Apologies for being inactive for so long... I really just needed a break and had to find the joy for making videos again. And I've found that now, so you should expect to see many more videos coming out in the near future! I'm glad to be back, I've missed making videos for you guys
It's great that you felt the space to take a break for a while! Too many people these days just go on despite the pressure and end up losing any sense of creativity or originality. The most important thing is that you as a creator enjoy making videos, so cheers! 🎉
Who do you work for? Orban? Lukashenko? MBS? Xi? Putin? Tell me! Americans are the largest portion of youtube viewers. We don't like negative talk from outside. We generally tell ourselves about how much we suck for this or that reason. I have this crazy idea. Praise the holy hell out of America. It will do better than this vid
Worth noting that those 250 bucks you pay as a student in Germany often go in large part to a transit ticket. Which means all local trains (i.e. non-express) in the federal state, plus trams and busses. This means millions of students are living in cities with no need for a car at all. And the liberty to visit places at no cost. I was so broke at one point that I took a train to a neighboring city to go to the blood bank that paid best. However, Germany just instituted a cheap nation-wide subscription ticket for public transit, so that may shake up the student ticket meta somewhat. This was started in reaction to the Ukraine War, to lower gas consumption and push traffic into the public transit system where possible. Also as part of a major green project to move from cars to public alternatives as a credible alternative for as many people as possible.
The transit ticket isn't meant for the whole state in every university. In mine, it was only buses in the city itself and a few handpicked train routes to some (not all) neighbour cities. It's much better in other cities.
Don't Germans tend to go to their local university while living at home? I think Americans tend to move away from home, so they get a better life experience of living away from parents, etc.
The high cost of education in the U.S. is a form of class warfare. A college education is viewed as a ticket to the middle class by most Americans. Many jobs in the U.S. require a college education, but would be taught at a trade school in Europe. Driving up the cost of education reduces social mobility. That is how the rich stay rich.
@@rogink Depends, really. On the availability of affordable rentals, the desire to move out and on the availability of your desired major at a given university. Many do stay close, if possible. I personally moved 300km to a university.
When I was abroad in Europe and Asia I quickly noticed just how well-designed they are and how convenient it is to get around and get the stuff you need while only having to walk. I sure miss all that convenience
@@DJ_BROBOT?? This is not the great argument you think it is lmao, Asia and Europe are both continents full of self governing countries that have completely different ways of working through city design and zoning So the fact American city design is so horrible people can't help but compare it to hundreds of other countries like Germany, Spain, France, Korea, Japan, China just goes to show how much America is lacking in comparison When you have so many examples of how other countries are doing it better you start comparing whole continents maybe that's the moment you should start caring about city design in your country
8 parking spaces per car in the US is what happens when you tell a store that they need to have enough parking space for every single person that could fit into your store at once, regardless of the fact that the megamall next door has enough parking space for you to park there instead.
@@xtreme242 Which is an even more ridiculous way to calculate it. For example, a vet office is going to need a lot more space for the actual veterinarian stuff (exam rooms, perhaps an x-ray or ultrasound machine, storage, a kennel for long term treatments, etc) than for the customers, at least compared to how much space a mall dedicates to its customers vs how much it dedicates to storage, maintainance, supply tunnels, etc.
I'm an American who has lived overseas for most of the last 20 years, mostly in Europe. I would tell a European to not think of America as an extension of Europe, and I would tell non-Americans in general to think of the United States as a plural, countable noun, rather than as a singular entity; actually, it's even messier than that because most of the cultural, as well as some legal, differences are within, not between, states (often urban vs. rural). The U.S. Constitution grants most powers to the states, as it is a federal system; this is often referred to as states' rights. That's a better place to start if you want to understand my country.
We know why the differences are there. It's not about understanding it but just calling out that those differences are just bad. The German constitution grants the states rights too, but our politicians are competent enough to come together and pass law treaties to make the law and execution similarish between the states in topics like gambling, education, public broadcast, et cetera. Also, there are much better systems to implement/execute laws from the EU and the German federal office, where the law is set, but you can differ on how you want to execute it to achieve the goal. It's not to say it's perfect. For instance the education his diverse and agreements between the states are hard to achieve.
@@toorero Yes, I've lived in Stuttgart, Germany. America is like a big ship at sea that is difficult to turn. There is more than one captain and each captain has some, but not all, of the controls over part, but not all, of the ship -- and the captains change every 2 or 4 or 6 years. The U.S., like any country, has its own history and culture, and needs to be understood within that context. What works in one country (such as Germany) is not generally transferrable to another (such as the U.S.) It's not a question of the competence of politicians, since all elected officials have to work within the same system, which is notoriously (and intentionally) hard to change.
@@jps0117 But that's not my point. Even if it's the best that the US system has to offer it's still bad, isn't it? It's relatively speaking good but in an absolute view it's still bad. TO SOLVE the bad state you have to understand the system because you have to work with the system to enhance it but not to conclude that the system is bad. To give an example: To conclude that the US infrastructure is bad you don't really have to understand the "system of the US" to conclude the infrastructure is bad but to improve the infrastructure you have to work WITHIN the system.
I'm from Chicago and have lived in Europe for 20+ years, plus a little time in Asia. I haven't owned a car during that time and I will never again own a car. I can't imagine living again in a country where I would need to buy a car.
I’m from Switzerland and i have been either going by foot or by public transport everywhere in my entire life. Only rarely do i go out with a car, like once a week to go grocery shopping in germany (because it’s cheaper)
Its just that the US is the biggest implementation of it. All those other countries are far less major, and a country like Australia still has pretty competitive public transport even if the country is still car centric.
That does not make the USA any less shit and as someone else already mentioned, the USA is just the biggest country with that problem, its normal to critisize them the most.
Mexico and Brazil don't have same outrageous design everywhere. For Mexico it's towads the north (like a transition to USA proper), Brazil places built around the time Bazilia came along and some recent stuff
That makes sense though because if we looked at most youtubers audience, it's usually Americans. Americans like to see content about their own country, but also the USA was the pioneer of this terrible city designing and that is where it all originated. As a Canadian I can say it's pretty much as bad as it gets where I live in Moncton in terms of public transit sadly.
In response to your last bit about how state laws differ, picture America as the eu that's a bit more federalized, states are meant to be countries and thus have their own armies, laws, etc... It's like asking why the tax laws are different in germany compared to denmark when all I did was drive across the border, not even needing to show my passport.
@@arnodobler1096The entire landmass of the mainland US is only 2% smaller than the entire European continent. That makes for plenty of variation in one country alone.
12:00 more decentralisation is good honestly. Centralisation means less democracy, more corruption and less following the need of the people. Thats why the EU should and must not get more power. The commission already is authoritarian enough
My class went on a music tour in east germany last month. My favorite thing about it was the trains. There were trains going to many cities, both high speed to transport between cities, and light rails within the cities. We went to 10 cities, all by train, except for a bus early one morning to the airport in Frankfurt. We also took light rail in the cities. Another thing I noticed on the train is that even in the rural areas we passed by, there were still bike lanes and sidewalks and many trails everywhere. In America, that's completely non existent in rural areas, except for historical/tourist areas. In the suburb I live in now, there's only 3 walking/cycling trails, but you have to drive a car to get there, and they're only used for recreation or exercise, as they go nowhere. So germany proved that the city population size doesn't matter. Even people in rural areas there had people cycling on the trails in the middle of nowhere. Germany isn't perfect, some cities still had some heavy car traffic in some areas(though nowhere near as bad as the US), but it's FAR ahead of the US in almost every way when it comes to city design and infrastructure and transportation. It's easy to live there without a car, but nearly impossible in most of the US. As an American flying back home to get in my car, I was very jealous.
@@xtreme242🙈what? Okay, you meant the GDR, but cars drove there too. There is South North West and East Germany.😂 And he's right, there's plenty of public transport, bike and hiking trails everywhere.
@@arnodobler1096 when one says they went to east German one can reasonably assume “east Germany”. Otherwise why make the distinction. It still doesn’t make two legged or two wheeled transport superior to any other method
@@xtreme242 The term East Germany for the GDR is misleading anyway, since parts of the GDR belonged to Northern Germany - Baltic Sea. Then you would have fun in Germany, with the densest motorway network (50% without speed limit). Good cars and motorbikes.
They’re not even parking that far, they’ll circle round and round just to fine a close spot. Another reason the parking lot is like 60% empty most of the time.
Thanks for this thoughtful video. Regarding your surprise at states having varying laws, this goes back to the founding of the nation. The original states were independent colonies, essentially mini-countries. The design of the country is an effort to balance the interests of those individual states with the need for a central government to take care of things states cannot do well on their own. It *is* messy but it also seeks to respect the right of people to govern themselves by devolving many decisions to the local level. As an American who has lived abroad for almost two decades, I can clearly see the flaws of the system but I can also see that the design is a feature of the system, too.
@@jamestucker8088not just the EU, all of Europe (which is just about the same size as the US). Texas is roughly twice as large as Germany. California has a bigger GDP than the UK, France, Spain and Italy (the latter two by a large margin). New fucking York had a bigger GDP than Russia in 2016-17, can you imagine that? It's unfair to ignore Eastern Europe because that would be the equivalent of cutting out states like Louisiana and Mississippi which would bump the US up in all metrics by quite a bit
just out of curiosity, do the individual states have a proper government? poland for example has a minister of health.. does florida have a.. secretary of health? if so - do the secretaries of health of all 50 states meet once in a while to find something worth changing on a federal level or is every state minding its own business until the white house dictates something else?
@@IgorDellaPietra it's.. complicated. Very much so. But yes, each state having its own government, laws, etc. is the way it worksand that's the best way to view it. It's like a bunch of independent kids whose parents (the feds) occasionally steps in, enforces rules, takes care of security, etc.
Surprised to hear that Los Angeles has such a low public transport ridership despite having a population of over 3 million. Over 12 million if your counting the metropolitan area.
A big problem for LA is that a lot of it isn't very walkable, and even in places where it is "walkable" there isn't anything to walk to within a reasonable amount of time. Which just encourages everyone to have a car as well as to use that car even for simple tasks like running to the grocery store. Fortunately, LA is changing. I think 30 years from now, as Metro continues continues to expand in LA, transit ridership will radically grow once a breaking point is reached
If you live in LA and use public transit like the bus, you would understand why people use their car instead with all the craziness and wildin that happens in there.
@@nihouma11 Are people just ignoring how crazy and wild people act in busses😂? You have assault, fights, yelling, loud music, looting, etc... in public transit in LA. That's why people prefer to use their vehicles.
@@AngelloDelNorte That's because the police assigned to Metro don't do their jobs. They're like, "Why should we take our orders from a xxxxing bus company!?"
Different states have different laws because it allows for experimentation to see what works and what doesn't. Plus, it allows for versatile changes according to geographical, social, and year-by-year changes.
I was shocked of the fact that states count their residents only once in 10 years. Having an official, close to real time system for counting residents has been something I've taken for granted /Finn
Considering you live in a country with little immigration and about half the population of long Island in new york, that's like comparing apples and oranges.
@@FrozenDung 65 million vs 330 million, thats like a 5 times difference in population, plus a larger influx of immigration, so if yall do it every few years imagine how long that would take the US
Proportional Representation doesn't work as mentioned in the video! PR Systems distribute seats in accordance to which votes where gained overall. Gerrymandering is impossible in a PR system since all votes count, not just those that end up winning the district. Thus, districts can be drawn however one wants, since in the end it will all be proportional anyways.
Key Corrections? Thanks for your video. The Acela train is pronounces a-sell-a. In the United States, the federal government has (in general) purview over trade, foreign policy, defense, communications, most financial regulations and a few other areas. Each state is sovereign except in those areas controlled by the federal government. So each state and its legislature and citizens decide what laws should be for them. As an example, I live in Texas, a very large state with some long desolate freeways and 3 very large metro areas. Our statewide maximum speed limit is 85 and is reflected in the fact that we want to go faster to get to where we are going. However in Pennsylvania, a mostly mountainous state, they have a lower speed limit of just 65, likely for safe driving in more difficult terrain. For such a large country, what works for one area does not necessarily work in another. This is also why there are different gun laws across the 50 states, and why you can turn on red in some states but not others as you pointed out in your video. Because many things that affect our daily life are decided at the state, county or city level, we get a set of laws which reflects the citizen's wishes in each area, rather than laws set down by a federal government that can be 2,500 miles away and lacks understanding with local issues and needs. Is this a perfect system? No. But does it work for us?, yes.
Well said. I don't think there's a single state that would be comfortable having all of their local decisions dictated by Washington. Hell, even at the state level there's enough conflict between regions that you sometimes see parts of states clamoring for secession. I'll add that the part OBF mentioned about the federal government is wholly unnuanced. People elect representatives. States elect senators (until 17A) and presidents. It was designed with the right intention, to compel citizens to take local politics seriously, and to balance the needs of the people and the states. And mentioning the popular vote of a presidential election where the objective was not to win the popular vote is a premise fallacy. And one question I'd pose to OBF, is a "right" a right if it is not self-enforceable lest someone else be *_compelled_* to actively do something? Not saying that things like health and education aren't worthy goals for a society to strive for, but at its very core it's rather unenforceable as a *_right_* .
As an American, overall I agree with pretty much everything said with the exception of state law and federal law. Overall this is something that is quite good despite the oddities that you mentioned. It allows for a state to do something that its residents want but may not be popular enough to change on a federal level. (I hope we get trains man im down bad cars are expensive)
Agreed @ laws. It's basically like in the EU, just with states instead of countries, and a federal government instead of supranational institutions. Same with differences in income: The gap between wealthy and poor EU countries is actually much higher than between US states. It's kinda working nevertheless.
back then .. 18 years ago i didn't understand the electoral college either .. see it as something like .. every european country votes on their favorable representation in the european parliament .. so every country according to their size can put a certain number of representatives into the EU parliament .. to go by a "democratic" majority vote means 2 population strong countries could dictate over everyone else. a serious problem every us State has on a state level .. cities can dictate what's happening in the countryside trough outnumbering the population and vote against the interest of rural people .. i.e. what happenes with river water .. voting it away from farmers holding it exclusive to cities
I find it particularly funny how so many people like to complain about how horrible America is all the time, but millions upon millions keep coming here from every corner of the world.
@@arnodobler1096 actually a dozen European countries are on the top 60 list of countries of origin for US Immigration, and the top 5 of those European countries are the UK, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, and Germany. So yeah, they are still coming here... but nice try.
