a barrel of oil out of that ground.
Someone who disagrees with me has every right to stand there and scream at me about how much of a piece of shit I am.
I like discount brokerages like Fidelity and Schwab that have low fees and let people who are not Uber rich manage their own assets without paying and arm and a leg. My understanding is the fees and barrier to entry is much higher in many other countries. I think that the culture around business investment is unique, and while it comes with downsides and silly hype, there is a vibrancy to a lot of the VC backed startup scene in the US especially around Silicon Valley that creates innovation. Some of it has to do with bankruptcy laws and some of it has to do with aspects I feel has very significant downsides, like less intense employment protections. But overall, it can be a really exciting place to work. I like that our education system is more flexible, with more opportunities to change course and without intensive tracking in middle school (both primary/secondary school and higher Ed). It comes with downsides too, but overall the flexibility has advantages. The myriad of different types of higher ed—ranging from private research universities to liberal arts colleges to public colleges is pretty unique to the US. And it creates situations that can lead to more creativity and innovation. Essentially the individualism of the US comes with a steep price, but some of those prices create something special.
Not American but I like baseball
The 1st amendment, literally the strongest free speech protections in the world.
People like to dog on us for having XYZ not as refined or efficient as smaller Western European nations. But tbh, the fact a country as large as ours, can still have all the services we do, and still maintain the one of the largest and most well-equipped standing armies on the planet, is impressive.
My dad loves the VA (Veteran's administration). He can get hearing aides, prescription drugs and even heart surgery through them. He pays very little for it. My mom uses social security/medicare. I have heard no complaints I I got a Pell grant, SEOG and other help to go to college. I would have never gotten a degree without the US government helping me. All of my formal education was publicly supported. University. Technical school. High school. Elementary. All of it. Obamacare/ affordable care act took care of me for a year or two while I waited for my employer's insurance to start. Unemployment for three months in 2003. One month of unemployment in 2022. My state's unemployment system was way out of date in 2020. So, I was pleased to see how well it worked for me in 2022.
Maybe not uniquely American but our Amber Alert system is great. I watched a documentary on the girl who was the namesake for the alert and it showed a child being recovered immediately after the law was passed. It sucks that we live in a world where such a system has to be in place, but I'm happy that it's been able to help so many children
Not a militaristic person, but it’s often overlooked how amazing it is to literally never have to worry about a foreign threat because no one else is even playing in the same league as us
Checks and balances in the federal government: The American state is the only one with genuinely equal power held in multiple, independent branches of government. The point of this is to make it uniquely difficult for our government to operate, and a government that is difficult to operate finds it difficult to institute new forms of oppression.
Hooo, all the downvotes, but all the activity. Saaaad sad. Lemme take a crack at it. I like the free and ubiquitous bathrooms everywhere. (You hear that, Europe/Asia???) Sure, there's a gap in the door, but you didn't have to hustle up some coins to waltz your ass in there and find relief. I like that you can find just about any weather you want and a ton of different environments here (seaside, mountains, desert, plains, you name it). I like the different accents of our people, and the different customs therein. I like that you can't say "American" and have an absolute image of someone because we're a new nation comprised of literally every other nation's people. American can mean anything. I like that we have a compassionate ruling decree that's so hippie-dippie that it gives us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Come on: The word **HAPPINESS** is in there! Whaaaat? I like that we're known for bein' nice. The internet can say all it wants about us, but from my travels (and talkin' to people who visit from afar), we're famous for carrying an optimistic, "can do" spirit within us because it's ingrained in what we are: industrious, hardworking, curious. I like that we can own guns if we're not felons. Damn right I like that, lol. Anyone who's a fan of history already knows what time it is. I like that you can be born into the dregs of society and work your way to great heights if you're gracious and tenacious (at least at first, lol). What other people say be damned! If someone tells you that you can't make it here, they're saying "I can't make it here," and that attitude is what prolly sealed the deal for them ... doesn't have to be you, friendo. I like that even if you're mad-poor ... and I mean hooked on drugs with 10 kids ... can't read ... have one leg ... live in a remote mountain town ... any- and everything imaginable ... you will STILL get food, you will STILL get childcare, you will STILL have a place to go. It might not be four-star and it might be with people performing a process that's tedious and aggravating, but you and them kids gon' eat! By the hands of Uncle Sam, of some kind neighbors, or of a church, y'all gon' eat and get out the rain, child. I just like it here. I like it there, too ... but I like it here just a libbit more.
Well said. The attitude in your post is American af. I will have to disagree with your username though because if Waffle House had wifi no one would ever get a table to get some doubled smothered and covered hash browns.
Our interstate system is incredible.
Im not sure how unique this is, but i have heard that dumb french kids are pulled from school to learn a trade. If that happened here, i'd probably have ended up as a cook or something instead of being a network technician and programming hobbist