# Can these 3 things explain most major differences between the U.S. and the rest of the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 13, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688 "2017-10-13T00:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/21 "2017-10-13T11:37:07Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > To understand the American attitude, you would have to see how people would react if you started to make suggestions that you believed your government should restrict the ability for the people to own firearms. Well, for starters, a lot of Americans believe that their government doesn’t restrict the ability of the people to own firearms. It does. The same people tend to believe that citizens of other countries don’t have the right to bear arms. People in many other countries know that our governments restrict that ability. Sometimes the restrictions get updated. So do the taxation tables or the legislation on labor safety. It’s considered part of the job of the government. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > A lot of this is rooted in _settler_ colonialism — taking over vast lands and repopulating them outright — which is more common in the Anglosphere (US, Canada, Australia, NZ, parts of South Africa, and let’s not forget Ulster), than in the other parts of the world, including places influenced by French, Spanish, or Portuguese colonialism (Quebec and Argentina being interesting exceptions). A lot of the Argentinian displacement took place right after independence, under heavy influence from the UK. Or so I’ve been told by an Argentinian friend who’s a history buff, don’t have cites handy. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/22 "2017-10-13T12:29:23Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > But plenty of countries have had a history of colonial settlement with an often hostile indigenous population, an unpoliced frontier, and easy access to firearms. New Zealand is one, we still have a relatively high rate of gun ownership, and yet most Kiwis view the apparent American attitude to firearms with a sort of baffled horror. I mean, I could own a gun if I wanted, a license is easy enough to get here, but why would I? It’s not like I need one. The vast majority of Americans are pretty similar to you. I do happen to support our gun rights, although I don’t own a firearm. But I’m not vocal about it, and most people aren’t vocal about, but there’s a _very vocal_ group that makes us all seem like gun nuts. I assure you, were aren’t! I’ve been to several countries like you describe, and have spent appreciable time specifically in South Africa and New Zealand, and putting aside the superficial differences, all three of us are very, very similar in spirit, attitudes, and way of life. And FWIW, I think the South Africans really _are_ gun nuts! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/23 "2017-10-13T13:11:14Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > A lot of the Argentinian displacement took place right after independence, under heavy influence from the UK. Or so I’ve been told by an Argentinian friend who’s a history buff, don’t have cites handy. Excellent point, thanks! It was definitely mainly in the service of providing beef to the industrial-revolution British. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/24 "2017-10-13T13:19:44Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I’m talking about the ones that get Canadians and Europeans shaking their heads and asking why. > > 1. The origins of the country, including westward expansion. > 2. The size of the country (which includes the rural/urban divide). > 3. The Cold War. > > America’s attitude towards guns, for example, can be explained by 1 and 2. Attitudes towards health care can be explained by 1 (origins of rugged individualism) and 3, if we expand to include WWII. The Pledge of Alleigance is covered by 3. > > I can’t think of many issues like this that doesn’t have roots in at least one of these three factors. Am I missing anything? The Pledge of Allegiance predates WWII, unless you meant the inclusion of the words “under God” in 1954. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/25 "2017-10-13T16:14:07Z")
The origins of European vs. US healthcare systems are well documented. National health insurance [began](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/bismarck-tried-end-socialisms-grip-offering-government-healthcare-180964064/) in Germany because a crashing economy and the worrying example of a recent uprising in France was threatening major social unrest. Bismarck offered his program, under the lively name of Krankenversicherungsgesetz, in order to swipe some political turf from the country’s leftist parties. The US experienced the same economic disruption around that time, but it was much more rural at that time and had no workers’ party in a position to seek power, so there was no similar impetus to steal a march on a socialist program. US health insurance developed into an employer-based model after WWII because marginal income tax rates were historically quite high, and a quirk of the tax code made health insurance a perk that could be provided to employees tax-free. Both models persist because of path dependence and the fact that most voters are generally satisfied (at least to appoint where they’re not prepared to make a large-scale change). I’m not sure that any deeper explanation is necessary. Other issues have similarly traceable histories, which are likely to vary by issue. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/26 "2017-10-13T17:54:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I would dispute that Canada or Australia have advantageous geography. Both can basically be summed as ten percent good parts and ninety percent empty space that makes the good parts too far apart from each other. There is plenty of useless/unpopulated space in the U.S. I think there are about ten states that have fewer people than the city I live in. This unpopulated space, however, makes geographic representation of _politics_ very distorted. Think of the typical electoral map, with each state being red and blue, and you go ‘Wow, look at how many people voted red!’