In the US, the original idea is for each state to kind of be its own country that shares a constitution, with the federal government to protect all states against foreign or domestic threats and enforce the constitution in each state. The USA is not a democracy, the USA is a constitutional Republic. These days the federal government has over reached its power and a lot of people have become dependent on the federal government. This has been done by design to grow the power of the federal government. As far as laws differentiating per state, the people of each state may have different values, some states are more religious, some states are not, some states are more liberal, some states are more conservative. Just like you may have different laws in the city then you would have in the rural area. In the city you can't have an open fire pit, but in the rural areas you have have a full blown bonfire. Another example would be People in TN don't believe in legalizing marijuana, so therefore the peoples representation have made it illegal , they also manage their budget better or have other ways of collecting taxes (tourism ect. etc) to make their budget, so they don't have an income tax.
You think American roads are falling apart, you haven't seen nothing! In Canada many rural communities (reserves) have no year round roads (winter roads only), or potable water, and our urban infrastructure is so sprawled out that our roads are constantly potholed and busted. Combined with infrastructure funding competing with health care and the standard of larger yards (1/2 acre in suburbs is pretty normal) it's no wonder our infrastructure is falling apart at a rapid pace. At least our bridge inspections are taken pretty seriously. Edit: I live in Winnipeg where our climate and soil conditions are especially hard on roads. They're better in BC where the climate is better, and in AB where there's oil money flowing into public funds.
@@laurie7689 While technically correct, no, when people say American, they are typically referring to citizens of the USA. The video makes it plainly clear that he's referring to the USA. Don't be pedantic, it comes across as imbecilic.
You have some great points. The thing about the varying state laws is that we have a system of government called Federalism where the 50 US states have differing laws on a number of issues. The benefit for us is that there is not a one-size-fits-all. People do move to different states for different benefits especially on tax issues. But we have different laws on education, the use or non use of the death penalty and even different laws on whether you can purchase alcohol the latter of which is actually on the county level. Personally I think the US is too big in area and population for all the laws to stay at the federal/national level. But it does get confusing.
I mean, Germany, Austria and Switzerland are also federations and they can get it done. It’s the difference between competitive and cooperative federalism that’s the problem here and not federalism itself. Still, that’s at best an excuse for why it’s hard to get good interstate public transport done in the US but it’s absolutely no excuse for why there can’t be good public transport within cities or between cities within the same state. I wager most trips people take on a daily basis aren’t across state borders but mostly just transiting within their city or from the suburbs to the city or things like that.
@@lenn939You also have to take in to account the MASSIVE size of the united states and the spurs of land that just nobody lives in, the cost would be insane to connect lets say Illinois to Washington. Theres too little people. We also do have rail travel but its been proven to be undesirable. Americans have a different life style and prefer the freedom cars allow. Though in densely populated areas with many large cities it is well connected with public transport.
@@lenn939 That's why we in Germany had different COVID rules for every federal state? When I was at home in NRW, there were much different rules than at my parents' 240 km away and in Hesse. And I could not visit a good friend of mine at all at some times I could go about anywhere else again already, because he lives in Bavaria and there visits to private housholds were still banned, while at home face masks already were only "recommended". It all depends on the issue. Health, eductation, etc. are state law, while traffic rules are federal. Taxes can be about anything. We have taxes that are the same in all of Germany (e.g. VAT), we have taxes that differ from state to state (e.g. on the purchase of real estate) and some are even different from town to town (e.g. business tax)
@@niquidxrail travel is undesirable because it is bad. Good and affordable rail travel is appreciated by everyone who has ever been stuck in a traffic jam. With the new possibilities in the IT sector it is totally viable to travel by train and get a rental car at your last stop to reach a destination outside of the city area. That's what most people do when traveling by plane anyways. I don't see why Americans couldn't use new ways of transportation.
The author needs to remember that the USA is a Federal Republic. While inconvenient at times to have differing laws across state lines, it is a feature not a bug. The founders rightly recognized that centralized governments tend to bloat and acquire more powers over time, so having some powers reserved to the states does help put some kind of limits on Federal power. It probably helps prevent some mistakes from being committed at continental scale and allows for wider experimentation in state laws. The electoral college is also an intermediary weighting system that gives a bit more power to individual states while still having a strong popular element to presidential elections. (Low population states bat a little above their weight and aren't completely ignored in presidential politics).
Except for the Electoral College and the Interstate Highway System, these weird problems aren't the result of "design." They've just taken root over the decades and centuries. Sure, the US train "system" is obsolete and needs upgrading, but in how many European countries does a train ride between the two largest cities take 3 days, and a drive take even longer? Still, there's no excuse for not upgrading the Northeast Corridor--the only passenger route in the US that pays its own way.
That's just a sad excuse. Most of the US is basically empty. The actually densely populated areas are east coast and west coast. It's like two Japans glued left and right of one Australia. And Japan does manage to have functional infrastructure.
@@Alias_Anybody Well, the middle of the US isn't QUITE as empty as Australia... The 2020 United States census put the population of the Midwest at 68,995,685. The Midwest is divided by the U.S. Census Bureau into two divisions. The East North Central Division includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, all of which are also part of the Great Lakes region.
@@johnchastain7890 The Great Lakes region is basically flush to the East Coast settlements, a hypothetical high speed rail for example would of course extend into Michigan and possibly even Canada. We follow the population, not the coast line.
Seems like so many people who don't live here, love to worry about America and it's design when even the American people don't put these issues at the top of things to worry about. America is not Europe please stop comparing.
I am an American and many of us do think about these things. Saying "we are not Europe. We are America, and things have to be different here", is really saying "it's always been this way and I don't like change."
Agree with all the points you made except state specific laws in the US. With such a large population as you mentioned each US state is comparable to European countries - so it makes sense for the states having some degree of freedom to legislate and enforce their own laws. Otherwise it would be like asking every country in Europe to follow the exact same laws. Countries the size of continents and with large populations need to provide some legal flexibility.
I don’t understand how people who don’t live here complain how you need cars to go everywhere. Clearly it isn’t an issue for those who choose to live here
Anyone who doesn't like parking lots doesn't understand how great they are. You go to a shopping mall, you park, you go into the mall, and you enjoy the mall. In downtown districts with limited parking spaces you end up driving around forever looking for a place to park. There are parking meters everywhere. Sometimes the place is full. So, you either go home, or park kilometers away from where you want to be. America has 9.8 million square kilometers of space. Most of it is empty nature even with the parking lots. I don't want to be driving around forever looking for a spot. I use more gas doing that.
parking lots use up much space, pakring houses are way more effective, also more parking lots and car infrastructure just makes people want to take the car and lesser want to take public transport
@@kuseel7493 A lot of people don't live INSIDE the urban areas, but OUTSIDE in the suburbs, such as myself. I wouldn't live inside an urban center no matter how much money or freebies that anybody would offer to me. Urban areas aren't my thing and I find them repulsive. (I digress.) As a suburbanite, there are times when I've had to (unwillingly mind you) enter an urban center. I use my own personal transportation to travel there. I have to have a place to park my vehicle. I don't care if it is a parking lot or a parking garage, just so long as I'm able to get to park my vehicle and am able to get to my destination from the place of parking without that being too distant to walk for me. I'm older and have a bad back and it's not easy to get around under my own locomotion.
@@kuseel7493 By parking houses I assume that you mean multi-story parking lots and yes, we do have those. However many of them are designed with too little overhead clearance to fit a lot of our vehicles. About 25% of US vehicles are pickup trucks and the overwhelming majority of those are full size pickups. Another 50+% are SUVs and crossovers. Some multi-story lots are too low for many of them as well. Public transit is not a positive thing for most people in North America. Even northern cities like Chicago, New York and Toronto have hot, humid summers which makes air conditioned vehicles that you don't have to wait for more desirable than waiting outside for a bus to take you to a train. The heat further south can make it dangerous (Miami is about the same latitude as Dubai). Winter in the Northern US, Canada and the Rockies is pretty harsh especially once you get away from the coasts and the Great Lakes. You would need to go into Northern Sweden to see comparable temperatures. We only really get the moderate temperatures that are seen in Europe in a very small part of the country and as Laure said, we aren't nearly as urban as some would have you believe.
@@rich7447 yeah, my vocabulary isn't the best. I understand the problem about height but that's also kinda because your guys's cars are like twice as big as in Europe or most other places. And yeah, public transport isn't perfect and will never be 100% perfect as personal transportation is more comfortable, but has downsides that many people just don't care about. Like efficiency and climate friendliness, and I think that's more important than being cold/hot, having to wait for some time etc.
@@kuseel7493 I don't buy into the whole climate friendliness stuff and it is tough to get a super fuel efficient car that can tow at least 9t. I totally get the public transit argument for dense cities. We don't have that many dense cities in the US though and the majority of our city dwellers are in the suburbs.
On most points, we are in agreement except for transportation. Most Americans live in very low population-density states compared to European nations with good train systems. For the lower 48 (incl. D.C.) only 22% of the U.S. population in states having population density greater than France, 9.3% than Germany, 7.5% than the UK, 3.3% than Belgium, and only D.C. greater density than the Netherlands 0.21% of the U.S. population. So rail would have to be 1/.22 or five times more expensive to reach those populations.
But that applis to cars as well. You need the same extra amounts of roads, fuel, car wear etc. Plis, that only applkes to the running of the trains. The building is in a far better situation, as the land is usualy cheaper/permiting is easier because of the lower density.
@@reappermen You need the roads for goods transportation anyway. Inter-city trains only make sense in the NE corridor and Windsor to Quebec corridor in Canada. Some bigger cities in the US have good transit within the city, but a lot of US cities don't have much of a city center which makes the usual train based rapid transit almost useless.
However even in the areas where the US is much denser then many European states public transport is still atrocious. You don't expect great infrastructure in Oregon, but California and the East Coast has no excuse.
@@FreeOfFantasy The North East of the US has pretty good transit in major centers and the train is not bad in the DC to Boston corridor. Outside LA and Dan Francisco there isn't a lot of density in California. Remember that California is quite a bit larger than Germany and has less than half the population (and half of that is in Metro LA). LA of SF is about the same distance as Berlin to Munich and pretty sparsely populated in between.
One important thing to remember is that, technically, America is not a single country. Rather, we are a collection of 50 semi-separate countries, all organized under a single federal government. It's basically a result of our origin, as we were colonies of the British Empire, and each colony was separately run, though each was under the greater rule of the British crown and parliament. We basically swapped out the crown and parliament for a president and congress, but the state divide still exists to this day, which is why each state is run by its own governor and state congress. This of course leads to the greater issue that each state runs things ever so slightly differently, and often you have all these irritating differences in laws and ordinances across borders. Also, as far as public transportation, a LOT of those projects were smacked down over the years by car and oil companies, who were eager for more people to drive so they made more profits. Heck, even a lot of our railway tracks in this country are owned by oil companies, and they won't allow passenger trains on their tracks at all, meaning we can't use existing infrastructure to actually revamp our system. Because while I live in a rural area and need a car to get around, I sure as heck would love if I could hop on a train to go visit friends and family who are a distance away.
That's true to some extent, but not exactly uniquely American. Germany, Italy, India... are all federal countries as well. The EU isn't even a country, but a multilateral organisation of independent countries, often with even bigger differences than between say Louisiana and Oregon in culture, language and income levels. At the same time, the size of the US is constantly used as an argument why they can't have walkable neighborhoods, a decent transportation system, etc.
@@barvdw a lot of people keep saying the US is more like 50 countries than 1 country. in my opinion that make Europe (and especially the EU) even more impressive. because if Europe and the US are both made up of dozens of "sovereign countries" why can Europe do these things and the US can't. look at all the streamlining of regulations in just the 70 years since WWII in Europe (and halve of Europe only since the break up of the USSR, so 30 years)
@@ChristiaanHW absolutely, in spite of being much more diverse, on an economical level, the EU is often more streamlined than the US. Freedom of Movement and non-discrimination clauses mean that e.g. EU residents can not just move freely to a different state, but can enroll immediately in college at the same conditions as locals, can start working directly, etc. It's a little more complicated in practice, degrees aren't yet fully streamlined, so a French nurse can't just start working as a nurse in all countries, you can work in construction or trucking in a different country at your (lower) pay only for a limited time, after that, they have to offer you a local contract, etc, but still. Even if it's just a formality, e.g. construction companies have to register in each county(!) where they are active in most of the US (again, state regulations can differ wildly). But while that may be, the US hasn't been a confederation for a long time. Even when slavery was the main trigger, there's some truth to the Southern myth that the American Civil War was fought over States' rights in an ever stronger Union. That's probably the last time the United States was used as a plural. The Union won, and the States ceased to be semi-independent countries allied together just for protection. I know few Americans who will present themselves as citizens of their state before being Americans, not even most Texans.
The electoral college is one of the most misunderstood and yet most critical aspects of keeping America a functional democratically-elected FEDERAL REPUBLIC, not a "democracy" (mob rule). It's the key aspect of what makes the presidential election a national election by giving all states something of a say instead of letting New York and California force their preferred candidate on the rest of the country 100% of the time. People in New York and California constantly complain about it because they usually have nothing but an extremely arrogant contempt for the people in what they often call the "fly-over states" between them, but it's key to national stability for such a large and diverse country - the federal government should represent the whole country and not allow two or three highly populated states to dominate the rest by serving only their own interests.
In practice the Electoral College vastly benefits low population states, which are rural, thus mostly Republican. These same low population states are wildly over-represented in the Senate. Thus the present system lets low population states force their views on the vast majority of people in the country. This is fundamentally unfair.
The laws are different by state because the US is a federation of states. The first 13 states were independent after the revolution and joined together under the Articles of Confederation. Some states, the state you apparently dislike do much, Texas, was a country before becoming a state. Do the laws change between countries in the EU even though the EU has laws governing all the countries within? Did every country decide to scrap all their own laws in favor of one set of laws? Same concept.
The thing which addresses most of your concerns toward the end, is you must remember America is not a Nation State, it is 50 Nation States wearing a trench coat, holding a sign saying I'm the United States.
There are different laws in different states because there are different 'needs' in different states. The US is a really big and diverse place. Does it really make sense to have all the laws you have to live by in your town decided by some politician all the way on the other side of the continent? That's why there are some laws decided at Federal, some at State, and some at Local level... And while it can get a little complicated, it actually makes a lot of sense for the protection of rights and the division/balance of government power.. It's also good for 'trying' things out in different states, and if something is 'successful' then the other states can see that and adopt it...
The electoral college is intended to prevent the tyranny of the majority, to make sure the voices of rural dont get drowned out by the big cities. As someone who is has become an absolute minority in the country my ancestors built i envy the system.
