Why isn't every other country in the world trying to copy the US ?

[C-Mag]

I guess the easy answer to the OP is that only the US is the US. Every country tries their best with what they have. I don't think Sweden could copy the US if even if we tried. I also think you might have a distorted picture about just how much socialism a country like mine has. Hint: there's very little left. We have high taxes but that is not the same thing.

I never thought I would post a topic like this, but when I looked at a comparison of the GDP of the G7 Nations it blew me away that the US has a bigger GDP than all the rest combined. It just got me to thinking. The question in my OP is an honest one, I'm not trying to measure dicks here or slam socialism. But given what the US has produced in a wide range of areas, it's a Fricking Monster; compared to the rest of the world.

While a lot of factors go into what type of government works for a people in a given geographic area. It just seems to me that if I was leading country X, I would step back and say........... OK, were going to try to do as much as that as we can. It clearly works.

[C-Mag]

to the OP, like someone else said i think a lot of countries are different than the US. most of them are older with their own traditions or they just become dictators instead, i guess.

i like how the OP just mentions our military strength as such an obvious asset to copy, as if another leader is sitting there thinking, oh yeah, why don't we do that in our country? lol surely the last century of global politics and our place in the world controlling the reserve currency has aided us in having such a bitchin' military

speaking of, when is that military parade?

I truly believe the Monarchial Traditions of Europe are a factor for Europe.

You bring up a good question about being the world reserve currency. Does our economic strength boil down to just that ?

[pineapplemike]

i'm no expert and i wouldn't pin all the blame on it, but it is a large bargaining chip. i never read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" but i always wanted to.

what's going on in turkey right now?

Turkish lira plunges 15% versus dollar after Trump authorizes doubling metals tariffs on Turkey
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/10/turkish ... vert-.html

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!

The White House later said in a statement: "As he stated, the President has authorized the preparation of documents to raise tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Turkey. Section 232 tariffs are imposed on imports from particular countries whose exports threaten to impair national security as defined in Section 232, independent of negotiations on trade or any other matter."

Trump's tweet and the White House comment came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked citizens to convert their dollars and other foreign currencies as well as gold holdings to local lira.

Last month, Trump threatened to slap "large sanctions" on the country if it refuses to free Brunson. The U.S. then announced on Aug. 1 sanctions on Turkey's justice and interior ministers, prohibiting U.S. citizens from doing business with them.

it seems to me if you dont play ball with america there will be consequences.

on that note, im surprised more people don't play ball with america. guess they have some notion of sovereign independence or something

'THEY HAVE DOLLAR, WE HAVE GOD'
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/istanbul-stre ... iness.html

Serap, a 23-year-old clerk at a clothes store in central Istanbul, is sure of who to blame for the precipitous slide in Turkey's lira currency.

"This crisis is created by America," she said.

Serap's sentiments about the causes of the crisis are shared by many Turks and hint at why support for President Tayyip Erdogan, who won re-election in June with super-charged presidential powers, looks untouched, at least for now.

His loyal supporters see the currency sell-off as a U.S. attempt to undermine their country and president.

"If they have their dollars, we have our people, our God," Erdogan said in a speech overnight, casting the lira's slide as a campaign against the nation.

to your point i am of the understanding that many countries worldwide are indeed moving to a more capitalistic system, china being one of them. i could be wrong

[BjornP]

Agree mostly with Hastur's thoughts, but I've got a few things to add:

1. Because we like our home to feel like our home? Our culture to feel like ours. Your history created your nation, your culture. Ours created ours.

2. China has a bigger GDP than Denmark, a bigger military, more aggressive foreign policy. And yet, I don't want my country, my society, to emulate the Chinese way of life. So your economic, military and foreign policy stats are, well not irrelevant entirely, but certainly irrelevant when it comes to why people around the world do emulate you - in some ways.

3. As Hastur hints at, alot of countries already copy alot from the US, in several ways. For example, I think Americans underestimate the cultural influence they have thanks to the massive dominance of the US entertainment industry. And capitalism...well, that wasn't invented nor began in the US.

4. I don't consider the US to be much more than a "State of citizens". It does not have a society. As such, it is forced to create an abundancy of laws to resolve the sorts of potential inter-personal disputes that society itself should have been able to resolve. A state without or with only the tinyest semblance of a society, a state where the relation is primarily State --> Citizen requires - through the apathy of the citizens in creating a society - a strong State to be arbiter in way too many disputes. If that works for you, great, fantastic. Me, I like a strong, cohesive society to remind the State who it belongs to.

5. Litigation for frivilous shit. A kid falls off jungle and mommy gym sues the local government. A guy who walks too close to the pier falls into the water, sues the local government. Woman who drops hot coffee on herself sues fastfood joint for not having warnings that the cofee is hot. Kids playing sometimes fall down, tough shit. It's called growing up. And if you don't see where you're going, you fall.. again, tough shit, learn how to pay attention. And hot coffee is hot. This tendency, I am sure, is related to pt 4.

6. It's illegal to drink in public, stand still in the street. Freedom? Nah. That's freedom-hating. And puritanical. Can't have someone seeing Bob drunk.. think of the children! Yeah... don't want.