. Except you’re actually looking at a false image: you can’t see cities on a map that shows the U.S. (Heck, you can’t even see Rhode Island) and so the visual impression of how people actually vote is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/27 "2017-10-13T18:49:55Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > There is plenty of useless/unpopulated space in the U.S. I think there are about ten states that have fewer people than the city I live in. Yes, but not the majority of the country. You have to be someplace like Australia, Canada, Alaska, Siberia, or North Africa to have a situation where unpopulated areas are the norm and populated areas are the exception. > [@Barbarian](#): > > This unpopulated space, however, makes geographic representation of _politics_ very distorted. > > Think of the typical electoral map, with each state being red and blue, and you go ‘Wow, look at how many people voted red!’. > > Except you’re actually looking at a false image: you can’t see cities on a map that shows the U.S. (Heck, you can’t even see Rhode Island) and so the visual impression of how people actually vote is wrong. I’m fully in agreement with you on this one. Despite what some people argue (because they like the results) states don’t vote and square miles don’t vote. People vote. And people are not evenly distributed. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/28 "2017-10-13T19:14:30Z")
I think race is a big factor too. Having to dehumanize an entire race to justify mistreating them has fucked our culture up, especially in the South. Do other developed nations with a long history of slavery have similar issues? An abuser/abusee relationship fucks the abuser up too. It makes them irrational, paranoid and mean. Paul Krugman said the US has always lagged Europe in things like a social safety net. Didn’t France and the UK Institute old age pensions 30-40 years before the US? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/29 "2017-10-13T19:21:46Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > But plenty of countries have had a history of colonial settlement with an often hostile indigenous population, an unpoliced frontier, and easy access to firearms. New Zealand is one, we still have a relatively high rate of gun ownership, and yet most Kiwis view the apparent American attitude to firearms with a sort of baffled horror. I mean, I could own a gun if I wanted, a license is easy enough to get here, but why would I? It’s not like I need one. One thing to keep in account is that only ~25% of Americans own guns. And many of us gun owners are sane. The % who own guns and are ammosexuals is probably 5% of the country. Even polls show most gun owners support gun control ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/30 "2017-10-13T19:52:50Z")
Based on comparing the US to other countries on a number of metrics, I would say that a key factor is our history with slavery. This has caused a large percentage of the population to start from a position of having no education, no money, and then were left trying to correct for that in a country that, for most of the following history, was more interested in continuing to keep them away from education and wealth than help them overcome that start point. In general, if you average the UK and South Africa on some metric, at a 3:1 ratio, you get a number close to the USA. Guns are not meaningful to any metric. They’re barely even well-correlated to gun homicides, which is a nonsense statistic to begin with. Gun ownership is negatively correlated to homicide rates. [![](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/no9ocpf4fa049ph/gunsvhomicide.png?dl=0) ](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/no9ocpf4fa049ph/gunsvhomicide.png?dl=0) [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19793322&postcount=14](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19793322&postcount=14) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/31 "2017-10-13T20:09:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My two cents: > > 1. Immigration. Except for Native Americans and the Africans who were brought here as slaves, Americans are people who either chose to relocate to a new country or are the descendants of people who made that choice in the relatively recent past. And even the Native Americans and African-Americans are the descendants of people who survived their involuntary experiences. > > 2. Geography. America rolled a lot of natural twenties. We have a good base of natural resources, like arable land, water, fossil fuels, mineral resources, and trade routes. And we’re located in a place which allowed us to have a relatively peaceful history. > > 3. Short history. America is a recently created country. Our history doesn’t go back thousands of years. Our national identity is something we created in just the last few centuries. So our culture is more flexible and less weighed down by tradition. These are good explanations. I’d add to #1 and #3 that it resulted in a very diverse population which doesn’t have the same kind of strong ethnic identity as most other countries. #2 is especially important, we have long coastlines on two oceans, and long borders with just two other countries that we don’t find threatening. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688/32 "2017-10-13T20:32:57Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I believe you need to make clear that the U.S.A. was never ruled by centuries of inbred royalty and their arbitrary royal edicts. No king, no dukes, no earls, plus no pope. The king who had ruled the colonies was violently rejected. > > The Bill of Rights was based on what the former colonies had experianced under royal rule, and would not accept from their new democratic republic. And that ended up in a Trump. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-these-3-things-explain-most-major-differences-between-the-u-s-and-the-rest-of-the-world/798688.md?page=1)