@@kuseel7493so would condem a large part of the population because they see things differently than you?. the goal of system is to grow a country equally. Rather than a 2 class system of super rich maga cities and ultra poor rural areas. Or would you rather that minorities have no voice?
@@kuseel7493 No. The house of representatives is where the proportional representation occurs. The senate is where each state has an equal voice and the electoral college is a combination of the two when choosing the top executive. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches are designed to be checks on each other. The EC is only used to elect the president and the president is supposed to have limited powers.
With intercontinental ballistic missiles, it's less meaningful now, but still important: America's "design" is blessed with two great admirals -- Admiral Atlantic and Admiral Pacific.
My parents had been on the wait list to even be able to immigrate to the US, lucky we landed in NZ instead. We still have our own troubles here and even now I’m thinking of moving to another country as well, but I’m just thankful I grew up where I did.
So the waiting list to get in the US is so long that they went elsewhere. Wow....what a terrible country where people beg and fight and risk their lives to get INTO.
New Zealand is just like the US when it comes to car reliance and suburbia though? Auckland is nothing like London or Paris when you look at the availability of metros/trams/Intercity rail, etc
The US is a federation of states, like the EU but a little closer. It’s not surprising that different states have different laws. Do laws not differ between France and Spain?
The electoral collage is a feature not a bug .America is a federation of states but some states have far more power than others and a small group of states pulling inone direction could over rule the majority to keep the president in one party for decades without the collage to prevent it.
While I agree on the weird structure of our cities and our government, I think the level of autonomy we give to states is just fine. If you see the US's history it's a nation built by immigrants, and in its early days they they would entice immigrants to live on on a piece of US territory, and when enough immigrants or settlers were living on that territory they made it a state and said "this is yours to control as long as you follow the constitution," and that was that. I don't think people over in Europe fully grasp that the United States is just that, a decentralized confederation of states. Its so decentralized that states pass legislation that goes against federal law all the time and the federal government usually doesn't bother them about it (unless it violates the constitution or an important bill). The US in terms of land is almost the size of Europe and has 330 million people, it would be pretty hard for a single centralized government to effectively control all of it, many of whom are of various ancestry, ethnicity, religion, and even different morality. Where as European countries are small, mostly homogenous countries with more manageable populations. But like I said, everything else in the video I agree with, however I admire how different some states can be from one another even down to the architecture and the laws.
Germany also is a FEDERAL state with different laws in different states. But when its about stuff like traffic rules, the states talk to each other and find common sense!
The US is also not a ethnic or even culturally cohesive country like most European countries are. We have so many different people here and there will always be disagreements on how things get done. Having decentralized government is not just a feature of American government, it is absolutely critical for this country to function.
People often compare US rail maps to Europe but extra credit would be comparing the same map of navigable waterways that reach the sea. You might notice where the rails miss in the US falls squarely in the Mississippi river system, which Europe has no analog to. Rails > roads but also, water > rails. There was never an economic impetus to build rail infrastructure in the US the way necessity dictated building it in Europe.
8:45, so the EU parlamet actually does not have a real %-barrier, as long your party gets as many % in votes as would equal a seat, you will get at least that seat. The 5% barrier is in effect in e.g. Germany for parlaments here.
I like hearing an outsiders perspective on these things. Sometimes the laws here feel weird and disjointed for sure, but thats the price of getting 50 mini-countries to co-operate i guess
It's similar in the EU, just with 27 actual countries (that, like Germany, might even have states with their own laws). There are also places where you can literally cross the street and the weed in your pocket becomes illegal to possess. Given that in both the US and the EU there are states/countries with very backwards people and politics, I am quite thankful for this (although my home state of Bavaria isn't very progressive and liberal 😅).
Well I think the differences of each state is great since you can somewhat choose what kind of government you want to live under. If you value education, you can go to a state (and county) that funds education and taxes for that. But if you're not in education or have any kids that are, it would make more sense for you to live elsewhere, and you can. It's definitely not a perfect system but it gives people some choice. Though of course, moving is expensive, I think it benefits immigrants more since they're already moving in somewhere new and they have to look at all the pros and cons of areas.
@@fredreim4082 That's assuming the place their moving to isn't better in terms of having a higher paying job and better insurance - the wealthier states tend to have better in terms of both irrespective of the parties controlling the state
9:05 We are a Republic, so the electoral college is what was intended hundreds of years ago. People vote for Representatives to represent them in the government instead of voting in every single decision. The same applies to the Presidency. We vote for representatives to represent our vote in the college, and in most states its illegal to be an "unfaithful elector" which is voting for someone your constituents did not.
The interstate highway is the pragmatic solution for a country where population is more widely distributed. It is cost prohibitive and restricting to have interstate rail. Rail makes sense in high density areas such as the Tokyo metro that connects other metros. Tokyo metro is the biggest in the world. A simple look on Google Maps shows you how sprawling and vast the interstate highway system and state highway system is none of them have the density of the Tokyo metro. The only thing comparable is the North East US. The California rail while noble in intentions at best case scenario would break even in revenues. California does not have the density or the geography to connect to the two largest metros that competes with airlines. Good for people in valley I guess. State laws make sense because each state has their own cultures and geography. Even cities have their own laws. It is more pragmatic way of governing instead of doing everything on a federal level. Without the electoral college only a few states and their cultural preferences will decide the outcome for the rest of the country. I don't think somebody in Idaho wants California laws. The two largest states, California, and Texas, for example, have different cultures. Their economies are different. How they collect taxes are different and how they lose revenue happens in different types of business cycles. Texas generates substantial revenue, profits, and jobs from fossil fuel extraction, petrochemicals, terminals, and an extensive infrastructure to move those thing across the state into ports and into other states. Texas has it's own market-based electrical grid that operates differently from other national grids which has its advantages and disadvantages. The main reason why Texas is rapidly developing renewable energy at a much faster rate than other states is because of its so called "deregulated" grid. Permitting is faster, cheaper, and grid connection takes a couple of years instead of a decade or more stuck in a queue in other states. Having uniform laws makes regulatory sense in that every place you go to has the same regulations but a lot of those regulations are more subjective than people think and restricts innovation in the regulatory environment by doing that. For example, why couldn't a municipally owned utility company not spend on other things not directly or even remotely associated with the role of a utility company? Is it better to have a utility to be a regional monopoly or should there be competition in picking utilities? What is the best way or ways to create affordable housing? What is the best way to tax the economy?
What I also notice is the consequence of a car centrist society: the city density is really low and the density is abnormally concentrated in the center. I always see 6 lanes streets in neighborhoods that are low density, it's insane. 6 lanes streets and the buildings are maybe 3 floors tall. You can't scale anything if you have to give 1 car per 1 person. Here in Germany we rarely (actually almost never. We have a main street goes through city and it's just 2 lane normal street. But the 2 lane street have also a 2 lane tram and busses) see 4 lanes streets and we have 6-10 floors tall buildings. The difference is that in the US for 10 people you have to have 10 cars that's about 93 sq feet of space times 10 is already 930 sq feet or 86 sq m of wasted space, while a human is about 2.7 sq feet or 0.25 sq m. For 10 cars you can fit about 310 people, that's a scale of 1:31, so for each car you can fit 31 people. Lets say you have a business district for 1500 people a day. You now need about 1500 parking lots. That's it, you can't scale any further. But in Germany with good public transport you can scale up to 450,000 people a day in the same district.
From WC USA, My wife and her sister were both born and grew up in Germany. My sister-in-law stayed in Germany, my wife married me and after my service in Germany, we moved to the USA, first to Florida, which proved to be too hot in the summer, then to Northeast Tennessee where the weather and the landscape is more like Bavaria and we love very much! You can only move around here by car, however, we have two good Interstate highways here to go where we want! Now to my wife’s sister, she lives in a city of about 150,000 thousand people in Bavaria! They have two Autobahns, North-South and East-West, they have mass transit in the city as well as Good local as well as high speed trains to where ever they would like to go, including her boyfriend here. Now what do they use? They use their cars for everything, it is true that at times to find parking is a challenge, but here they have great mass transit but they use their cars! Are they normal Germans, I don’t know! Now to switch back to to US, our son moved to Atlanta Georgia many years ago and as a perk he was allowed to use MARTA, their mass transit system for free, he chose to go back to his car a deal with traffic because he said it was dirty, and the possibility of getting robbed or killed was high! That might be one reason most US citizens stay with using their cars!
I think it would more to compatible to compare the US to the EU, not just to Demark itself. You'll see the similarities more than the differences. For example Greece is the European version of Mississippi and Denmark is the version of Connecticut.
I live in Upstate NY. newly paved roads have all manholes that are at least 1 inch lower than the road. Many people drive slalom to avoid these manholes. I wonder if the cities call cousin Vinny to repair the roads.
That entire issue with the US and state laws is very much also a thing in other countries. Generally, countries can be categorized into either central or federal states. The distinction is the following: In a central state, such as France, the basic assumption is that all legislative capacity rests with the top level government unless it agrees to hand this power over to a lower level of administration (a decision it can revoke at any time). So in essence, if there is no law on the matter, the central government must either make one itself or tell the states "You know what, i'll leave this one to you." In a federal state, such as the United States or Germany, by contrast, the understanding is that the states can do whatever they want, at least until the federal government passes a law that contradicts what they do. Essentially, the difference is that one system decides that the states cannot pass laws unless the federal government decided that is a matter that they can pass a law on, whereas the other decides that the federal government must assert its right to legislate something, otherwise that right lies with the states.
Back in the sixties, proposals were made for a network of elevated freeways in Vancouver, British Columbia. Fortunately, that course was not followed, and an LRT system was built instead.
Different laws in different states allow for interstate competition over which place is best governed. It results in some quirks like you said, but overall is probably better. The electoral college exist so that large states don't completely dominate smaller states and smaller states have some influence, a bit like you said EU works. The implementation is just different, the main idea is the same (give smaller states or smaller countries some influence as well).
In the US and Canada, many places people live, require cars to get to work, school ect. Even people who would rather not own a car have no choice. Parking is thus a requirement. Europe has many alternatives. I feel this is at least partly due to a lack of space for parking given the density.
9:19 The reason why we have the Electoral College is because we are a Democratic Federative Republic, not a Unitary Republic. The difference is like if the E.U. federalized into a singular country. The E.U. would be a Federal Republic, versus say, France as it stands now is a Unitary Republic, however, if it were to enter the Federal E.U. country, it would cease being a Unitary Republic and become a State (region) within the Federal Republic of Europe. The reason why the Electoral College exists is so that the less populous States (regions) within the United States don't get politically dominated by the larger States with the result of the smaller States mattering less than the large ones and thus being neglected. At this point it no longer makes sense to be in a political union (Federation) with the other larger States, only an economic one similar to how the E.U. is now. For example, why would a nation such as Romania want to further the integration of the E.U. into a political union (Federation) without a guarantee that it's problems and desires will actually matter to the central government? Why would they join, only to be ignored? It would be better just to have the E.U. remain an economic union instead. This is why the United States has an Electoral College system at the Federal level, and a direct election system at the State level. Because it wouldn't make sense for smaller states to be in a political union without a guarantee that their voice will at least matter to some extent. The bigger states knew this and still decided to join the union anyway because they still benefit from it economically even if they suffer representationally at the federal level. This makes sense when you consider that when the United States was created, the Federal Government was not intended to be as important as it is today. You can see this in the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." This means that any power not specifically given to the Federal Government should be delegated to the State Governments instead, and thus "the people" because "the people" were intended to be primarily governed by whichever State they chose to reside in, not the Federal Government. I hope this helps clear up the confusion about why the American people don't elect the President via direct vote or through Parliamentary vote and do it instead through the Electoral College. ~Nick
Except the Electoral College, first past the post elections, and the two party duopoly now enable the smaller states to lord it over the larger states if they all unite behind one political party out of 2. And if Trump gets back into the WH in November, it's game over for our constitutional republic, just like every other country that adopted a constitution similar to the US's lost theirs. The framers should have stuck with the Articles of Confederation.
@@personnesenki4521 FOR WHAT!? Nothing I said was violent, advocated violence, or called for an overthrow of the Constitution (which Trump almost committed on January 6th, 2021), and meets RUclips's terms of service.
As a younger American I can say these issues are known and work is being done, However we suffer from what is basically a Generational Bias. Most of the leaders are stubbornly trying to run the areas they run like its still the 1960'-70's, with policies that MAY have work in those time frames. A key example is the "Federal Minimum Wage". Right now, employers are only required to pay $7.50 per hour. This is suppose to be the Minimum livable wage that the Roosevelt administration wanted to make into law during the 1930's. Right now, there is no place that can live on that (its literal be on the streets and starve to death). Yet policy makers and most employers flat out refuse to update this because either "mah Profits!!!" or "When I was your age I had two mortgages, a full time job, and went to college full time on 500 bucks a month! None of this fancy Duel Income Shenanigans!!".
No no, you are right, almost all of the differences in laws between states of the United States (united?) are silly and just make life annoying, and could be resolved by having national policies. And I DON'T MEAN the controversial issue we all shout at each other about, I mean the little stuff that just might be what is making us so irritable!
A common misperception we take here in Europe is, to consider the USA as one country. It is called "United States" and that is for a reason, otherwise it would be called "State of Union" or so. You should think of it more like if the EU became one internationally united entity as it is now. Both your and my head of government would be Roberta Metsola. Our head of state would be Ursula von der Leyen. And why do then traffic rules change when I drive from Germany to Denmark? Why is it suddenly mandatory to have daytime running lights or switch the headlights on? Why do I have to pay different tax rates? And why don't you even have the same currency as we?
As an American, I love traveling to Europe. After talking with Europeans throughout the EU, I am ashamed of our way of life here in the USA. One of our biggest mistakes was making cars,which is not only bad for the environment, but devastating to personal economy. But we do have an outstanding medical system.... If you can afford to buy it. Same for Universities. We wouldn't want an educated citizenery, unless of course we can bankrupt them first.
