Introduction and Index
(pellcenter.org/picks-of-the-week-what-the-new-eu-us-privacy-shield-means-for-your-company/us-and-european-relations-concept-image)
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Some people, particularly on the left, say that they wish that the United States of America was more like Europe. Some other people, especially on the right, do not support this.
I am here to address both of these views, mostly in ways that very few other people or anyone else would do. Rather you are on the left or on the right, I think that we all can learn something from this.
Countries such as Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, will be excluded from this article's definition of Europe due to economic and political conditions. However, many of the issues that this article will cover can be applied to Canada, and to a lesser degree, Australia, New Zealand, as that they all speak a European language, descended from a European culture, use a European-based government and legal system, and the largest religion was exported to these places by a European nation.
Watching long videos are not required if you do not have the time or do not understand English. If you can understand English, I suggest listening to videos instead of reading for the sake of time. I've written out the points of videos if they're under 9 minutes or so long.
Regardless, if you're going to respond to this, please dedicate yourself completely and read the whole book (not including videos or linked articles). Especially if you're going to write your review on Quora or other forum.
Chapter 1: What I think Europe does better than America.
Page 1: How Europe treats teens and children compared to America.
Pages 4-8: proportional representation, regulatory capture, cronyism, cars and more
Chapter 3: Responding to common complaints about America.
The conflicting definitions of freedom
Healthcare and college/university
Welfare state, low taxes, and inequality, and how to fix welfare
Unitary state/centralism vs federalism and localism
Weapon exports and war and peace
Climate change/global warming and COVID-19
How to fight the rise of fascism and Neo-Nazism
Freedom of speech, political correctness, racism
Is America the most free country in the world? Plus what's great about America.
On an aggregate scale, however, as you said, America is STILL much better. On SOME POINTS, other countries may be better than the US.
But OVERALL, America is freer.
Some of your articles ban comments, but let me just comment here.
America is definitely better OVERALL.
I certainly DO NOT agree we should become more like Europe. The only points where Europe MAY do better than America is having more relaxed laws on alcohol (you can drink at or before age 18) and Scotland sets the age of adulthood at 16 rather than 18, which is two years earlier than most countries.
But in other areas? America is definitely MILES AHEAD of Europe on freedom.
Free speech, gun rights (no licenses required in MOST states for ownership or purchase of semi-auto centerfire rifles and magazines of any size), self-defense rights, concealed carry, open carry, homeschooling rights, no income taxes in some states, and all in all, this is really the best!
Switzerland might be TIED with its federalist system, economic freedom, gun rights, decentralization, low government spending, neutral foreign policy, and so forth. The main downsides are the homeschooling restrictions/bans in many cantons and the hate speech laws.
Libertarians also tend to be against conscription or mandatory military service. Switzerland has mandatory military service, but the good news is that the Swiss army is never deployed elsewhere in the world and is uniquely focused on national defense. Most Swiss soldiers are reservists who report to basic training at ages 18-20 and after that, they remain in the military reserve for the next decade and a half or so, during which they can keep their issued rifles at home.
Honestly, I would not be against conscription if it was uniquely about national defense. Very few Swiss soldiers are full-time soldiers; most other countries, by contrast, employ professional, full-time military forces in which a large part of the forces are full-time servicemen.
https://fee.org/articles/9-reasons-libertarians-should-love-switzerland/
I know that Yemen perhaps does better on gun rights than the USA, with literally no gun restrictions whatsoever, and the same goes for Pakistan.
Gun laws in mainland Pakistan are pretty decent, although they do prohibit full auto firearms in mainland Pakistan. The good news is that parts of Pakistan are actually completely autonomous from the federal government's control and have virtually no gun laws!
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2023/01/10/gun-shops-gun-laws-of-pakistan-part-two-imported-guns-pretenders/
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/15/disneyland-for-gun-lovers-inside-the-notorious-darra-adam-khel-arms-market.html
Honestly though, on an aggregate scale, America is miles ahead in terms of freedom!