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Would like to add Vox is nowhere near the other's popularity, and has received substantial donations from... Hungary. A total of 6.5 million euros during the 2023 elections.

> That's because the US (and the UK) are about the only countries in this world that haven't had the entirety of their legal, economical and political system completely revamped at least once in the last 100 years - most countries average more than that.

I usually get downvoted when I make an observation along these lines, but I will go for it again -- IMO some of the reason Europe has pulled ahead in infrastructure and policy is because a couple world wars last century reduced much of it to rubble, including the systems of governance. The UK mostly escaped that, and the US escaped nearly all of it. Which is one reason we can still have a lot of old electrical infrastructure, for example, that is pushing 100 years old, and a Constitutional system 250 years old.

I think a major problem with the system in the US is the difficulty changing it. There is a balance, and a lot of room for differing opinions on how flexible it really ought to be, but I suspect there is broad agreement that it is too inflexible. We rely too much on changing interpretations rather than changing the fundamentals.

Perhaps we really do need to risk a second Constitutional Convention. Or we will end up with a worse alternative.

If Europe has "pulled ahead in infrastructure and policy" then why do they have nothing to show for it? They can't even protect their own sea lines of communication.

Sounds like your only metric is military strength? Then sure, the US dominates, though it pays a lot for that privilege.

There are a lot of metrics, take your pick. But if you can't obtain reliable supplies of energy and other critical resources then none of the other metrics matter.

Oh, like the 2021 Texas power crisis? Or the ongoing water shortages in the western part of the US?

US just showed the world its military strength.

It couldn’t open the straits and begged for help from is ‘weak’ ‘allies’.

Europe wouldn’t have been all that impressed.

Have you been to Europe?

The comparison is stark.

I wish my country had achieved half as much in terms of infrastructure.

And in terms of protecting themselves, if the US stopped protecting Russia, the situation there would be a lot tidier.

Yes, I've been there many times. It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

Then we can both agree that it’s surprising what people like and value.

No, I don't agree. I am not even slightly surprised.

On the other hand: The US can't even build a single proper high-speed rail line, hasn't figured out how to electrify its railways, doesn't understand that bike lanes are good for car people, hasn't managed to solve four-way intersections yet, doesn't have anything even remotely resembling a free market for critical supplies like power and internet, and is in general going bankrupt due to excessive urban sprawl.

I could probably go on for another ten pages. Europe definitely has its flaws, but let's not pretend like the US is a paradise where everything is perfect and nothing ever went wrong.

Thats funny, most of the places that I've visited in Europe don't have any of that stuff either. It's a big place with a lot of diversity in infrastructure and economic development.

California and Nevada's inability to make progress on HSR is inexcusable, as is New England s', but does Florida's Brightline not exist or something?

> eat the rich, and try to build something more sane

The tragedy is that right wing parties are sponsored by the rich snd serve primarily them. Economic grievances of ordinary people are exploited to make them vote agains their interests.