I look at the states as individual countries. You can do a very similar comparison in Europe between the different countries. In size the US and Europe is approximately similar
I served in the Army in Germany and you didn't need a car. Catch the bus or A Streetcar was always convenient, my first subway ride in Berlin I want two stations in my Landmark disappeared. Arriving at the main train station in Frankfurt, a wide Express Subway took you to the main subway station that moved at high speed during rush hour and about 25 mph other times. After a night of fun with everything closing, the trains move slowly back out to the outskirts bringing us home as they prepare for the morning Rush Hour. Overnight trains to distant cities arrive at about 6:00 in the morning allowing time to freshen up and get to your destination. My friend's father had a standard Mercedes-Benz, his rule was one or two passengers we take the train, three or four passenger we drive, the financial sweet spot. Their electric trains are not subject to oil shortages and the price of fuel swinging, Holland's fast trains are powered by the wind, as they are now providing green power to the grid of Europe and quadrupling their efforts. The number one thing I miss are the trains, the basic human right of Transportation. The trains are packed with passengers needing less parking spaces that they don't tear blocks down to lay asphalt. It allows for a walking neighborhood and everyone to get around inexpensively, safely, minus the stress of driving.
Its 5% of urban land not 5% of the entire country if they had 5% of their land as parking lots that would be 450,000km2 or germany plus another 100,000km2.
The USA and its political system is very complex. Both parties do stuff that is despicable and flagrantly against are the constitution. If you go by Thomas pain's logic the Government of the USA has not represented the citizens for most of my life if not my parents' lives as well. A little bit of insight from our founding fathers, each state was supposed to be its own unique country yet tied together as a union. The civil war ended this experiment mostly making the 10th Amendment void accept in rare circumstances. So one way to think about us is that we're supposed to be 50 "countries" united under one name, mind set and so on with loosely shared values and culture. Which is why you can go from one part of the country to the other and experience widely different aspects. Most aren't as different as, say Germany and France when comparing but closer to Canada and the USA accept for obvious government organization, rights and such.
That is one of the big problems I have with the American politics, yes at the time the constitution was revolutionary but it's so outdated now days, for example in Germany there are some lines in the constitution no one would dare to touch but the constitution is subject to change and it's no scandal to change something if it doesn't fit the time
You get paid to study, but for the rest of your working life you are paying for everyone else to study whether you went to University or not. The government doesn't have any money. It only redistributes money that it takes from taxpayers.
@@rich7447 yeah, that's how social benefits work. As long as it's functional, I got no problem paying 50% taxes as long as everyone is benefited. I kinda like that aspect of European countries
@@jorgecuevas8843 You may be fine paying 50% taxation, but there is no way I am paying that much so a good portion of the population can sit on their ass on benefits. We voted with our feet and left a place where we lived paycheck to paycheck because the government was taking the lion's share of what we made.
@@soundscape26 Public opinion in the US has never been especially favorable to the type of development that makes up the majority of the US. Progressives see car-dependent sprawl as terrible for the environment, unaffordable, and used as a tool for segregation. Likewise, conservatives are frequently irritated by the overbearing nature of zoning laws, and lament the destruction of historic downtowns in the name of "progress". Trump's "Freedom Cities" and DeSantis' "Live Local Act" suggest that there's bipartisan support for some aspects of new urbanism. While there are still areas of debate (highway removal, public housing, whether $200m/mile LRT projects are worth the cost), there is still an actionable level of consensus that should be pursued.
The American Electoral College ensures that each of the 50 states has a fair stake in electing the President. (The electoral college in only used to elect the President, not Senators or Representatives.) Each state gets at least 1 electoral vote for each Senator and each Representative in Congress. Each state gets 2 Senators and the number Representatives is based on the State's population. Remember that the USA is not a single country, it is a Union of separate States. And since some states are smaller in population, the Electoral College ensures that every State gets at least 3 electoral votes in the Presidential election. If we allowed the President to be elected by popular vote, Big cities like Los Angeles, California and New York, New York would always decide who the President is, and judging by the quality of the Governors of those states and the Mayors of those cities, I think the founders were very wise to not hand them the choice for President.
You can say what you want about the US’ design but in this country there are better jobs and migration opportunities than Europe, which seems stuck in the past. As the saying goes, work and live in the US to afford holidays in Europe
Same for innovation, the US has far more tech and innovation (especially in STEM) than Europe despite the fact the Europe has the overall better education system, and its not even close.
@@soundscape26 The US tech sector is not unified either, its concentrated in certain areas, like northen california New york, North carolina, Texas etc. In Europe certainly could be concentrated within single countries like Germany, France, Italy etc. It isn't because of a lack of a unified tech sector that Europe lags far behind the US, as well as Asia. Europe simply does not foster an environment where innovation can flourish like it does in the US and Asia. European Investors are more risk averse, European Universities don't have an environment that encourages students to strike out on their own when they come up with ideas. Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook etc started while their founders were still College students.
Seems we will disagree on almost everything you presented. I will never understand why people think government should take care of them or think that government should be able to efficiently pass laws at the drop of a hat (that's how you get every bad idea getting its chance to be made law). Also, there are no problems with city design because cities are horrible in the first place. Cramming a lot of people together in a small area, no matter how well-designed, causes a lot of problems that you can only solve by spacing them out.
@@elswick4636 doesn't matter, the problem with cities are too many people crammed too close together. There are a ton of issues with cities that have nothing to do with cars but with population density.
@@elswick4636 Cities are okay to visit, but I don't want to live in one. I did that in my early 20s and didn't have a car. Much prefer to have more space and driving doesn't bother me.
The reason why America has different laws in every state is competition. Each state enacts laws that it thinks are better than other state's laws. If they are right, then more people will want to live and do business in that state increasing state revenue. However if a state enacts bad laws, then it's residents will not want to live or work in that state and move to a state with better laws, and thus reducing that state's revenue and population, and also reducing the number of Representatives in Congress, and thus reducing it's power in Congress to pass Federal laws. Competition makes citizen's lives better by giving them the choice of who's laws they want to live under. This keeps state governments in check so they don't become tyrannical.
Not sure why you find it so baffling to have different rules in different states. That’s what happens under a federation, exactly what we have here in Australia. It’s a federation of states that came together to form a federal government. Because all these states were run independently and differently prior to federation, it’s only logical that they have different rules and laws. I agree that some things like road rules should be consistent everywhere within the country, it’s actually good to have a diverse set of rules between states. It’s more decentralised and allows different people with different values and ideologies etc to have the freedom to live in a state that suits their needs and wants.
Some good points but also some standard silliness from a European point if view. America is huge and the states are so different that they will need different laws to function best for the kinds of people living in them.
Our infrastructure is terrible in certain places, but driving on the U.S. Interstate system is phenomenal. I've driven 1,180 miles (about 1800km) in a single day. That's comparable in distance to driving from Rome, Italy to Warsaw, Poland or Marseilles, France to Copenhagen, Denmark. The signage is incredible, most states have very good safety features like reflectors or snow pilons, and a range of scenery from Saharan desert to Norwegian fjordland. Cities are awful though. Just as crowded as European cities, but populated with multi ton machines traveling 60 mph instead of people walking and biking.
Also, Copenhagen's bike lanes are something I am trying to get city planners to adopt over here. Protected lanes with through traffic routes and functional signage is very nice.
thank you OBF for video! 11:40 yes the traffic rule is kinda silly but tthe tax difference is what some people called tax competition. basically just to encourage business
Yes, it is known that paying taxes in the USA is not very popular. Not only do you finance the businesses, you also finance the rich who, as we all know, are sitting on their money and accumulating more and more. In Europe, we have in contrast to the U.S. higher taxes, but these are again refinanced in schools, kindergartens, hospitals, public parks and buildings, in public transport, etc. and we have no further costs, but this pays the U.S. citizen but happy out of pocket. that times to.
Well its in the name United States. Instead of it being a single country/nation, the United States is a group of countries/nations that can be independent from each other. The only thing right now is that those States' people consider to work together as a single entity composed of different nations under one flag.
Mississippi may have a GDP on par with Germany, but only because they have lower taxes, and because they have a far worse social safety net, their health and wellness outcomes are far below that of Germany. So, I'd live in Germany any day, over Mississippi, and I say that as an American.
Many issues require attention. I fervently hope that we begin to improve roads, bike infrastructure, and public transportation, while also enhancing accessibility to education to propel our progress.
This is video is so out of context that it makes my head hurt. I'll go to the voting stuff even if the video doesn't start there. Gerrymandering, while a big problem that needs to be addressed, has nothing at all to do with how US Senate seats are chosen. They use a plurality system like he mentions in the video. Each state gets 2 senators and districts do not matter. There are slight variations state to state, but basically whichever candidate gets the most votes in that state becomes a Senator. Gerrymandering doesn't matter. This video is so backwards in its understanding of how robust the US political system actually can be. The US is as divided as its been in perhaps a century and a half. Even with gerrymandering being a non-factor, the US Senate is split 51 to 49. Before that in the last Congress it was literally split 50//50. And as gerrymandered as the nation is, the House of Representatives which is dependent on districts to choose its members is split 222 to 212 which comes out to... 51% to 49%. The current problems with the US government aren't so much a systemic problem as US voters being slightly unsure as to which direction they want the country to go. Once that's decided among the people, a clear majority with once again emerge. And a quick note on the Electoral College.... its doing exactly what it was designed to do. In the 1780s when the US Constitution was written, less populated states were afraid to join a country with a more centralized government for fear of being ruled by their more populated neighbors. So in the US system, less populated states have an outsized influence on purpose. Without that compromise(and others) there probably wouldn't be a United States of America as it currently exists. And to be honest, as frustrating as it is, it gives a voice to the parts of America that would get completely ignored if the US did away with it. In the US system a candidate has to be able to appeal to people in the big cities and populated regions along with the more rural parts of America in order to become president. That's not a bad thing. The last thing is about railroads. For whatever reason Europeans have the idea that railroads MUST be used primarily for moving people around. In reality that's not true. Even from the beginning of railroading in the mid 19th century, the US realized that moving freight is where the money was going to be made. Moving people was a prestigious side business for most railroads even before the invention of cars or airplanes. That's why the US has the best rail network in the entire world... if you're a piece of cargo.
@@zesky6654 More than 40% of all the long haul freight in the US is moved by rail. That's A LOT of trains crisscrossing the country, and there are 3 derailments per day on average. Most of them are annoying and nothing more. Nobody dies, nobody even gets hurt. Often times the railcars don't even tip over. Either way all the big railroad companies have crews that get the trains back on the tracks in hours. Of course you're talking about the train carrying a very hazardous chemical that derailed in Ohio recently. So you're picking out the worst train derailment incident in years and pretending it happens constantly. They don't. The last derailment that was as hazardous as the one in Ohio happened in 2012.
Apologies for being inactive for so long... I really just needed a break and had to find the joy for making videos again. And I've found that now, so you should expect to see many more videos coming out in the near future! I'm glad to be back, I've missed making videos for you guys
It's great that you felt the space to take a break for a while! Too many people these days just go on despite the pressure and end up losing any sense of creativity or originality. The most important thing is that you as a creator enjoy making videos, so cheers! 🎉
It days part 2, where is part 1? Link please?
That's great look forward to seeing your vids! Try to be original
just here to say that it's Donald Shoup, and not Donald Should, as you said in the video
Who do you work for? Orban? Lukashenko? MBS? Xi? Putin? Tell me!
Americans are the largest portion of youtube viewers. We don't like negative talk from outside. We generally tell ourselves about how much we suck for this or that reason. I have this crazy idea. Praise the holy hell out of America. It will do better than this vid
Worth noting that those 250 bucks you pay as a student in Germany often go in large part to a transit ticket.
Which means all local trains (i.e. non-express) in the federal state, plus trams and busses.
This means millions of students are living in cities with no need for a car at all. And the liberty to visit places at no cost.
I was so broke at one point that I took a train to a neighboring city to go to the blood bank that paid best.
However, Germany just instituted a cheap nation-wide subscription ticket for public transit, so that may shake up the student ticket meta somewhat.
This was started in reaction to the Ukraine War, to lower gas consumption and push traffic into the public transit system where possible. Also as part of a major green project to move from cars to public alternatives as a credible alternative for as many people as possible.
The transit ticket isn't meant for the whole state in every university. In mine, it was only buses in the city itself and a few handpicked train routes to some (not all) neighbour cities. It's much better in other cities.
Don't Germans tend to go to their local university while living at home? I think Americans tend to move away from home, so they get a better life experience of living away from parents, etc.
The high cost of education in the U.S. is a form of class warfare. A college education is viewed as a ticket to the middle class by most Americans. Many jobs in the U.S. require a college education, but would be taught at a trade school in Europe. Driving up the cost of education reduces social mobility. That is how the rich stay rich.
@@rogink
Depends, really.
On the availability of affordable rentals, the desire to move out and on the availability of your desired major at a given university.
Many do stay close, if possible.
I personally moved 300km to a university.
wow never was a missing "h" more important than with this comment. I read "Worth nothing that.." and totally didn't understand your comment.
When I was abroad in Europe and Asia I quickly noticed just how well-designed they are and how convenient it is to get around and get the stuff you need while only having to walk. I sure miss all that convenience
Yeah, it's great.
Europe and Asia are both whole continents NOT COUNTRIES. There is a big difference when you're comparing
@@DJ_BROBOT USA is a as big as europe in terms of land area, with higher gdp. Its a fair comparison.
@@DJ_BROBOT?? This is not the great argument you think it is lmao, Asia and Europe are both continents full of self governing countries that have completely different ways of working through city design and zoning
So the fact American city design is so horrible people can't help but compare it to hundreds of other countries like
Germany, Spain, France, Korea, Japan, China just goes to show how much America is lacking in comparison
When you have so many examples of how other countries are doing it better you start comparing whole continents maybe that's the moment you should start caring about city design in your country
@@gauravnegi4312Except your population is smaller.
8 parking spaces per car in the US is what happens when you tell a store that they need to have enough parking space for every single person that could fit into your store at once, regardless of the fact that the megamall next door has enough parking space for you to park there instead.
Minimum parking laws are calculated by the square footage of the building not the people in it
@@xtreme242 Which is an even more ridiculous way to calculate it. For example, a vet office is going to need a lot more space for the actual veterinarian stuff (exam rooms, perhaps an x-ray or ultrasound machine, storage, a kennel for long term treatments, etc) than for the customers, at least compared to how much space a mall dedicates to its customers vs how much it dedicates to storage, maintainance, supply tunnels, etc.
@@Chrischi3TutorialLPs lol in didn’t say it was sane 😂😂
@@xtreme242 Well you implied that the laws make sense by that tone...
Omg, USA sucks badly with its car infested policy. It must be unlivable!
Where is this? In any us city there’s literally no place you can park
I'm an American who has lived overseas for most of the last 20 years, mostly in Europe. I would tell a European to not think of America as an extension of Europe, and I would tell non-Americans in general to think of the United States as a plural, countable noun, rather than as a singular entity; actually, it's even messier than that because most of the cultural, as well as some legal, differences are within, not between, states (often urban vs. rural). The U.S. Constitution grants most powers to the states, as it is a federal system; this is often referred to as states' rights. That's a better place to start if you want to understand my country.
