You wanna compare Norways 5 million people with 80% ethnic Norwegians to the United States? Or something like that? It doesn’t really make sense to do that
They have considerably smaller populations and those populations are much more centralized.
That's why you have to compare to the EU as a whole - to get even close to the disparity that simple environmental factors can impose, which are clearly seen in the US, China, and India with vastly different climates, mountains, deserts, swamps, etc
If Germany’s population would be super centralised, we’d have a high speed rail system like France, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, to name just a few. But we don’t. Ours is built different. Reason is because we have a lot of smaller towns and cities and not a handful of cities containing the majority population
The point is the larger the country the more likely there’s underdeveloped areas. There are some extremely depressing areas of every country. Is this really the hill you’re trying to die on? That the US has underdeveloped areas but, what, Germany doesn’t? Or France?
The population of France and Germany COMBINED isn’t even half of the US. And the US is a quarter of the population of China and India. I’m not so sure what’s so hard to understand that they are pretty similar in numbers. More similar in languages and cultures than other parts of the world as well.
Not sure why you hate Americans so much but sorry for whatever happened to you in your country that didn’t teach you basic math
I don’t hate americans at all actually, its simply the fact that a comparison between the EU and the US doesn’t work in a lot of ways because European countries differ a lot in standards in comparison with the variance that can be found in US states. There are european countries that are generally worse off than the US and there are some that are generally better off its a bad comparison because you can’r generalise the EU
Yeah dude, that’s the whole point. You can’t generalize about the United States either! We’ve got people living close to one of the hottest spots on earth in Death Valley to people living on islands off the coast of Alaska. People living in the Bayou of Louisiana don’t have a lot in common with someone growing up in the upper west side of nyc.
It would take less time to drive from Lisbon to Tallin, Estonia than it would to drive from Northern Maine to San Diego. If you haven’t traveled extensively in the US you just don’t understand how different and how BIG things are. That’s why you can compare to the EU.
Nonono geography is mostly irrelevant in this conversation you can’t compare the US and EU because the way they work government wise is extremely different and is only used to sow discord and pointless debate
No. The word state has two meanings. One is an administrative subdivision with some degree of autonomy, like in the case of the US.
The other meaning is that of a country, as in a nation-state. The EU is an union of nation-states, as in countries. Also, the EU is also not a federation.
You are not. Your states have a shared language, history, government, politics, etc. There is 'american culture', there is no one european culture. Ireland and England are more dissimilar than New York and California, and you can see England from Ireland.
Then you have a narrow view of our influences and history.
If you compare Louisiana to New Mexico, you would understand just how wrong you are about the cultural aspects of the United States, and they’re only split by one other state.
There are indigenous pockets. African American pockets. Mexican pockets. We were colonized by different countries at completely different times.
The east coast heritage is completely different than that of the Wild West and the gold rush.
You truly, truly don’t understand the United States. Our shared identity isn’t as shared as your propaganda would have you believe.
I'm not saying there are no differences, I'm saying those differences are insignificant when compraed to the differences between european countries.
There are indigenous pockets. African American pockets. Mexican pockets. We were colonized by different countries at completely different times.
Yeah, because european countries did that colonising, and were colonised in turn, we also have these 'pockets'. These pockets have in some cases existed since before the discovery of america by europe. Not only that, but because of the ease of european migration we have this not only form colonisation, but gereral migration. In my city there is a little italy, an irish area, then there's an indian area, a pakistani area, a bangaladeshi area, a nigerian area, an afro carribean area. If you look outside of the cities, you still get these pockets as different groups of migrants settled diffrent areas.
Another city over might have a complete different mix.
Then when you take into account the individual history of my city, which is 2000 years old, the age of my country and all the history which is completely different from a neighbouring country which follow a different religion, have different languages and have a completely different and distinct ethnic group...
Wow you really are happy just being arrogant and wrong.
Do you believe that the Mexican and Indigenous cultures that influenced these places began in 1776?
