The Unattainable Possible

Lots of the things I'd like to see in the United States already exist elsewhere.

If you want to look at societies with almost no civilian gun ownership, you need look no farther than Japan and the United Kingdom. No other country is as gun ridden as the U.S.

Just about everyplace in the developed and developing world has more affordable, universal healthcare that also happens to produce better results. Most developed countries also make higher education more affordable than the U.S.

There are dozens of countries with society in general, and the election administration and the courts in particular, are less corrupt and partisan.

Lots of countries are better at not punishing innocent people in their criminal justice systems. Few countries are so extremely punitive in their criminal punishments.

Only a handful of societies have as many Evangelical Christians or comparable religious fundamentalists as the U.S. does, and a great many societies have more secular populations than the United States.

Few Western countries are so plagued by having massive shares of their electorates that are deeply disconnected from reality.

Many countries translate the popular will into legislative power more accurately in their political systems than the U.S. does.

Many countries have lower drinking ages and don't have almost fully criminalized prostitution. A number of countries have less punitive approaches to drugs.

Most developed countries treat workers better, and have a better work-life balance.

Japan does a better job of providing affordable housing in major cities. Lots of countries are better at land use regulation. China does a better job of building major construction projects quickly and efficiently.

France and many other countries use more nuclear power and use less coal than the United States. Several countries have a bigger market share of EV vehicles. Many countries have better high speed rail systems.

Most developed countries do a better job of taxing the rich, maintaining a social safety net, and discouraging extreme income inequality. Few developed countries have the serious homelessness problem that the U.S. does.

All but a couple countries use the metric system, while the U.S. is one of the countries with a mostly non-metric hybrid system.

Many countries do a better job of preventing consumer/investor/ordinary person oriented fraud and deceptive trade practices. Most countries have posted prices that are the real price of a good and services being purchased, which are not adjusted up to reflect sales taxes and tips. 

The U.S. is hardly the worst place in the world. It is affluent and economically productive. It has a grossly disproportionate share of the best colleges and universities in the world. It has the most advanced air force, the largest navy, and some of the most well-trained ground troops. It's financial markets generally work pretty well. It has a large foreign born population on a percentage basis that is quite well integrated into society (which isn't to say that it doesn't have political tensions over immigration). There are developed countries where the far-right movements are worse and more powerful although the U.S. is right up there among them. The products of its entertainment industry are world class. The U.S. is among the most protective in the world of free speech and religious freedom (even to a fault). The U.S. is one of the best places in the world to be a Jew and is home to about 40%-45% of the world's Jews.

But knowing that goals for the U.S. are attained elsewhere, but are unattainable in the U.S. despite being possible, is very frustrating.