We know why the differences are there. It's not about understanding it but just calling out that those differences are just bad.
The German constitution grants the states rights too, but our politicians are competent enough to come together and pass law treaties to make the law and execution similarish between the states in topics like gambling, education, public broadcast, et cetera. Also, there are much better systems to implement/execute laws from the EU and the German federal office, where the law is set, but you can differ on how you want to execute it to achieve the goal. It's not to say it's perfect. For instance the education his diverse and agreements between the states are hard to achieve.
@@toorero Yes, I've lived in Stuttgart, Germany. America is like a big ship at sea that is difficult to turn. There is more than one captain and each captain has some, but not all, of the controls over part, but not all, of the ship -- and the captains change every 2 or 4 or 6 years. The U.S., like any country, has its own history and culture, and needs to be understood within that context. What works in one country (such as Germany) is not generally transferrable to another (such as the U.S.) It's not a question of the competence of politicians, since all elected officials have to work within the same system, which is notoriously (and intentionally) hard to change.
@@jps0117 oh my i live in Stuttgart, didn't think anyone came here by their own will hahahah
@@yatinhu1153 Haha. It was nice, but expensive, as I had come from 7 years in Ukraine.
@@jps0117 But that's not my point. Even if it's the best that the US system has to offer it's still bad, isn't it? It's relatively speaking good but in an absolute view it's still bad.
TO SOLVE the bad state you have to understand the system because you have to work with the system to enhance it but not to conclude that the system is bad.
To give an example: To conclude that the US infrastructure is bad you don't really have to understand the "system of the US" to conclude the infrastructure is bad but to improve the infrastructure you have to work WITHIN the system.
I’m a Texan and I’ve never been on a train, or subway in my entire life.
Is this a point of pride for you?
me too, ive taken a city bus and it was gross lol.
I'm from Chicago and have lived in Europe for 20+ years, plus a little time in Asia. I haven't owned a car during that time and I will never again own a car. I can't imagine living again in a country where I would need to buy a car.
I’m from Switzerland and i have been either going by foot or by public transport everywhere in my entire life. Only rarely do i go out with a car, like once a week to go grocery shopping in germany (because it’s cheaper)
@@jps0117 😂😂😂 Who needs a maglev anyway, when everyone has their own car
People love to ignore Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Australia etc where they also have car cultures.
Dunking on the US will grant you many more views. 😄
Its just that the US is the biggest implementation of it. All those other countries are far less major, and a country like Australia still has pretty competitive public transport even if the country is still car centric.
That does not make the USA any less shit and as someone else already mentioned, the USA is just the biggest country with that problem, its normal to critisize them the most.
Mexico and Brazil don't have same outrageous design everywhere. For Mexico it's towads the north (like a transition to USA proper), Brazil places built around the time Bazilia came along and some recent stuff
That makes sense though because if we looked at most youtubers audience, it's usually Americans. Americans like to see content about their own country, but also the USA was the pioneer of this terrible city designing and that is where it all originated. As a Canadian I can say it's pretty much as bad as it gets where I live in Moncton in terms of public transit sadly.
In response to your last bit about how state laws differ, picture America as the eu that's a bit more federalized, states are meant to be countries and thus have their own armies, laws, etc... It's like asking why the tax laws are different in germany compared to denmark when all I did was drive across the border, not even needing to show my passport.
@Conner Martin EU and Europe are two different things. Europe is bigger than the USA. Just saying.
Okay, and the United States has a much larger economy than the European Union. Just saying
@@arnodobler1096Europe (counting non EU) and the US are relatively the same size.
@@arnodobler1096The entire landmass of the mainland US is only 2% smaller than the entire European continent. That makes for plenty of variation in one country alone.
@@fernandoflynn-quintanill8542and that's only if you include Western Russia, which, realistically, is not that European.
12:00 more decentralisation is good honestly. Centralisation means less democracy, more corruption and less following the need of the people. Thats why the EU should and must not get more power. The commission already is authoritarian enough
Good thing authoritarian dictatorships have never been a problem in Europe!!!
My class went on a music tour in east germany last month. My favorite thing about it was the trains. There were trains going to many cities, both high speed to transport between cities, and light rails within the cities. We went to 10 cities, all by train, except for a bus early one morning to the airport in Frankfurt. We also took light rail in the cities. Another thing I noticed on the train is that even in the rural areas we passed by, there were still bike lanes and sidewalks and many trails everywhere. In America, that's completely non existent in rural areas, except for historical/tourist areas. In the suburb I live in now, there's only 3 walking/cycling trails, but you have to drive a car to get there, and they're only used for recreation or exercise, as they go nowhere. So germany proved that the city population size doesn't matter. Even people in rural areas there had people cycling on the trails in the middle of nowhere. Germany isn't perfect, some cities still had some heavy car traffic in some areas(though nowhere near as bad as the US), but it's FAR ahead of the US in almost every way when it comes to city design and infrastructure and transportation. It's easy to live there without a car, but nearly impossible in most of the US. As an American flying back home to get in my car, I was very jealous.
East Germany hasn't existed in thirty years. They made the choice to force everyone in bikes, that doesn't make them better or superior
@@xtreme242🙈what?
Okay, you meant the GDR, but cars drove there too. There is South North West and East Germany.😂 And he's right, there's plenty of public transport, bike and hiking trails everywhere.
@@arnodobler1096 when one says they went to east German one can reasonably assume “east Germany”. Otherwise why make the distinction. It still doesn’t make two legged or two wheeled transport superior to any other method
@@xtreme242 The term East Germany for the GDR is misleading anyway, since parts of the GDR belonged to Northern Germany - Baltic Sea. Then you would have fun in Germany, with the densest motorway network (50% without speed limit). Good cars and motorbikes.
@@arnodobler1096 Well east Gearmany just means east of Germany.. there is no GDR. GDR and FRG reunioned 1990.
American: a 15 minute today is impossible. I wouldn't dare walk that far
Meanwhile: parking lot is 7 minute trip to building
😂😂😂 true
They’re not even parking that far, they’ll circle round and round just to fine a close spot. Another reason the parking lot is like 60% empty most of the time.
Especially if you're in furnace of a city....basically anywhere from Phoenix to Atlanta
Thanks for this thoughtful video. Regarding your surprise at states having varying laws, this goes back to the founding of the nation. The original states were independent colonies, essentially mini-countries. The design of the country is an effort to balance the interests of those individual states with the need for a central government to take care of things states cannot do well on their own. It *is* messy but it also seeks to respect the right of people to govern themselves by devolving many decisions to the local level. As an American who has lived abroad for almost two decades, I can clearly see the flaws of the system but I can also see that the design is a feature of the system, too.
So a better comparison is to compare the USA with the EU and each US state as being a country in the EU.
@@jamestucker8088 In many ways, that is a better comparison. (Of course, in other ways, it isn't an apples-to-apples comparison either!)
@@jamestucker8088not just the EU, all of Europe (which is just about the same size as the US). Texas is roughly twice as large as Germany. California has a bigger GDP than the UK, France, Spain and Italy (the latter two by a large margin). New fucking York had a bigger GDP than Russia in 2016-17, can you imagine that? It's unfair to ignore Eastern Europe because that would be the equivalent of cutting out states like Louisiana and Mississippi which would bump the US up in all metrics by quite a bit
just out of curiosity, do the individual states have a proper government? poland for example has a minister of health.. does florida have a.. secretary of health? if so - do the secretaries of health of all 50 states meet once in a while to find something worth changing on a federal level or is every state minding its own business until the white house dictates something else?
@@IgorDellaPietra it's.. complicated. Very much so. But yes, each state having its own government, laws, etc. is the way it worksand that's the best way to view it. It's like a bunch of independent kids whose parents (the feds) occasionally steps in, enforces rules, takes care of security, etc.
Surprised to hear that Los Angeles has such a low public transport ridership despite having a population of over 3 million. Over 12 million if your counting the metropolitan area.
Isn't the urban area like 15 or 18 million?
A big problem for LA is that a lot of it isn't very walkable, and even in places where it is "walkable" there isn't anything to walk to within a reasonable amount of time. Which just encourages everyone to have a car as well as to use that car even for simple tasks like running to the grocery store.
Fortunately, LA is changing. I think 30 years from now, as Metro continues continues to expand in LA, transit ridership will radically grow once a breaking point is reached
If you live in LA and use public transit like the bus, you would understand why people use their car instead with all the craziness and wildin that happens in there.
@@nihouma11
Are people just ignoring how crazy and wild people act in busses😂? You have assault, fights, yelling, loud music, looting, etc... in public transit in LA. That's why people prefer to use their vehicles.
@@AngelloDelNorte That's because the police assigned to Metro don't do their jobs. They're like, "Why should we take our orders from a xxxxing bus company!?"
Different states have different laws because it allows for experimentation to see what works and what doesn't. Plus, it allows for versatile changes according to geographical, social, and year-by-year changes.
"because it allows for experimentation to see what works and what doesn't" pure nonsense
I was shocked of the fact that states count their residents only once in 10 years.
Having an official, close to real time system for counting residents has been something I've taken for granted
/Finn
Considering you live in a country with little immigration and about half the population of long Island in new york, that's like comparing apples and oranges.
well it's probably harder to do in a counntry that has 300 million people. But they can probably do it like once every 2years
@@180_Swe do it every few years in UK
65 million people, so what now?
@@FrozenDung 65 million vs 330 million, thats like a 5 times difference in population, plus a larger influx of immigration, so if yall do it every few years imagine how long that would take the US
@@aryanshah1661 yes and we're one country in Europe, most do it and we have 500 million vs your 350 million
What no champ
Proportional Representation doesn't work as mentioned in the video!
PR Systems distribute seats in accordance to which votes where gained overall. Gerrymandering is impossible in a PR system since all votes count, not just those that end up winning the district. Thus, districts can be drawn however one wants, since in the end it will all be proportional anyways.
Key Corrections? Thanks for your video. The Acela train is pronounces a-sell-a. In the United States, the federal government has (in general) purview over trade, foreign policy, defense, communications, most financial regulations and a few other areas. Each state is sovereign except in those areas controlled by the federal government. So each state and its legislature and citizens decide what laws should be for them. As an example, I live in Texas, a very large state with some long desolate freeways and 3 very large metro areas. Our statewide maximum speed limit is 85 and is reflected in the fact that we want to go faster to get to where we are going. However in Pennsylvania, a mostly mountainous state, they have a lower speed limit of just 65, likely for safe driving in more difficult terrain. For such a large country, what works for one area does not necessarily work in another. This is also why there are different gun laws across the 50 states, and why you can turn on red in some states but not others as you pointed out in your video. Because many things that affect our daily life are decided at the state, county or city level, we get a set of laws which reflects the citizen's wishes in each area, rather than laws set down by a federal government that can be 2,500 miles away and lacks understanding with local issues and needs. Is this a perfect system? No. But does it work for us?, yes.
Well said. I don't think there's a single state that would be comfortable having all of their local decisions dictated by Washington. Hell, even at the state level there's enough conflict between regions that you sometimes see parts of states clamoring for secession.
I'll add that the part OBF mentioned about the federal government is wholly unnuanced. People elect representatives. States elect senators (until 17A) and presidents. It was designed with the right intention, to compel citizens to take local politics seriously, and to balance the needs of the people and the states. And mentioning the popular vote of a presidential election where the objective was not to win the popular vote is a premise fallacy.
And one question I'd pose to OBF, is a "right" a right if it is not self-enforceable lest someone else be *_compelled_* to actively do something? Not saying that things like health and education aren't worthy goals for a society to strive for, but at its very core it's rather unenforceable as a *_right_* .
Also, Merced, CA is pronounced mer-CED, emphasis on the second syllable. It's literally Spanish for "mercy".
As an American, overall I agree with pretty much everything said with the exception of state law and federal law. Overall this is something that is quite good despite the oddities that you mentioned. It allows for a state to do something that its residents want but may not be popular enough to change on a federal level. (I hope we get trains man im down bad cars are expensive)
Rail transit should always he secondary to highways and cars
It's your opinion that it's quite good. That is not objective fact.
@@MSportsEngineering I mean, this whole youtube video and comment section is opinion, not objective fact :)
Agreed @ laws. It's basically like in the EU, just with states instead of countries, and a federal government instead of supranational institutions. Same with differences in income: The gap between wealthy and poor EU countries is actually much higher than between US states. It's kinda working nevertheless.
"Laboratories of Democracy"
back then .. 18 years ago i didn't understand the electoral college either ..
see it as something like .. every european country votes on their favorable representation in the european parliament .. so every country according to their size can put a certain number of representatives into the EU parliament ..
to go by a "democratic" majority vote means 2 population strong countries could dictate over everyone else.
a serious problem every us State has on a state level .. cities can dictate what's happening in the countryside trough outnumbering the population and vote against the interest of rural people .. i.e. what happenes with river water .. voting it away from farmers holding it exclusive to cities
8 spots for overflow cus you can't expect even distribution of cars throughout the nation
Let me know when you can handle -37C in the winter while Copenhagen's lowest recorded temp is -16.5C.
what does that have to do with the video
@@kuseel7493you tell me
I find it particularly funny how so many people like to complain about how horrible America is all the time, but millions upon millions keep coming here from every corner of the world.
Not from Europe anymore
@@arnodobler1096 actually a dozen European countries are on the top 60 list of countries of origin for US Immigration, and the top 5 of those European countries are the UK, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, and Germany. So yeah, they are still coming here... but nice try.
@@rossaldrich6357 For years more US Americans have been coming to Germany, and vice versa.
In the US, the original idea is for each state to kind of be its own country that shares a constitution, with the federal government to protect all states against foreign or domestic threats and enforce the constitution in each state. The USA is not a democracy, the USA is a constitutional Republic. These days the federal government has over reached its power and a lot of people have become dependent on the federal government. This has been done by design to grow the power of the federal government. As far as laws differentiating per state, the people of each state may have different values, some states are more religious, some states are not, some states are more liberal, some states are more conservative. Just like you may have different laws in the city then you would have in the rural area. In the city you can't have an open fire pit, but in the rural areas you have have a full blown bonfire. Another example would be People in TN don't believe in legalizing marijuana, so therefore the peoples representation have made it illegal , they also manage their budget better or have other ways of collecting taxes (tourism ect. etc) to make their budget, so they don't have an income tax.
