Comparison: US vs. Rest of World
Here are several areas in which prevailing attitudes in the US differ from much of the industrialized world. Does this mean we are backward, or better, or just different?
- Global Warming. Two-thirds of world worried by warming, U.S. lags Tue Apr 3, 2007 9:23AM EDT
OSLO (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of the world’s people are worried by global warming with Americans among the least anxious even though their nation is the top source of greenhouse gases, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday.
- Guns. David Hemenway applies scientific method to the gun problem- Harvard Magazine, September-October 2004.
We own more guns per capita than any other high-income country—maybe even more than one gun for every man, woman, and child in the country.
Virtually all industrialized nations have stronger firearms laws than the United States. We have no national law, for example, requiring a license to own a gun (though some states require one). Almost all other countries have licensure laws, and many demand that gun owners undergo training, also not required here.
- Universal Health Care. The Case For Single Payer, Universal Health Care For The United States Outline of Talk Given To The Association of State Green Parties, Moodus, Connecticut on June 4, 1999
The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. 28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems, while 1 (Germany) has a multipayer universal health care system like President Clinton proposed for the United States.
There may be others. Consider fundamentalism of both biblical and economic nature, or just the stubborn belief that our way of life will continue indefinitely if we just get out there and shop.
Update 2007-05-22. I have been reminded of two other ways in which the U.S. stands apart from the rest of the civilized world:
Prison Population. U.S. PRISON POPULATION HITS ALL-TIME HIGH
The U.S. now locks up its citizens at a rate 5-8 times that of the industrialized nations to which we are most similar, Canada and Western Europe
The Death Penalty. We’re Number One! / One Big Happy Prison
We are one of the few countries in the world that puts to death both the mentally retarded and juvenile offenders. The United States is among only six countries that impose the death penalty on juveniles. The others are Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
the U. S. has a greater rate of incarceration (737 per 100,000 people—or 2.2. million) than any other nation, and we perform the fourth-highest number of executions (60 in 2005, trailing China, Iran and Saudi Arabia).
Texas Continues To Execute Its Unwanted Citizens In Record Numbers
Over 350 executions have taken place in Texas since the death penalty was resumed in the state in 1982. This is over one third of all the executions in the United States (the United States will reach 1000 executions by the end of November or early December).