There are a few things I think folks in the rest of the world don't fully grasp about the United States.
1) The USA is BIG. Bigger than that. No, even bigger. Huge. Many of our population centers are separated from each other by hundreds of miles of completely empty space in all directions. I am not exaggerating. We have no effective transportation system to connect us on a national scale. We are a collection of isolated regions with their own cultures, values, and needs that more resembles the EU in some ways than a unified country.
2) Our police and military WILL FIRE ON US WITH LIVE ROUNDS. They've done so before and will do it again, often with few to no consequences. Under current circumstances, mass demonstrations are increasingly likely to end in a spray of gunfire, no matter how peaceful or lawful they are. The police in particular have literally been trained to regard common citizens as the enemy.
3) Our social support network is full of holes. We don't know our neighbors. The state's safety net is thin and made of red tape. Our ability to access healthcare is tied to our employment. On top of it all, everyone has debt. Everyone. If we act up and lose our jobs, that's it for us. Home gone, food gone, prescriptions gone. For ourselves, our children, and everyone else who relies on us. Our whole economy is owned by a dozen huge corporations that see their employees as worthless drones and will not hesitate to fire anyone who might make their stock price tremble.
4) Our opposition party is a useless, toothless, gutless paper dragon. They whine about breaking the rules and send letters while the Constitution they swore to uphold is being used as toilet paper. If the current regime were overthrown, there is no strong, driven, trustworthy leadership to take over and make things right.
This is what America has allowed itself to become, through decades of hubris, complacency, and blind faith. Many of us are only now realizing the trap we have fallen into. It would take ALL of us to effect meaningful change, and there's a forest of barriers in our way, even if we weren't as ideologically divided as we are.
This is why we aren't rioting in the streets en masse to take back our power, as many other countries would do. I genuinely envy the ones who have done so.