You think American roads are falling apart, you haven't seen nothing! In Canada many rural communities (reserves) have no year round roads (winter roads only), or potable water, and our urban infrastructure is so sprawled out that our roads are constantly potholed and busted. Combined with infrastructure funding competing with health care and the standard of larger yards (1/2 acre in suburbs is pretty normal) it's no wonder our infrastructure is falling apart at a rapid pace. At least our bridge inspections are taken pretty seriously.
Edit: I live in Winnipeg where our climate and soil conditions are especially hard on roads. They're better in BC where the climate is better, and in AB where there's oil money flowing into public funds.
BTW: If you are Canadian, then you are also American. I just thought that I would point that out. You just aren't US American.
@@laurie7689 While technically correct, no, when people say American, they are typically referring to citizens of the USA. The video makes it plainly clear that he's referring to the USA. Don't be pedantic, it comes across as imbecilic.
I live in Canada and it is the same problem in here, the difference between provinces is mind boggling......
Whoever got you thinking the Acela was pronounced that way I'd goofy Af
You have some great points. The thing about the varying state laws is that we have a system of government called Federalism where the 50 US states have differing laws on a number of issues. The benefit for us is that there is not a one-size-fits-all. People do move to different states for different benefits especially on tax issues. But we have different laws on education, the use or non use of the death penalty and even different laws on whether you can purchase alcohol the latter of which is actually on the county level. Personally I think the US is too big in area and population for all the laws to stay at the federal/national level. But it does get confusing.
I mean, Germany, Austria and Switzerland are also federations and they can get it done. It’s the difference between competitive and cooperative federalism that’s the problem here and not federalism itself. Still, that’s at best an excuse for why it’s hard to get good interstate public transport done in the US but it’s absolutely no excuse for why there can’t be good public transport within cities or between cities within the same state. I wager most trips people take on a daily basis aren’t across state borders but mostly just transiting within their city or from the suburbs to the city or things like that.
@@lenn939You also have to take in to account the MASSIVE size of the united states and the spurs of land that just nobody lives in, the cost would be insane to connect lets say Illinois to Washington. Theres too little people. We also do have rail travel but its been proven to be undesirable. Americans have a different life style and prefer the freedom cars allow. Though in densely populated areas with many large cities it is well connected with public transport.
@@lenn939 That's why we in Germany had different COVID rules for every federal state? When I was at home in NRW, there were much different rules than at my parents' 240 km away and in Hesse. And I could not visit a good friend of mine at all at some times I could go about anywhere else again already, because he lives in Bavaria and there visits to private housholds were still banned, while at home face masks already were only "recommended". It all depends on the issue. Health, eductation, etc. are state law, while traffic rules are federal. Taxes can be about anything. We have taxes that are the same in all of Germany (e.g. VAT), we have taxes that differ from state to state (e.g. on the purchase of real estate) and some are even different from town to town (e.g. business tax)
@@niquidxrail travel is undesirable because it is bad. Good and affordable rail travel is appreciated by everyone who has ever been stuck in a traffic jam.
With the new possibilities in the IT sector it is totally viable to travel by train and get a rental car at your last stop to reach a destination outside of the city area.
That's what most people do when traveling by plane anyways. I don't see why Americans couldn't use new ways of transportation.
The author needs to remember that the USA is a Federal Republic. While inconvenient at times to have differing laws across state lines, it is a feature not a bug. The founders rightly recognized that centralized governments tend to bloat and acquire more powers over time, so having some powers reserved to the states does help put some kind of limits on Federal power. It probably helps prevent some mistakes from being committed at continental scale and allows for wider experimentation in state laws. The electoral college is also an intermediary weighting system that gives a bit more power to individual states while still having a strong popular element to presidential elections. (Low population states bat a little above their weight and aren't completely ignored in presidential politics).
Except for the Electoral College and the Interstate Highway System, these weird problems aren't the result of "design." They've just taken root over the decades and centuries. Sure, the US train "system" is obsolete and needs upgrading, but in how many European countries does a train ride between the two largest cities take 3 days, and a drive take even longer? Still, there's no excuse for not upgrading the Northeast Corridor--the only passenger route in the US that pays its own way.
I suppose the only country with a rail system running on that sort of timescale would be Russia, although they do use it quite heavily
This is a joke, right? 😂
That's just a sad excuse. Most of the US is basically empty. The actually densely populated areas are east coast and west coast. It's like two Japans glued left and right of one Australia. And Japan does manage to have functional infrastructure.
@@Alias_Anybody Well, the middle of the US isn't QUITE as empty as Australia...
The 2020 United States census put the population of the Midwest at 68,995,685. The Midwest is divided by the U.S. Census Bureau into two divisions. The East North Central Division includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, all of which are also part of the Great Lakes region.
@@johnchastain7890
The Great Lakes region is basically flush to the East Coast settlements, a hypothetical high speed rail for example would of course extend into Michigan and possibly even Canada. We follow the population, not the coast line.
Seems like so many people who don't live here, love to worry about America and it's design when even the American people don't put these issues at the top of things to worry about. America is not Europe please stop comparing.
I am an American and many of us do think about these things. Saying "we are not Europe. We are America, and things have to be different here", is really saying "it's always been this way and I don't like change."
Agree with all the points you made except state specific laws in the US. With such a large population as you mentioned each US state is comparable to European countries - so it makes sense for the states having some degree of freedom to legislate and enforce their own laws. Otherwise it would be like asking every country in Europe to follow the exact same laws. Countries the size of continents and with large populations need to provide some legal flexibility.
I don’t understand how people who don’t live here complain how you need cars to go everywhere. Clearly it isn’t an issue for those who choose to live here
I mean it is an issue during rush hour lmao
Anyone who doesn't like parking lots doesn't understand how great they are. You go to a shopping mall, you park, you go into the mall, and you enjoy the mall. In downtown districts with limited parking spaces you end up driving around forever looking for a place to park. There are parking meters everywhere. Sometimes the place is full. So, you either go home, or park kilometers away from where you want to be. America has 9.8 million square kilometers of space. Most of it is empty nature even with the parking lots.
I don't want to be driving around forever looking for a spot. I use more gas doing that.
parking lots use up much space, pakring houses are way more effective, also more parking lots and car infrastructure just makes people want to take the car and lesser want to take public transport
@@kuseel7493 A lot of people don't live INSIDE the urban areas, but OUTSIDE in the suburbs, such as myself. I wouldn't live inside an urban center no matter how much money or freebies that anybody would offer to me. Urban areas aren't my thing and I find them repulsive. (I digress.) As a suburbanite, there are times when I've had to (unwillingly mind you) enter an urban center. I use my own personal transportation to travel there. I have to have a place to park my vehicle. I don't care if it is a parking lot or a parking garage, just so long as I'm able to get to park my vehicle and am able to get to my destination from the place of parking without that being too distant to walk for me. I'm older and have a bad back and it's not easy to get around under my own locomotion.
@@kuseel7493 By parking houses I assume that you mean multi-story parking lots and yes, we do have those. However many of them are designed with too little overhead clearance to fit a lot of our vehicles. About 25% of US vehicles are pickup trucks and the overwhelming majority of those are full size pickups. Another 50+% are SUVs and crossovers. Some multi-story lots are too low for many of them as well.
Public transit is not a positive thing for most people in North America. Even northern cities like Chicago, New York and Toronto have hot, humid summers which makes air conditioned vehicles that you don't have to wait for more desirable than waiting outside for a bus to take you to a train. The heat further south can make it dangerous (Miami is about the same latitude as Dubai). Winter in the Northern US, Canada and the Rockies is pretty harsh especially once you get away from the coasts and the Great Lakes. You would need to go into Northern Sweden to see comparable temperatures.
We only really get the moderate temperatures that are seen in Europe in a very small part of the country and as Laure said, we aren't nearly as urban as some would have you believe.
@@rich7447 yeah, my vocabulary isn't the best. I understand the problem about height but that's also kinda because your guys's cars are like twice as big as in Europe or most other places. And yeah, public transport isn't perfect and will never be 100% perfect as personal transportation is more comfortable, but has downsides that many people just don't care about. Like efficiency and climate friendliness, and I think that's more important than being cold/hot, having to wait for some time etc.
@@kuseel7493 I don't buy into the whole climate friendliness stuff and it is tough to get a super fuel efficient car that can tow at least 9t. I totally get the public transit argument for dense cities. We don't have that many dense cities in the US though and the majority of our city dwellers are in the suburbs.
why would I want to walk around when it is 98F outside and rains hard every day?
On most points, we are in agreement except for transportation. Most Americans live in very low population-density states compared to European nations with good train systems. For the lower 48 (incl. D.C.) only 22% of the U.S. population in states having population density greater than France, 9.3% than Germany, 7.5% than the UK, 3.3% than Belgium, and only D.C. greater density than the Netherlands 0.21% of the U.S. population. So rail would have to be 1/.22 or five times more expensive to reach those populations.
Thank you!
But that applis to cars as well. You need the same extra amounts of roads, fuel, car wear etc.
Plis, that only applkes to the running of the trains. The building is in a far better situation, as the land is usualy cheaper/permiting is easier because of the lower density.
@@reappermen You need the roads for goods transportation anyway. Inter-city trains only make sense in the NE corridor and Windsor to Quebec corridor in Canada. Some bigger cities in the US have good transit within the city, but a lot of US cities don't have much of a city center which makes the usual train based rapid transit almost useless.
However even in the areas where the US is much denser then many European states public transport is still atrocious. You don't expect great infrastructure in Oregon, but California and the East Coast has no excuse.
@@FreeOfFantasy The North East of the US has pretty good transit in major centers and the train is not bad in the DC to Boston corridor.
Outside LA and Dan Francisco there isn't a lot of density in California. Remember that California is quite a bit larger than Germany and has less than half the population (and half of that is in Metro LA).
LA of SF is about the same distance as Berlin to Munich and pretty sparsely populated in between.
One important thing to remember is that, technically, America is not a single country. Rather, we are a collection of 50 semi-separate countries, all organized under a single federal government. It's basically a result of our origin, as we were colonies of the British Empire, and each colony was separately run, though each was under the greater rule of the British crown and parliament. We basically swapped out the crown and parliament for a president and congress, but the state divide still exists to this day, which is why each state is run by its own governor and state congress. This of course leads to the greater issue that each state runs things ever so slightly differently, and often you have all these irritating differences in laws and ordinances across borders.
Also, as far as public transportation, a LOT of those projects were smacked down over the years by car and oil companies, who were eager for more people to drive so they made more profits. Heck, even a lot of our railway tracks in this country are owned by oil companies, and they won't allow passenger trains on their tracks at all, meaning we can't use existing infrastructure to actually revamp our system. Because while I live in a rural area and need a car to get around, I sure as heck would love if I could hop on a train to go visit friends and family who are a distance away.
That's true to some extent, but not exactly uniquely American. Germany, Italy, India... are all federal countries as well. The EU isn't even a country, but a multilateral organisation of independent countries, often with even bigger differences than between say Louisiana and Oregon in culture, language and income levels.
At the same time, the size of the US is constantly used as an argument why they can't have walkable neighborhoods, a decent transportation system, etc.
@@barvdw a lot of people keep saying the US is more like 50 countries than 1 country.
in my opinion that make Europe (and especially the EU) even more impressive.
because if Europe and the US are both made up of dozens of "sovereign countries" why can Europe do these things and the US can't.
look at all the streamlining of regulations in just the 70 years since WWII in Europe (and halve of Europe only since the break up of the USSR, so 30 years)
@@ChristiaanHW absolutely, in spite of being much more diverse, on an economical level, the EU is often more streamlined than the US. Freedom of Movement and non-discrimination clauses mean that e.g. EU residents can not just move freely to a different state, but can enroll immediately in college at the same conditions as locals, can start working directly, etc. It's a little more complicated in practice, degrees aren't yet fully streamlined, so a French nurse can't just start working as a nurse in all countries, you can work in construction or trucking in a different country at your (lower) pay only for a limited time, after that, they have to offer you a local contract, etc, but still. Even if it's just a formality, e.g. construction companies have to register in each county(!) where they are active in most of the US (again, state regulations can differ wildly).
But while that may be, the US hasn't been a confederation for a long time. Even when slavery was the main trigger, there's some truth to the Southern myth that the American Civil War was fought over States' rights in an ever stronger Union. That's probably the last time the United States was used as a plural. The Union won, and the States ceased to be semi-independent countries allied together just for protection. I know few Americans who will present themselves as citizens of their state before being Americans, not even most Texans.
The electoral college is one of the most misunderstood and yet most critical aspects of keeping America a functional democratically-elected FEDERAL REPUBLIC, not a "democracy" (mob rule). It's the key aspect of what makes the presidential election a national election by giving all states something of a say instead of letting New York and California force their preferred candidate on the rest of the country 100% of the time. People in New York and California constantly complain about it because they usually have nothing but an extremely arrogant contempt for the people in what they often call the "fly-over states" between them, but it's key to national stability for such a large and diverse country - the federal government should represent the whole country and not allow two or three highly populated states to dominate the rest by serving only their own interests.
In practice the Electoral College vastly benefits low population states, which are rural, thus mostly Republican. These same low population states are wildly over-represented in the Senate. Thus the present system lets low population states force their views on the vast majority of people in the country. This is fundamentally unfair.
The laws are different by state because the US is a federation of states. The first 13 states were independent after the revolution and joined together under the Articles of Confederation. Some states, the state you apparently dislike do much, Texas, was a country before becoming a state. Do the laws change between countries in the EU even though the EU has laws governing all the countries within? Did every country decide to scrap all their own laws in favor of one set of laws? Same concept.
The thing which addresses most of your concerns toward the end, is you must remember America is not a Nation State, it is 50 Nation States wearing a trench coat, holding a sign saying I'm the United States.
The problem with traffic is that unlike a lot parts of the world the u.s does not live near where they work
Thanks but have taken the weather into consideration? During summer time it gets extremely hot in the states (e.g., Texas).
Winter in Minnesota is cooler.
There are different laws in different states because there are different 'needs' in different states. The US is a really big and diverse place. Does it really make sense to have all the laws you have to live by in your town decided by some politician all the way on the other side of the continent? That's why there are some laws decided at Federal, some at State, and some at Local level... And while it can get a little complicated, it actually makes a lot of sense for the protection of rights and the division/balance of government power.. It's also good for 'trying' things out in different states, and if something is 'successful' then the other states can see that and adopt it...
