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I'm not a worldly traveler, but I have done a few cruises and I always try to have a conversation with whoever I am around. When the other party says "You Americans bla, bla, bla, etc", I always look for an exit.
I'm not a worldly traveler, but I have done a few cruises and I always try to have a conversation with whoever I am around. When the other party says "You Americans bla, bla, bla, etc", I always look for an exit.
lol! yeah, then you walk away and they get on the message boards and say how rude Americans are because they won't listen to us whine about something we have no clue about
Many of my southern, Republican relatives (who have never been abroad) believe in "American Exceptionalism." They think America's status quo is perfect, including
1) 30,000 or so murders a year (40% of America's guns are bought at gun shows, with no background checks),
2) hospitals that charge $75 for an aspirin, sometimes several thousand dollars for an E.R. outpatient observation and EKG (as reported in "Consumer Reports" magazine),
3) overall health costs three times that of European nations, with no better results
4) a very inadequate and skimpy passenger Train system that's a national embarassment (whose rail cars, for no reason, weigh twice that of Europe's rail cars, and use more fuel),
5) a defense budget larger than the entire rest of the world combined (something like 11 times that of the nation in second place),
6) many, many times the ratio of lawyers as in Europe and Japan
7) corporate CEO's who earn an average of 100 or 200 times the salary of other workers (compared with a ratio of only 20 or 30 in Europe and Canada).
8) billions of dollars in taxpayers' money to build pro sports stadiums, in cities nationwide, for owners who themselves are billionaires.
They think USA was ordained by God to be the leader and policeman for the world, and anyone who constructively suggests just maybe comparing ideas from other countries is a "Traitor" and "why don't you go live somewhere else if you don't like it."
Last edited by slowlane3; 02-13-2014 at 05:23 PM..
They think USA was ordained by God to be the leader and policeman for the world, and anyone who constructively suggests just maybe comparing ideas from other countries is a "Traitor" and "why don't you go live somewhere else if you don't like it."
Yes, it's exactly the feeling I got while telling Americans about some good practices from other countries (not even mine). There is no even possibility for a discussion.
I think the biggest and best change we could make in the US is to adopt Canadian campaign finance processes.
US campaign financing is so corrupt. You need over ONE BILLION dolars to run for US President. Nobody thinks that is a travesty? Nobody thinks that billionaires are just buying elections?
Seriously, I think these other issues are dwarfed by this problem.
By I do get annoyed by the snarky tone of some people when they look down on us Muricans. It's a country with 50 states and 300 million people. You can't pretend that it's the same as a country with only 10 million.
I think the biggest and best change we could make in the US is to adopt Canadian campaign finance processes.
US campaign financing is so corrupt. You need over ONE BILLION dolars to run for US President. Nobody thinks that is a travesty? Nobody thinks that billionaires are just buying elections?
Seriously, I think these other issues are dwarfed by this problem.
By I do get annoyed by the snarky tone of some people when they look down on us Muricans. It's a country with 50 states and 300 million people. You can't pretend that it's the same as a country with only 10 million.
I would be worried if a non billionaire was running the country lol
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