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Comment by luxuryballs | Hacker News Reader

I have this exact gripe with anything and everything that compares the US with other countries, some states are huge, bigger than multiple European countries, imho all charts and metrics should include each state, whether it’s part of a union or not. It would squash a lot of the otherwise unfair comparisons of the US vs other countries which are often used for politically motivated framing which is why I am extra cynical about this topic.

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Yeah - in the same way the worst US stats are always compared to the best or average EU stats - it's interesting you don't often see the reverse.

Why is no one comparing gay rights in Massachusetts to Hungary? But everyone is comparing gay rights in Mississippi to Norway?

There's a lot of variance in the US and the EU. There's even a lot of variance in a single state like California!

The US - by design - is supposed to be pretty similar to the EU - in that the states have A LOT of rights and autonomy.

Frankly, I'm willing to let Mississippi and Alabama do what they want if that means they don't get to tell New York and California what they can and can't do.

The vast, vast majority of the US does not live in ultra conservative counties. Even within a state like Texas that has some crazy laws, a lot of that is undone in the metros where everyone lives - Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, & El Paso are all decently liberal and make up >50% of Texas's population.

The idea that Texas is "a 3rd world country" is laughable. But you'll hear this from the "left" that wants to take states rights away so they can tell the "right" how to live. They never really think about what it would be like if the "right" got the say to tell them how to live...

Considering Texas is usually one of the culprits leading the charge on repressive laws that steer the country further in that direction, and reliably elects far-right conservatives to statewide positions, I think it's fair to label Texas a very conservative state on the whole.

I don't think you live in Texas. Considering I do, and Texas has been telling people how to live for as long as I've been here, I'd say my experience stands in stark contrast compared to your ideas of what Texas is or does. Especially as Texas has been specifically waging war against the metros and enacting state laws to supercede any local laws that might be passed.

Texas is something of an outlier in US statehood assertiveness. When I go to NM to visit family, if my rental car has TX plates, the locals run me off the road.

If the argument goes “The US is the world greatest at …” there is not much of a point to compare it to the worst countries in the world* and then pat yourself on the back that the US, say, has better infrastructure than Ukraine during a war.

*whatever that means for the US Greatest du jour

> "left" that wants to take states rights away so they can tell the "right" how to live

I suppose "stop bullying/oppressing" is a type of telling people how to live.

> I have this exact gripe with anything and everything that compares the US with other countries, some states are huge, bigger than multiple European countries

And a lot of those huge states are filled with a whole lot of nobody. The US population is fairly concentrated: one-third lives in a county on a coastline:

* https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/07/millions-of-a...

And two-thirds live with-in 100 miles (160 km) of the border:

* https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone

80% lives in urban areas:

* https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/g...

Yes, the US and particular states are big, but where people actually live is in a much smaller area. Concentrate infrastructure spending there.

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