Seems to me that you put too much emphasis on how the country works in theory. I believe you could have two countries with the same constitution and yet a quite different life experience. Because of different history, different neighbors, etc.
My recent posts have been focusing a lot on the theoretical side of things. I do plan on exploring less theoretical aspects in later posts, but since I’m trying to write a post every day, each post will inevitably be very zoomed in on a particular facet, and right now, I am focused on constutional factors. Part of this is because I’m trying to simultaneously explore the thesis that constitional factors play a very big role in the nature of countries; but I very much agree (and always have) that there are factors outside of a constitution that affect the nature of a country; but that does not mean that constitutions don’t play an enormous role in the character of a nation.
You are probably right; the priors on a country being literally #1 are low
In English, “not the greatest” is often used in a non-literal way to mean “not very good” or even “quite bad”, and this was the usage I was using here. Obviously America is unlikely to be #1, and the fact that it isn’t is close to trivial (though for some people, that might be a revelation); but the claim I am making is that it isn’t even a very good place to live.
It is also hard to say whether “X is increasing” means “there will be lot of X in the future” or “there will be a backlash against X soon, so we currently live in the era of maximum X”.
I do hope the latter is the case here. But the backlash can be slow to come, and it very well could come too late to matter.
I think it might be worth exploring the differences between individual states in USA. If you find some that you like, it will be easier to move there. (New Hampshire, maybe?)
Federalism is (mostly unfortunately) becoming quite weak in the US, which means that many problems that crop up anywhere, crop up everywhere in the US. And the theoretical constitutional bits are important, and as far as I can tell, all 50 states still get that bit wrong, but at least each state has latitude to do things right unilaterally if they so choose.
My recent posts have been focusing a lot on the theoretical side of things. I do plan on exploring less theoretical aspects in later posts, but since I’m trying to write a post every day, each post will inevitably be very zoomed in on a particular facet, and right now, I am focused on constutional factors. Part of this is because I’m trying to simultaneously explore the thesis that constitional factors play a very big role in the nature of countries; but I very much agree (and always have) that there are factors outside of a constitution that affect the nature of a country; but that does not mean that constitutions don’t play an enormous role in the character of a nation.
In English, “not the greatest” is often used in a non-literal way to mean “not very good” or even “quite bad”, and this was the usage I was using here. Obviously America is unlikely to be #1, and the fact that it isn’t is close to trivial (though for some people, that might be a revelation); but the claim I am making is that it isn’t even a very good place to live.
I do hope the latter is the case here. But the backlash can be slow to come, and it very well could come too late to matter.
Federalism is (mostly unfortunately) becoming quite weak in the US, which means that many problems that crop up anywhere, crop up everywhere in the US. And the theoretical constitutional bits are important, and as far as I can tell, all 50 states still get that bit wrong, but at least each state has latitude to do things right unilaterally if they so choose.