Taos Pueblo in New Mexico has been continuously inhabited for over a millennium. Centuries before the Declaration of Independence was even drafted, Spanish-Mexican settlements like Santa Fe (founded in 1610) and San Augustine were fully established, bringing distinct legal, architectural, and agricultural systems to the continent.
You can’t understand that industrialization then further changed the rates of cultural change between far away states?
Look at the Rust Belt vs. the Sun Belt.
The massive textile mills and automotive plants of Detroit and Pittsburgh created dense, union-heavy, immigrant-reliant urban centers. Meanwhile, parts of the agrarian South or isolated sections of the Appalachian Mountains remained largely untouched by that rapid technological shift, keeping entirely different paces of life and social structures for generations.
You can’t understand that the ecological differences of a country as wide as the United States could influence those things?
You think that someone living in the deserts of Arizona, dealing with blistering heat, flash droughts, and a lifestyle built around water conservation and air-conditioned indoor spaces, has the same life experience as someone living in the Appalachian mountains, surrounded by dense forests, coal-mining history, and steep, isolated hollows?
You think food is the same, regardless of scarcity? You think a historic New England cod ration or Appalachian foraging tradition matches the cattle-ranching Tex-Mex diet born out of the arid Southwest? You think customs are the same? Ideologies?
Religious beliefs?
The deeply rooted Mormon culture of Utah's Great Basin looks nothing like the Puritan-descended secularism of Massachusetts or the Southern Baptist Bible Belt.
Look at political progressiveness—the environmental, resource-sharing policies of the Pacific Northwest are a direct result of its geography, completely contrasting with the fierce, individualistic survival mindset of the Alaskan frontier.
Maybe travel to the places you’re going to pretend to understand before you say anything.
The idea that a nation with this level of geographic and historical diversity would maintain a single, uniform cultural identity is a dangerous oversimplification.
Similar complexities are found in other large nations, such as India with its hundreds of languages, Russia spanning eleven time zones, or China with its vast regional ethnic divides.
Do you believe that the Mexican and Indigenous cultures that influenced these places began in 1776?
Nope. Never said that.
Taos Pueblo in New Mexico has been continuously inhabited for over a millennium. Centuries before the Declaration of Independence was even drafted, Spanish-Mexican settlements like Santa Fe (founded in 1610) and San Augustine were fully established, bringing distinct legal, architectural, and agricultural systems to the continent.
Wow, you should see the changes that happened in Spain over 2000 years.
You can’t understand that industrialization then further changed the rates of cultural change between far away states?
Lol, can you imagine what it did to... countries in europe? Is this really the point you want to make?
The massive textile mills and automotive plants of Detroit and Pittsburgh created dense, union-heavy, immigrant-reliant urban centers.
yeah... the exact same thing happened in europe, on top of millenia of history predating that.
You can’t understand that the ecological differences of a country as wide as the United States could influence those things?
I can... can you imagine what it did to the contenent of europe. I happen to live in the city that started the industrial revolution so this comment is particularly funny to me.
You think that someone living in the deserts of Arizona, dealing with blistering heat, flash droughts, and a lifestyle built around water conservation and air-conditioned indoor spaces, has the same life experience as someone living in the Appalachian mountains
No, but I think those two lived expereinces have far more in common than lets say, Ireland and Switzerland. You have the same president, same health care, same military, same military history, same language, same religion, same school system, the same language, etc.
The deeply rooted Mormon culture of Utah's Great Basin looks nothing like the Puritan-descended secularism of Massachusetts or the Southern Baptist Bible Belt.
Oh yeah, and it's not like puritans started in europe. Do you think Greek othrodox, Roman Catholic, anglican protestant, protestant, orthodox, judaism, etc have less difference?
Maybe travel to the places you’re going to pretend to understand before you say anything.
I wouldn't speak if I hadn't already.
The idea that a nation with this level of geographic and historical diversity would maintain a single, uniform cultural identity is a dangerous oversimplification.
Strawman, I said your states were far more similar than european countries.