Diverse means different ideology and views
Explains why US is backward because someone prefers that way
Moving from the us to a non car centric country, the difference is huge and it makes it very hard to ever come back.
so dont, I plan to move to Europe and I wont come back except to visit family.
You guys are very welcome in Europe 😁🇪🇺
@@ya-ma-dayamadash1524 exactly
Is it true you guys still have to pay US taxes when earning money abroad
@@MrPwnageMachine Yes. Considering renouncing my citizenship over it.
The electoral college is intended to prevent the tyranny of the majority, to make sure the voices of rural dont get drowned out by the big cities. As someone who is has become an absolute minority in the country my ancestors built i envy the system.
Excellent point.
Majorities win elections, that's how it goes.
then theese people's votes are worth more, and rural areas are mostly more conservative than urban areas, which is kinda unfair isn't it?
@@kuseel7493so would condem a large part of the population because they see things differently than you?. the goal of system is to grow a country equally. Rather than a 2 class system of super rich maga cities and ultra poor rural areas. Or would you rather that minorities have no voice?
@@kuseel7493 No. The house of representatives is where the proportional representation occurs. The senate is where each state has an equal voice and the electoral college is a combination of the two when choosing the top executive. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches are designed to be checks on each other. The EC is only used to elect the president and the president is supposed to have limited powers.
With intercontinental ballistic missiles, it's less meaningful now, but still important: America's "design" is blessed with two great admirals -- Admiral Atlantic and Admiral Pacific.
My parents had been on the wait list to even be able to immigrate to the US, lucky we landed in NZ instead. We still have our own troubles here and even now I’m thinking of moving to another country as well, but I’m just thankful I grew up where I did.
Could you elaborate on some of the main problems, i want to move there in the future. Thanks!
@some random guy why do u care?
So the waiting list to get in the US is so long that they went elsewhere. Wow....what a terrible country where people beg and fight and risk their lives to get INTO.
New Zealand is just like the US when it comes to car reliance and suburbia though? Auckland is nothing like London or Paris when you look at the availability of metros/trams/Intercity rail, etc
@@user-qk6bv3hj7u I was born in the Phillipines but moved while I was young with my younger sibling being born here in NZ
The US is a federation of states, like the EU but a little closer. It’s not surprising that different states have different laws. Do laws not differ between France and Spain?
The electoral collage is a feature not a bug .America is a federation of states but some states have far more power than others and a small group of states pulling inone direction could over rule the majority to keep the president in one party for decades without the collage to prevent it.
a western developed country without universal healthcare or any social service is a terrible place to live
While I agree on the weird structure of our cities and our government, I think the level of autonomy we give to states is just fine. If you see the US's history it's a nation built by immigrants, and in its early days they they would entice immigrants to live on on a piece of US territory, and when enough immigrants or settlers were living on that territory they made it a state and said "this is yours to control as long as you follow the constitution," and that was that. I don't think people over in Europe fully grasp that the United States is just that, a decentralized confederation of states. Its so decentralized that states pass legislation that goes against federal law all the time and the federal government usually doesn't bother them about it (unless it violates the constitution or an important bill).
The US in terms of land is almost the size of Europe and has 330 million people, it would be pretty hard for a single centralized government to effectively control all of it, many of whom are of various ancestry, ethnicity, religion, and even different morality. Where as European countries are small, mostly homogenous countries with more manageable populations. But like I said, everything else in the video I agree with, however I admire how different some states can be from one another even down to the architecture and the laws.
Germany also is a FEDERAL state with different laws in different states. But when its about stuff like traffic rules, the states talk to each other and find common sense!
@@SonjaHamburg Germany is not even the size of Texas. So you can't compare.
The US is also not a ethnic or even culturally cohesive country like most European countries are. We have so many different people here and there will always be disagreements on how things get done. Having decentralized government is not just a feature of American government, it is absolutely critical for this country to function.
People often compare US rail maps to Europe but extra credit would be comparing the same map of navigable waterways that reach the sea. You might notice where the rails miss in the US falls squarely in the Mississippi river system, which Europe has no analog to. Rails > roads but also, water > rails. There was never an economic impetus to build rail infrastructure in the US the way necessity dictated building it in Europe.
Europe also has lots of rivers for transporting cargo.
@@arne1817but it’s nowhere near to the degree of the US. The Mississippi River basin is the largest system of navigable waterways in the world
There’s a few similarities to Australian as well. Each state has different laws, incomes and life expectancy
8:45, so the EU parlamet actually does not have a real %-barrier, as long your party gets as many % in votes as would equal a seat, you will get at least that seat. The 5% barrier is in effect in e.g. Germany for parlaments here.
I like hearing an outsiders perspective on these things. Sometimes the laws here feel weird and disjointed for sure, but thats the price of getting 50 mini-countries to co-operate i guess
Once someone said the states were laboratories of democracy, but what I see is rather laboratories of tyranny.
It's similar in the EU, just with 27 actual countries (that, like Germany, might even have states with their own laws). There are also places where you can literally cross the street and the weed in your pocket becomes illegal to possess. Given that in both the US and the EU there are states/countries with very backwards people and politics, I am quite thankful for this (although my home state of Bavaria isn't very progressive and liberal 😅).
The wierd thing is that there are many private schools that are cheaper than the state flagship universities (think University of State Name).
Well I think the differences of each state is great since you can somewhat choose what kind of government you want to live under. If you value education, you can go to a state (and county) that funds education and taxes for that. But if you're not in education or have any kids that are, it would make more sense for you to live elsewhere, and you can. It's definitely not a perfect system but it gives people some choice. Though of course, moving is expensive, I think it benefits immigrants more since they're already moving in somewhere new and they have to look at all the pros and cons of areas.
Yes moving is expensive but what about your job and the health insurance that comes with it.
@@fredreim4082 That's assuming the place their moving to isn't better in terms of having a higher paying job and better insurance - the wealthier states tend to have better in terms of both irrespective of the parties controlling the state
9:05 We are a Republic, so the electoral college is what was intended hundreds of years ago. People vote for Representatives to represent them in the government instead of voting in every single decision. The same applies to the Presidency. We vote for representatives to represent our vote in the college, and in most states its illegal to be an "unfaithful elector" which is voting for someone your constituents did not.
To be more precise you are a kakistocracy. It started as a plutocracy, and rarely if ever were commoners taken in account.
designed badly but rich unbelievably
rich in debt too. Private and State.
Yeah i mean the US always claims that they are great democracy, but they actually just rank place 30 in the democracy index
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what is for lunch.
The interstate highway is the pragmatic solution for a country where population is more widely distributed. It is cost prohibitive and restricting to have interstate rail. Rail makes sense in high density areas such as the Tokyo metro that connects other metros. Tokyo metro is the biggest in the world. A simple look on Google Maps shows you how sprawling and vast the interstate highway system and state highway system is none of them have the density of the Tokyo metro. The only thing comparable is the North East US. The California rail while noble in intentions at best case scenario would break even in revenues. California does not have the density or the geography to connect to the two largest metros that competes with airlines. Good for people in valley I guess.
State laws make sense because each state has their own cultures and geography. Even cities have their own laws. It is more pragmatic way of governing instead of doing everything on a federal level. Without the electoral college only a few states and their cultural preferences will decide the outcome for the rest of the country. I don't think somebody in Idaho wants California laws. The two largest states, California, and Texas, for example, have different cultures. Their economies are different. How they collect taxes are different and how they lose revenue happens in different types of business cycles. Texas generates substantial revenue, profits, and jobs from fossil fuel extraction, petrochemicals, terminals, and an extensive infrastructure to move those thing across the state into ports and into other states. Texas has it's own market-based electrical grid that operates differently from other national grids which has its advantages and disadvantages. The main reason why Texas is rapidly developing renewable energy at a much faster rate than other states is because of its so called "deregulated" grid. Permitting is faster, cheaper, and grid connection takes a couple of years instead of a decade or more stuck in a queue in other states.
Having uniform laws makes regulatory sense in that every place you go to has the same regulations but a lot of those regulations are more subjective than people think and restricts innovation in the regulatory environment by doing that. For example, why couldn't a municipally owned utility company not spend on other things not directly or even remotely associated with the role of a utility company? Is it better to have a utility to be a regional monopoly or should there be competition in picking utilities? What is the best way or ways to create affordable housing? What is the best way to tax the economy?
Country is too big to flourish, politics too aged to work properly. Idk how they gonna get outta this mess
What I also notice is the consequence of a car centrist society: the city density is really low and the density is abnormally concentrated in the center. I always see 6 lanes streets in neighborhoods that are low density, it's insane. 6 lanes streets and the buildings are maybe 3 floors tall. You can't scale anything if you have to give 1 car per 1 person. Here in Germany we rarely (actually almost never. We have a main street goes through city and it's just 2 lane normal street. But the 2 lane street have also a 2 lane tram and busses) see 4 lanes streets and we have 6-10 floors tall buildings. The difference is that in the US for 10 people you have to have 10 cars that's about 93 sq feet of space times 10 is already 930 sq feet or 86 sq m of wasted space, while a human is about 2.7 sq feet or 0.25 sq m. For 10 cars you can fit about 310 people, that's a scale of 1:31, so for each car you can fit 31 people. Lets say you have a business district for 1500 people a day. You now need about 1500 parking lots. That's it, you can't scale any further. But in Germany with good public transport you can scale up to 450,000 people a day in the same district.
From WC USA, My wife and her sister were both born and grew up in Germany. My sister-in-law stayed in Germany, my wife married me and after my service in Germany, we moved to the USA, first to Florida, which proved to be too hot in the summer, then to Northeast Tennessee where the weather and the landscape is more like Bavaria and we love very much! You can only move around here by car, however, we have two good Interstate highways here to go where we want! Now to my wife’s sister, she lives in a city of about 150,000 thousand people in Bavaria! They have two Autobahns, North-South and East-West, they have mass transit in the city as well as Good local as well as high speed trains to where ever they would like to go, including her boyfriend here. Now what do they use? They use their cars for everything, it is true that at times to find parking is a challenge, but here they have great mass transit but they use their cars! Are they normal Germans, I don’t know! Now to switch back to to US, our son moved to Atlanta Georgia many years ago and as a perk he was allowed to use MARTA, their mass transit system for free, he chose to go back to his car a deal with traffic because he said it was dirty, and the possibility of getting robbed or killed was high! That might be one reason most US citizens stay with using their cars!
I think it would more to compatible to compare the US to the EU, not just to Demark itself. You'll see the similarities more than the differences. For example Greece is the European version of Mississippi and Denmark is the version of Connecticut.
I live in Upstate NY. newly paved roads have all manholes that are at least 1 inch lower than the road. Many people drive slalom to avoid these manholes. I wonder if the cities call cousin Vinny to repair the roads.
That entire issue with the US and state laws is very much also a thing in other countries. Generally, countries can be categorized into either central or federal states. The distinction is the following:
In a central state, such as France, the basic assumption is that all legislative capacity rests with the top level government unless it agrees to hand this power over to a lower level of administration (a decision it can revoke at any time). So in essence, if there is no law on the matter, the central government must either make one itself or tell the states "You know what, i'll leave this one to you."
In a federal state, such as the United States or Germany, by contrast, the understanding is that the states can do whatever they want, at least until the federal government passes a law that contradicts what they do. Essentially, the difference is that one system decides that the states cannot pass laws unless the federal government decided that is a matter that they can pass a law on, whereas the other decides that the federal government must assert its right to legislate something, otherwise that right lies with the states.
Back in the sixties, proposals were made for a network of elevated freeways in Vancouver, British Columbia. Fortunately, that course was not followed, and an LRT system was built instead.
Different laws in different states allow for interstate competition over which place is best governed. It results in some quirks like you said, but overall is probably better. The electoral college exist so that large states don't completely dominate smaller states and smaller states have some influence, a bit like you said EU works. The implementation is just different, the main idea is the same (give smaller states or smaller countries some influence as well).
That's why the senate exists, not the electoral college
Removing the " winner takes all" will already be a major step forward. Because why vote if you get ignored anyway?
In the US and Canada, many places people live, require cars to get to work, school ect. Even people who would rather not own a car have no choice. Parking is thus a requirement. Europe has many alternatives. I feel this is at least partly due to a lack of space for parking given the density.
9:19 The reason why we have the Electoral College is because we are a Democratic Federative Republic, not a Unitary Republic.
The difference is like if the E.U. federalized into a singular country.
The E.U. would be a Federal Republic, versus say, France as it stands now is a Unitary Republic, however, if it were to enter the Federal E.U. country, it would cease being a Unitary Republic and become a State (region) within the Federal Republic of Europe.
The reason why the Electoral College exists is so that the less populous States (regions) within the United States don't get politically dominated by the larger States with the result of the smaller States mattering less than the large ones and thus being neglected.
At this point it no longer makes sense to be in a political union (Federation) with the other larger States, only an economic one similar to how the E.U. is now.
For example, why would a nation such as Romania want to further the integration of the E.U. into a political union (Federation) without a guarantee that it's problems and desires will actually matter to the central government?
Why would they join, only to be ignored?
It would be better just to have the E.U. remain an economic union instead.
This is why the United States has an Electoral College system at the Federal level, and a direct election system at the State level.
Because it wouldn't make sense for smaller states to be in a political union without a guarantee that their voice will at least matter to some extent.
The bigger states knew this and still decided to join the union anyway because they still benefit from it economically even if they suffer representationally at the federal level.
This makes sense when you consider that when the United States was created, the Federal Government was not intended to be as important as it is today.
You can see this in the Tenth Amendment:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
This means that any power not specifically given to the Federal Government should be delegated to the State Governments instead, and thus "the people" because "the people" were intended to be primarily governed by whichever State they chose to reside in, not the Federal Government.
I hope this helps clear up the confusion about why the American people don't elect the President via direct vote or through Parliamentary vote and do it instead through the Electoral College.
~Nick
Except the Electoral College, first past the post elections, and the two party duopoly now enable the smaller states to lord it over the larger states if they all unite behind one political party out of 2. And if Trump gets back into the WH in November, it's game over for our constitutional republic, just like every other country that adopted a constitution similar to the US's lost theirs. The framers should have stuck with the Articles of Confederation.
@@EdwardM-t8p Your rhetoric contributed to what happened here yesterday. Think before you speak.
@@personnesenki4521 FOR WHAT!? Nothing I said was violent, advocated violence, or called for an overthrow of the Constitution (which Trump almost committed on January 6th, 2021), and meets RUclips's terms of service.
@@EdwardM-t8p You do not get to talk about J6 anymore. You escalated things greatly over the weekend.
