Comment by halflings
10 years ago
>> we still are leading the world in all sorts of things
Sure, the US is in a pretty nice spots on technological progress, agriculture and has a rather strong economy.
But I wouldn't say "we" (not everyone on HN is American!) are leading the world in all sort of things.
American democracy is far behind what happens in other countries (like Sweden), totally corrupted by the pressure of lobbying groups and a certain political microcosme. It's also hard to compare the levels of poverty of the US to most "advanced" European countries for instance... Let's not even talk about healthcare and education.
I would never quote Sweden as an example of democracy. It is bad case of "political correctness terror", if anything.
There's a difference between somewhere that is undemocratic, and somewhere with a democratic government you don't agree with.
You may be right about Sweden having a poorly democratic system, but the fact that you find the tone of the society to be problematic is not evidence of that.
> I would never quote Sweden as an example of democracy.
Yeah. It's a monarchy.
What exactly do you mean by "American democracy"? What do you mean by "democracy" to begin with? On what basis do you compare "American democracy" to "Swedish democracy"?