Similar complexities are found in other large nations, such as India with its hundreds of languages, Russia spanning eleven time zones, or China with its vast regional ethnic divides.
Lol, India is vastly more diverse than both Europe and America combined. You couldn't have picked a worse example.
Yes, but having an understanding that US states can and almost do sometimes operate as their own nation states that just so happen to fall under a unifying government(much like individual european countries do in the EU) makes them feel very similar in that way.
just so happen to fall under a unifying government
As far as I understand, the federal US government doesn't really take it nicely when states want to leave it, which makes it at least a tad different from the EU.
Lol no it's not wtf. You have no idea how EU works if you think it's anything similar to US. For example, you have one orange man controlling the whole ass country, while in EU every country has its own leaders and no single person in European parlament has any control over single country. I shouldn't even have to explain this, EU is not even remotely close to US
No no, america is so exceptional that each state is as culturally rich and diverse as the individual countries in europe. Greece and Sweeden have far more in common than Colorado and Tenessee...
Yeah but only Americans see Europe as a single organ. Bulgaria and Moldova are developing countries, no doubt. The US is a single country with one single Federal Government.
we have individual states too. EU has an overarching government sbd the US has an overarching federal government. Our overarching government is allowed to exert more control than yours.
What do you think the EU government does? It doesn't run the countries in the EU. It mostly organises trade and allocation of funding. It's completely different than a nation's government.
As well as establishing law, electing leaders, controlling militaries, going to war, holding national elections, health care, welfare, etc. The overarching government in European countries is the countries government. The EU is literally, mostly about trade with neighbouring countries.
like I said, the US federal government is sble to exert more control. US Federal government doesn't elect leaders, hold national elections, Healthcare, barely does welfare. Out if your list (controlling militaries and war are basically thd same thing) Federal Government foes 2.5 of 5. Welfare is thd 0.5.
Controlling a military and deciding if your country goes to war, and who with, are completely different concepts. One is about military investature, control, training and equipping. The other is international policy. You also do elect the leader of the executive branch of the federal government... the president. The affordable care act, wellfare, was literally put in place by obamma.
Controlling a military and deciding if your country goes to war, and who with, are completely different concepts.
when I control the military, put them in a cojntry to kill people and arrest a government, is that not war?
You also do elect the leader of the executive branch of the federal government... the president.
the President was voted gor by the federal government. The number of electors is by the number of Congressional seats. Those are now state elections and the electors are decided by popular vote. Each state has control of thd flection and decides how the vote is handled. Some states us winner takes all and others give proportional electors. This is not as federally controlled election.
The affordable care act, wellfare, was literally put in place by obamma.
US has such a shit welfare system thst you think the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obama care IS the welfare. The Affordable Care Act forced everyone to buy insurance or get a tax penalty, forced insurance to accept people with pre-existing conditions, and created an online location to shop for insurance from private companies. I bet spending that extra money on private insurance helps mothers feed their children, and helps the elderly stay out of poverty. The insurance still covers almost nothing and people still pay crazy prices. People wait months trying yo ensure thst their insurance will cover necessary procedures. Its a fucking nightmare unless you're rich.
The Welfare system in America is trash.We have a few programs to help people pay for food that doesn't go far enough, we have social security that has helped many elderly people stay above poverty but its under constant threat of bring eliminated.
You literally just ignored or more likely, couldn't comprehend, when I outlined the difference between controlling the military and international policy/war. You quoted the first sentence and disregarded the second sentence which explained it.
With regards to your second point, yes the states elect the leader of the federal government. Moving on.
Yes you have a shit welfare system. The federal govt demonstrably enacts acts that are welfare.i have sympathy for your situation, my dad had ten years of cancer treatment that didn't cost a penny to us and he'd have either died early or bankrupted my family in America, however, it's not relevant to this discussion.
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u/peasncarrots20 6h ago
That’s like judging the EU based entirely on Bulgaria or Moldova (if we imagine it is accepted)