As a younger American I can say these issues are known and work is being done, However we suffer from what is basically a Generational Bias. Most of the leaders are stubbornly trying to run the areas they run like its still the 1960'-70's, with policies that MAY have work in those time frames.
A key example is the "Federal Minimum Wage". Right now, employers are only required to pay $7.50 per hour. This is suppose to be the Minimum livable wage that the Roosevelt administration wanted to make into law during the 1930's.
Right now, there is no place that can live on that (its literal be on the streets and starve to death). Yet policy makers and most employers flat out refuse to update this because either "mah Profits!!!" or "When I was your age I had two mortgages, a full time job, and went to college full time on 500 bucks a month! None of this fancy Duel Income Shenanigans!!".
No no, you are right, almost all of the differences in laws between states of the United States (united?) are silly and just make life annoying, and could be resolved by having national policies. And I DON'T MEAN the controversial issue we all shout at each other about, I mean the little stuff that just might be what is making us so irritable!
A common misperception we take here in Europe is, to consider the USA as one country. It is called "United States" and that is for a reason, otherwise it would be called "State of Union" or so. You should think of it more like if the EU became one internationally united entity as it is now. Both your and my head of government would be Roberta Metsola. Our head of state would be Ursula von der Leyen.
And why do then traffic rules change when I drive from Germany to Denmark? Why is it suddenly mandatory to have daytime running lights or switch the headlights on? Why do I have to pay different tax rates? And why don't you even have the same currency as we?
As an American, I love traveling to Europe. After talking with Europeans throughout the EU, I am ashamed of our way of life here in the USA.
One of our biggest mistakes was making cars,which is not only bad for the environment, but devastating to personal economy.
But we do have an outstanding medical system.... If you can afford to buy it.
Same for Universities. We wouldn't want an educated citizenery, unless of course we can bankrupt them first.
I look at the states as individual countries. You can do a very similar comparison in Europe between the different countries. In size the US and Europe is approximately similar
Agreed. When asked where I'm from, my State would be the answer, not the USA. The nation is secondary to the State.
Germany also has federal states. Countries can be compared per capita
@@arnodobler1096 Germany would only be the 5th largest state if it were in the US.
@@rich7447 only by area yes
@@arnodobler1096 Yep.
I served in the Army in Germany and you didn't need a car. Catch the bus or A Streetcar was always convenient, my first subway ride in Berlin I want two stations in my Landmark disappeared. Arriving at the main train station in Frankfurt, a wide Express Subway took you to the main subway station that moved at high speed during rush hour and about 25 mph other times. After a night of fun with everything closing, the trains move slowly back out to the outskirts bringing us home as they prepare for the morning Rush Hour. Overnight trains to distant cities arrive at about 6:00 in the morning allowing time to freshen up and get to your destination. My friend's father had a standard Mercedes-Benz, his rule was one or two passengers we take the train, three or four passenger we drive, the financial sweet spot. Their electric trains are not subject to oil shortages and the price of fuel swinging, Holland's fast trains are powered by the wind, as they are now providing green power to the grid of Europe and quadrupling their efforts. The number one thing I miss are the trains, the basic human right of Transportation. The trains are packed with passengers needing less parking spaces that they don't tear blocks down to lay asphalt. It allows for a walking neighborhood and everyone to get around inexpensively, safely, minus the stress of driving.
Keep them coming buddy, love your work
Its 5% of urban land not 5% of the entire country if they had 5% of their land as parking lots that would be 450,000km2 or germany plus another 100,000km2.
I was boutta say I live in rural USA and I doubt parking lots are even .1%
The USA and its political system is very complex. Both parties do stuff that is despicable and flagrantly against are the constitution. If you go by Thomas pain's logic the Government of the USA has not represented the citizens for most of my life if not my parents' lives as well.
A little bit of insight from our founding fathers, each state was supposed to be its own unique country yet tied together as a union. The civil war ended this experiment mostly making the 10th Amendment void accept in rare circumstances. So one way to think about us is that we're supposed to be 50 "countries" united under one name, mind set and so on with loosely shared values and culture. Which is why you can go from one part of the country to the other and experience widely different aspects. Most aren't as different as, say Germany and France when comparing but closer to Canada and the USA accept for obvious government organization, rights and such.
That is one of the big problems I have with the American politics, yes at the time the constitution was revolutionary but it's so outdated now days, for example in Germany there are some lines in the constitution no one would dare to touch but the constitution is subject to change and it's no scandal to change something if it doesn't fit the time
@@finneich5105 That was meant to be the point of the constitution of any healthy government.
You get paid to study in Denmark?!
Man, Europe is OP
You get paid to study, but for the rest of your working life you are paying for everyone else to study whether you went to University or not. The government doesn't have any money. It only redistributes money that it takes from taxpayers.
@@rich7447 yeah, that's how social benefits work. As long as it's functional, I got no problem paying 50% taxes as long as everyone is benefited.
I kinda like that aspect of European countries
@@jorgecuevas8843 You may be fine paying 50% taxation, but there is no way I am paying that much so a good portion of the population can sit on their ass on benefits. We voted with our feet and left a place where we lived paycheck to paycheck because the government was taking the lion's share of what we made.
@@rich7447 you're from the US right?
@@jorgecuevas8843 UK, but now live in US.
This topic was already done to death imo.
Shitting on America gets views.
True, but not much is being done about it
@@GeoMeridium You cannot change the ethos of a whole country with RUclips videos. 🤷♂
@@soundscape26 Public opinion in the US has never been especially favorable to the type of development that makes up the majority of the US.
Progressives see car-dependent sprawl as terrible for the environment, unaffordable, and used as a tool for segregation.
Likewise, conservatives are frequently irritated by the overbearing nature of zoning laws, and lament the destruction of historic downtowns in the name of "progress". Trump's "Freedom Cities" and DeSantis' "Live Local Act" suggest that there's bipartisan support for some aspects of new urbanism.
While there are still areas of debate (highway removal, public housing, whether $200m/mile LRT projects are worth the cost), there is still an actionable level of consensus that should be pursued.
@@soundscape26a whole 50
The American Electoral College ensures that each of the 50 states has a fair stake in electing the President. (The electoral college in only used to elect the President, not Senators or Representatives.) Each state gets at least 1 electoral vote for each Senator and each Representative in Congress. Each state gets 2 Senators and the number Representatives is based on the State's population.
Remember that the USA is not a single country, it is a Union of separate States. And since some states are smaller in population, the Electoral College ensures that every State gets at least 3 electoral votes in the Presidential election. If we allowed the President to be elected by popular vote, Big cities like Los Angeles, California and New York, New York would always decide who the President is, and judging by the quality of the Governors of those states and the Mayors of those cities, I think the founders were very wise to not hand them the choice for President.
That is why the USA is considered an incomplete democracy!
00:11 "Terribly Design?" I guess you meant "terrible design" or "terribly designed?"
Not our fault you misheard him
Appreciate your perspective. Thank you for your thoughtfulness
You can say what you want about the US’ design but in this country there are better jobs and migration opportunities than Europe, which seems stuck in the past. As the saying goes, work and live in the US to afford holidays in Europe
Same for innovation, the US has far more tech and innovation (especially in STEM) than Europe despite the fact the Europe has the overall better education system, and its not even close.
@@jefflewis4 Europe is a collection of countries, languages, laws and even currencies... much harder to have a unified tech sector.
@@soundscape26 The US tech sector is not unified either, its concentrated in certain areas, like northen california New york, North carolina, Texas etc. In Europe certainly could be concentrated within single countries like Germany, France, Italy etc. It isn't because of a lack of a unified tech sector that Europe lags far behind the US, as well as Asia. Europe simply does not foster an environment where innovation can flourish like it does in the US and Asia. European Investors are more risk averse, European Universities don't have an environment that encourages students to strike out on their own when they come up with ideas. Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook etc started while their founders were still College students.
Seems we will disagree on almost everything you presented. I will never understand why people think government should take care of them or think that government should be able to efficiently pass laws at the drop of a hat (that's how you get every bad idea getting its chance to be made law). Also, there are no problems with city design because cities are horrible in the first place. Cramming a lot of people together in a small area, no matter how well-designed, causes a lot of problems that you can only solve by spacing them out.
"Cities are horrible" - have you ever been to a non-car dependent city?
@@elswick4636 doesn't matter, the problem with cities are too many people crammed too close together. There are a ton of issues with cities that have nothing to do with cars but with population density.
@@jds1275Works in other countries for a thousand years!🤔
@@elswick4636 Cities are okay to visit, but I don't want to live in one. I did that in my early 20s and didn't have a car. Much prefer to have more space and driving doesn't bother me.
The reason why America has different laws in every state is competition. Each state enacts laws that it thinks are better than other state's laws. If they are right, then more people will want to live and do business in that state increasing state revenue. However if a state enacts bad laws, then it's residents will not want to live or work in that state and move to a state with better laws, and thus reducing that state's revenue and population, and also reducing the number of Representatives in Congress, and thus reducing it's power in Congress to pass Federal laws. Competition makes citizen's lives better by giving them the choice of who's laws they want to live under. This keeps state governments in check so they don't become tyrannical.
10:41 Mississippi just as wealthy as GERMANY. What then most of the EU is poorer then Mississippi. Maybe this country is doing just fine.
Missisippi can't provide clean water to it's residents. Only an american would think this is a flex. 😂
Oh yeah... go and live for a couple months in both Germany and Mississippi and come back to tell us which do you prefer... 😄
@@zesky6654but they can...
Not sure why you find it so baffling to have different rules in different states. That’s what happens under a federation, exactly what we have here in Australia. It’s a federation of states that came together to form a federal government. Because all these states were run independently and differently prior to federation, it’s only logical that they have different rules and laws. I agree that some things like road rules should be consistent everywhere within the country, it’s actually good to have a diverse set of rules between states. It’s more decentralised and allows different people with different values and ideologies etc to have the freedom to live in a state that suits their needs and wants.
Some good points but also some standard silliness from a European point if view. America is huge and the states are so different that they will need different laws to function best for the kinds of people living in them.
Our infrastructure is terrible in certain places, but driving on the U.S. Interstate system is phenomenal. I've driven 1,180 miles (about 1800km) in a single day. That's comparable in distance to driving from Rome, Italy to Warsaw, Poland or Marseilles, France to Copenhagen, Denmark. The signage is incredible, most states have very good safety features like reflectors or snow pilons, and a range of scenery from Saharan desert to Norwegian fjordland. Cities are awful though. Just as crowded as European cities, but populated with multi ton machines traveling 60 mph instead of people walking and biking.
Also, Copenhagen's bike lanes are something I am trying to get city planners to adopt over here. Protected lanes with through traffic routes and functional signage is very nice.
thank you OBF for video!
11:40 yes the traffic rule is kinda silly but tthe tax difference is what some people called tax competition. basically just to encourage business
Yes, it is known that paying taxes in the USA is not very popular.
Not only do you finance the businesses, you also finance the rich who, as we all know, are sitting on their money and accumulating more and more.
In Europe, we have in contrast to the U.S. higher taxes, but these are again refinanced in schools, kindergartens, hospitals, public parks and buildings, in public transport, etc. and we have no further costs, but this pays the U.S. citizen but happy out of pocket. that times to.
the worst thing about USA in my eyes is, that they seem almost paralyzed in their two party system, unable to make reforms.
You don't have a link to Part 1.
I've looked for it but can't find it @OBFYT pls link
9:23 Icl This is an Example of Why It's Good..
Well its in the name United States. Instead of it being a single country/nation, the United States is a group of countries/nations that can be independent from each other. The only thing right now is that those States' people consider to work together as a single entity composed of different nations under one flag.
The pledge says it is "one nation".
Mississippi may have a GDP on par with Germany, but only because they have lower taxes, and because they have a far worse social safety net, their health and wellness outcomes are far below that of Germany. So, I'd live in Germany any day, over Mississippi, and I say that as an American.
It's hard to compare any country to Europe even the US
Many issues require attention. I fervently hope that we begin to improve roads, bike infrastructure, and public transportation, while also enhancing accessibility to education to propel our progress.
This is video is so out of context that it makes my head hurt. I'll go to the voting stuff even if the video doesn't start there. Gerrymandering, while a big problem that needs to be addressed, has nothing at all to do with how US Senate seats are chosen. They use a plurality system like he mentions in the video. Each state gets 2 senators and districts do not matter. There are slight variations state to state, but basically whichever candidate gets the most votes in that state becomes a Senator. Gerrymandering doesn't matter. This video is so backwards in its understanding of how robust the US political system actually can be. The US is as divided as its been in perhaps a century and a half. Even with gerrymandering being a non-factor, the US Senate is split 51 to 49. Before that in the last Congress it was literally split 50//50. And as gerrymandered as the nation is, the House of Representatives which is dependent on districts to choose its members is split 222 to 212 which comes out to... 51% to 49%. The current problems with the US government aren't so much a systemic problem as US voters being slightly unsure as to which direction they want the country to go. Once that's decided among the people, a clear majority with once again emerge.
And a quick note on the Electoral College.... its doing exactly what it was designed to do. In the 1780s when the US Constitution was written, less populated states were afraid to join a country with a more centralized government for fear of being ruled by their more populated neighbors. So in the US system, less populated states have an outsized influence on purpose. Without that compromise(and others) there probably wouldn't be a United States of America as it currently exists. And to be honest, as frustrating as it is, it gives a voice to the parts of America that would get completely ignored if the US did away with it. In the US system a candidate has to be able to appeal to people in the big cities and populated regions along with the more rural parts of America in order to become president. That's not a bad thing.
The last thing is about railroads. For whatever reason Europeans have the idea that railroads MUST be used primarily for moving people around. In reality that's not true. Even from the beginning of railroading in the mid 19th century, the US realized that moving freight is where the money was going to be made. Moving people was a prestigious side business for most railroads even before the invention of cars or airplanes. That's why the US has the best rail network in the entire world... if you're a piece of cargo.
So freight trains are goid but also get derailed constantly?
@@zesky6654 More than 40% of all the long haul freight in the US is moved by rail. That's A LOT of trains crisscrossing the country, and there are 3 derailments per day on average. Most of them are annoying and nothing more. Nobody dies, nobody even gets hurt. Often times the railcars don't even tip over. Either way all the big railroad companies have crews that get the trains back on the tracks in hours.
Of course you're talking about the train carrying a very hazardous chemical that derailed in Ohio recently. So you're picking out the worst train derailment incident in years and pretending it happens constantly. They don't. The last derailment that was as hazardous as the one in Ohio happened in 2012.