7. Anti-union laws (even private ones) in several states. Freedom? Nah. That's freedom-hating. And dumb because instead of fixing the shit that don't work, you just choose to ban it. Don't want that, neither.

8. Many Americans are against public unions. Freedom? Nah. That's freedom-hating. And petty. And dumb because instead of the fixing shit that don't work, you just choose to ban it. Not worth copying that, either, then.

9. The insanity of SJW's screeching in US colleges has reared its head in the US for a reason. The same reason you elected who you did as president, the same tendency exists, and may even have existed longer on the US right: Victimhood culture. I do believe, like Hastur, in the "let foreigners live as they choose", but when it affects people you've seen post, people you've halfway respected for several years, turn into wannabe-victims... it does make me angry. To see once respectable people debase and belittle themselves so. And it's definitely not something I want imported to my society - although some voices on the center-left are already trying to get people to call themselves "white Danes", and talk about "white privilege".

10. A two-party system? Who expect Communists would want to emulate that? Apparantly "freedom" in US politics means having as little to choose from as possible. Because unlike freedoms in all other things, freedom in politics leads to The Big Scary? Oh well...Good for you if you like that sorta thing, but...you know, I don't really want that, either. I like having a little more choice than just two shit sandwiches.

[Okeefenokee]

Yeah, bjorn's right, lets just fill the streets with drunks and junkies and piles of human shit. That's freedom baby.

We'll even give them their own union!

[DBTrek]

Better question might be “Why isn’t the US trying to copy the US, rather than tearing down all of our successful processes, norms, and systems to appease an internet full of outraged nobodies?”
/shrug

[BjornP]

to the OP, like someone else said i think a lot of countries are different than the US. most of them are older with their own traditions or they just become dictators instead, i guess.

i like how the OP just mentions our military strength as such an obvious asset to copy, as if another leader is sitting there thinking, oh yeah, why don't we do that in our country? lol surely the last century of global politics and our place in the world controlling the reserve currency has aided us in having such a bitchin' military

speaking of, when is that military parade?

I truly believe the Monarchial Traditions of Europe are a factor for Europe.

You bring up a good question about being the world reserve currency. Does our economic strength boil down to just that ?

In Europe, there are 21 republics to seven monarchies (including the British). Do you mean monarchical tradition in some other sense, though? For example, while most European countries are republics, at some point there were, or were part of, a monarchical country. Most of the generation from that time, are probably dead or close to dying of old age, but one could certainly argue that - much like how Russia abandoning the rule of the tsar and feudal serfdom didn't neccesarily mean the death of a certain autocratic culture of... keeping one's head down and doing what The Big Man tells you to do, say or believe. Which is true in some cases... but not in all (one could argue it's not even true in Russia's case).

The descendents of British freeholders in the Thirteen Colonies are one example of that, but the French Revolution is too, and Denmark did away with absolute monarchy in 1849, not in a violent revolution, but society had just moved away from believing in the notion that the state should belong - entirely - to the monarch. The American declaration of independence and succes had been a significant and popular inspiration for both open revolt - like in France - but also discussions in (censored) press publications in the various monarchies of the times.* The Americans did therefore inspire Europe in quite a significant aspect, in that it should be the people, not a monarch, who ruled the state. But we must still be our own peoples, have our own culture, and direct in the direction in concord with our own ways of life.

https://newrepublic.com/article/118527/ ... eans-think

[BjornP]

Yeah, bjorn's right, lets just fill the streets with drunks and junkies and piles of human shit. That's freedom baby.

We'll even give them their own union!

Thank for you demonstrating what hysterical fear of freedom looks like. Letting a couple guys have a beer on a public bench = DO YOU WANT DRUNKS AND JUNKIES TO FILL THE STREETS WITH SHIT! IT WILL BE ANARCHY! PAAANDEMONIUUUUUM!"

Oh, and even if beer drinkers wanted to organize (for whatever reason they wanted), would their freedom to do so scare you, too?

[Speaker to Animals]

You need to diminish American cultural exports and encourage your own cultures. The way America really fucks up the world is through Hollywood and, cousin, I would love to nuke that place at this point.

[Okeefenokee]

Yeah, bjorn's right, lets just fill the streets with drunks and junkies and piles of human shit. That's freedom baby.

We'll even give them their own union!

Thank for you demonstrating what hysterical fear of freedom looks like. Letting a couple guys have a beer on a public bench = DO YOU WANT DRUNKS AND JUNKIES TO FILL THE STREETS WITH SHIT! IT WILL BE ANARCHY! PAAANDEMONIUUUUUM!"

Oh, and even if beer drinkers wanted to organize (for whatever reason they wanted), would their freedom to do so scare you, too?

I am fully aware that for many people there is very little wrong with having a beer in the park. I've also seen German cities littered with stumbling drunks as far the eye can see. Some people can step out back to take a hit off a joint and then go back to work with no problems, and yet many cities now have thousands of homeless drug addicts sprawled out on the streets, injecting in broad daylight.

The question you're missing is, do communities have the right to decide what is acceptable public behavior?