250 Years of United States

[O Really]

So every July 4, everybody celebrates "independence" and "freedom" and such. Sounds good, but really, I look at England and Canada and can't think of anything that's objectively better for having had the revolution. It's fine to say we need "no kings" but is it really better to have Trump at the top instead of King Charles, or having had Queen Elizabeth for decades? Are any British PM's worse, more evil or corrupt than our own leaders? Are people in the US really more "free" than those in the UK? If you can vote for members of Parliament what difference does it make that you can't vote for the King/Queen when they aren't actually running the government anyway?

Maybe I'm biased because of my own family experiences, but I really don't see how we're better off as a country or as a people than we would be if we were part of the UK or at least as a Commonwealth Realm.

Contradictory comments welcome.

[GoCubsGo]

Uhhhh.....American exceptionalism?

Greatest country in the world?

[supesalemgr2]

Uhhhh.....American exceptionalism?

Greatest country in the world?

Got a better one?

[GoCubsGo]

Uhhhh.....American exceptionalism?

Greatest country in the world?

Got a better one?

Freedom?

[supesalemgr2]

Uhhhh.....American exceptionalism?

Greatest country in the world?

Got a better one?

Freedom?

I was referring to a better country. And we have plenty of freedom here.

[Vrede too]

Freedom?

Freedom to bomb other nations at will.
Freedom to incarcerate at a higher rate than almost any other country.
Freedom to encounter masked bigots in WDC.
Freedom to suffer from massive wealth disparity and the relative lack of a social safety net.
Freedom to enjoy institutional racism, and White supremacy at the top of government.
Freedom to suffer and die thanks to the inability to afford healthcare.
Freedom to see declining educational achievement.
Freedom to get slain by one of the highest rates of gun violence in the world.

USA USA USA!

[O Really]

People talk about American "Freedom" a lot, but I've never seen a list where people in the UK are any less free from a practical standpoint.
Would people living in North America be worse off now if there had never been an American Revolution? How? Or would it be no different from Canada and Australia?

[GoCubsGo]

People talk about American "Freedom" a lot, but I've never seen a list where people in the UK are any less free from a practical standpoint.
Would people living in North America be worse off now if there had never been an American Revolution? How? Or would it be no different from Canada and Australia?

We'd have universal Healthcare.

[Vrede too]

Freedom?

Freedom to bomb other nations at will.
Freedom to incarcerate at a higher rate than almost any other country. Edit: Irony.
Freedom to encounter masked bigots in WDC.
Freedom to suffer from massive wealth disparity and the relative lack of a social safety net.
Freedom to enjoy institutional racism, and White supremacy at the top of government.
Freedom to suffer and die thanks to the inability to afford healthcare.
Freedom to see declining educational achievement.
Freedom to get slain by one of the highest rates of gun violence in the world.

USA USA USA!

Whoops, I forgot a huge one, boys. Freedom for women to make their own healthcare decisions.

People talk about American "Freedom" a lot, but I've never seen a list where people in the UK are any less free from a practical standpoint.
Would people living in North America be worse off now if there had never been an American Revolution? How? Or would it be no different from Canada and Australia?

We'd have universal Healthcare.

Americans tend to think in terms of 'Freedom from', but there's also 'Freedom to'.
There's the freedom to be healthy and unburdened by medical debt. Also, the freedoms afforded by equal access to quality education, competition on an equal financial footing and living in a colorblind society. Then, there's the freedom to live without constant fear of gun violence.

[neoplacebo]

People talk about American "Freedom" a lot, but I've never seen a list where people in the UK are any less free from a practical standpoint.
Would people living in North America be worse off now if there had never been an American Revolution? How? Or would it be no different from Canada and Australia?

I've never been to Europe, but I've been in several countries in Southeast Asia. In most of them (excluding Japan) there was virtually no middle class to speak of; you were either rich as hell or poor as hell. And I knew all along that my country was actively wanting to keep things that way. Overall, it made me glad that I was an American but at the same time I felt a sense of shame that my country actively supports such conditions.

If there had never been the American Revolution, we might be having to deal with a much larger and modern bunch of Indians who were already here. And by this time, they'd likely be organized into Mad Max type hit and run operations while riding powerful motorcycles and fearsome vehicles of horrid design. There would be a Custer's Little Big Horn type thing every two weeks. Oh, and Hell's Angels would be affiliated with one certain tribe.

[O Really]

Well it is true that there would be no Second Amendment and likely not a rabid unchanged ke f7n culture. And of course we'd have the miserable police force like England and Wales who managed to shoot only four people total in 2025.

it's true that the free speech protection would not be as strong as it used to be in the US, but again from a practical standpoint the only speech infringed in in the UK is hate speech, harassment, and incite. You can still trash the royals without being hauled off, which actually turns out to be better than us currently.

The prime minister isn't voted in directly, but it's far easier to get rid of one than to get rid of a president.