The USA are a backward country

@Alientcp said in #5:

Most of crimes with guns involve illegal firearms, not legal ones. And you cant do anything at all to defend yourself against a firearm, legal or not. Check the crimes involving firearms in your country and tell me what the victim could have done to defend himself. Right, nothing. You never want to be a victim, you know, because you die and its game over.
The best equalizer is having your own gun, specially in cities or countries where high crime is rampant. People think on damaging you twice when they can die.

Really?!

A 30 seconds Google search brought me this:

87 of the mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and July 2022 involved weapons which were obtained legally; a clear majority. Only 16 incidents involved guns that were obtained illegally.

Darn laziness!

Next...

@MrPushwood said in #7:

and don't forget about all the damn Fundamentalists!

The ones who have been nominated to SCOTUS and seemed to have a license to rape? ;-P

Someone mentioned gerrymandering, but I think the best change for the US would be an introduction of ranked choice voting in all elections, as it would make it easier to fix gerrymandering and many other problems.

The US desperately needs more political parties. The way we currently vote is mathematically reprehensible. You should be able to vote for who you want without throwing your vote away.

@Frogster64 said in #17:

I'd say that's especially true for voting in primary elections (to pick Democrat and Republican candidates for the general election). The base of both parties comes out in force and tends to select nutty candidates unwilling to compromise. Congress is mostly broken.
I disagree. I think the issue is not that they select "nutty candidates unwilling to compromise" (btw it's a really really long time that the Democratic party has not chosen a moderate). The issue is the bipartisan system itself. People with extreme views should be able to run for president. People with moderate views should be able to run for president too. Obvious solution : more parties.

The only country where the death penalty is still legal and applied.

What a damned shame. Thanks to the dogooders. Murderers, child abusers and rapists and many more deserve nothing less than a 6ft drop.

Actually, after re-reading the initial post, I have a few concerns:

1. A lot of the complaints fault the US for not doing what other "western" countries do. I don't see how not agreeing with a bunch of countries in the same geopolitical bloc makes a country backwards.
2. Similar to no. 1, not joining agreements (note: the US never officially joined the ICC-- they didn't withdraw from the ICC) does not make a state inherently backwards. The UK isn't a backwards country for leaving the EU. Japan's not backwards for not being in NATO.
3. The US does not have a strict abortion ban. I repeat: THE US DOES NOT HAVE A STRICT ABORTION BAN. I'm really, really tired of people using this as ammo in anti-US arguments. It is easily refuted. The only federal abortion ban of which I am aware is the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which bans a particular method of abortion, not who can have abortions or why. This act had popular support, with something like a 70 percent approval rate according to polls.

@FC-in-the-UK said in #34:

I disagree. I think the issue is not that they select "nutty candidates unwilling to compromise" (btw it's a really really long time that the Democratic party has not chosen a moderate).

I was referring to selection of Republican and Democrat candidates for Congress (Senators and Representatives), ie, the lawmakers. For example, Republican voters who are strongly anti-abortion and pro-gun are very motivated to vote in the primaries. FYI, these are happening this summer for the Nov 2022 election. If a Republican wants to win the Republican primary he often has to stoop to the base, even if it hurts him in the general election. Once elected, he still has to stoop to the base if he wants to win his primary again (in 2 years for the House of Representatives). So, he'll be against any anti-gun measure, even if it's considered sensible by many Republicans. I'm simplifying big time here but that's the jist of it.

Surprise surprise.. one down vote from a virtue signalling do-gooder. So tell us, what's your view on someone murdering a relative or raping your child, for example?

Hopefully they're never put in a position where their need to virtue signal is put to the test.

@FC-in-the-UK don't forget the abortion lmao

@clousems said in #36:

I don't see how not agreeing with a bunch of countries in the same geopolitical bloc makes a country backwards.
This is a strawman. Obviously disagreeing with a bunch of countries doesn't inherently make you backwards. But every thing I mentioned is by itself backwards. The only reason I compared with other Western countries is that there is no point in criticising a country for something if they still are the best at that thing. But it turns out that in this case, they are the worst.
UK isn't a backwards country for leaving the EU.
That's up for debate :D
Japan's not backwards for not being in NATO.
Another strawman. Clearly refusing to join an instance whose goal is to punish genocide, crime war, crime against humanity and crime of aggression is backwards and can't be compared with not joining a military/ strategic alliance.
3. The US does not have a strict abortion ban.
You know what I mean and I know you do. I don't care if a law is federal or within a specific state. You judge a country by what they do worst, not by what they do best. If even one single state of US has strict abortion ban (which is the case) my point applies.