My state is larger than most European countries and it’s not even that large of a state.
When people say “then do something about it voting isn’t working” they’re asking 50 different countries to drop their jobs (most of them getting fired in the process and losing Healthcare) and personal lives to get mowed down by gung-ho losers who can’t wait to kill anyone they think is further left than they are.
Seriously, there are several websites dedicated to illustrating the true size of countries compared to others, just fiddle around with some European countries overlaying them on the US.
My friends in the UK complain about travel time and distance to get to relatives houses on holidays when the relative is only 60 miles away. I used to drive 60 miles just to get to work.
Seriously, I’d love to be able to drop everything and go demand change or else but the reality is far more complex and bloody than that.
When people tell Americans “go do something about it and don’t take no for an answer” what they are really saying is “go kill yourself via law enforcement” but are either too naive or too cowardly to say it directly.
It’s harder to get people concentrated enough to stage effective protests, if a small number of people live spread out over a huge area.
That wouldn’t be such a barrier if the people as a whole really wanted to protest, but it’s still a mixed bag, and the less densely populated the area, the less likely people are to want to protest, as they tend to be more conservative or politically apathetic regions (very roughly)
“My friends in the UK complain about travel time and distance to get to relatives houses on holidays when the relative is only 60 miles away. I used to drive 60 miles just to get to work.”
A phrase that I’ve heard that captures the contrast well is:
In the UK, 100 miles is a long distance; In the US, 100 years is a long time
As a Brit, I can’t imagine driving 60 miles to get to work.
When I was a kid, we’d sometimes take a day trip out to the seaside, which was 63 miles away. If we wanted to do this, we’d have to get up super early so we could have enough time there.
For a longer holiday in the Summer, we would occasionally take a trip to a different place a bit further down on the coast, which was an 85 mile journey. We viewed that as being prohibitively far away for a day trip, and I don’t remember ever going there if we weren’t spending at least 4 days there (including the travel days).
It’s insane how relative our perceptions of these things are.
UK: 30 miles in built-up areas, 70 miles on motorways. Most of Europe has 120 or 130 km/h (75 or 80 mph), except Germany which technically has no general speed limit on the Autobahn.
I think our speed limits are comparable to similar roads in the US, but that there are more highways/long and wide roads with a high speed limit in the US, so it probably goes faster.
The route we used to drive to get me to college (high school) was 8 miles and took around 30 minutes on a good day. I imagine that’s more time than a comparable journey would take for you.
There weren’t really any sections of this route where we could drive fast. The first mile was suburban and had a speed limit of 30mph, but frequent traffic lights and minor slowdowns due to parked cars on the side of the road (the UK has fewer dedicated parking places like driveways or garages). The next couple of miles had a limit of 60mph, but it was super twisty and hilly roads such that you’d be insane to drive at 60mph. Places like these are quite common, where it’s like the speed limit is just obligatory and they’re just saying “use your best judgement for the conditions”. Does the US have many speed limits like that, I wonder? Regardless of if there are similar stretches of road in the US, they’re far more dense in the UK, I reckon
Once we got out of the twisty, wooded area, it was a 40mph limit, but even that was only for two miles, before it dropped back down to a 30mph due to the main road taking you through a small farming hamlet that used to be a thriving settlement 600 or so years ago. Then once we got past that, there was a tiny stretch of 40mph road until we hit the urban areas, with all the intersections and traffic that entailed.
My point is that in the UK, if you’re not on a Motorway, then even the big main roads will often have you constantly slowing down and speeding up. The UK is much more dense than the US, even in somewhat rural places like where I lived.
To give another brief example, that 85 mile, longer seaside journey I mentioned in my original comment would typically take 2 and a half hours, if traffic was normal. Looking at the map, a lot of this journey wouldn’t take place on motorways.
Thanks for sharing your perspective; I really enjoy getting glimpses into the worlds of other people. It’s especially nice to have normal and interesting conversations with Americans online, because with how much the US dominates the news, it can be easy to slip into thinking of the US purely as a big, abstract entity.
My state is larger than most European countries and it’s not even that large of a state.
When people say “then do something about it voting isn’t working” they’re asking 50 different countries to drop their jobs (most of them getting fired in the process and losing Healthcare) and personal lives to get mowed down by gung-ho losers who can’t wait to kill anyone they think is further left than they are.
Seriously, there are several websites dedicated to illustrating the true size of countries compared to others, just fiddle around with some European countries overlaying them on the US.
My friends in the UK complain about travel time and distance to get to relatives houses on holidays when the relative is only 60 miles away. I used to drive 60 miles just to get to work.
Seriously, I’d love to be able to drop everything and go demand change or else but the reality is far more complex and bloody than that.
When people tell Americans “go do something about it and don’t take no for an answer” what they are really saying is “go kill yourself via law enforcement” but are either too naive or too cowardly to say it directly.
Nailed it. Very well said.
What does the size of the country have to do with anything
It’s harder to get people concentrated enough to stage effective protests, if a small number of people live spread out over a huge area.
That wouldn’t be such a barrier if the people as a whole really wanted to protest, but it’s still a mixed bag, and the less densely populated the area, the less likely people are to want to protest, as they tend to be more conservative or politically apathetic regions (very roughly)
A phrase that I’ve heard that captures the contrast well is:
As a Brit, I can’t imagine driving 60 miles to get to work.
When I was a kid, we’d sometimes take a day trip out to the seaside, which was 63 miles away. If we wanted to do this, we’d have to get up super early so we could have enough time there.
For a longer holiday in the Summer, we would occasionally take a trip to a different place a bit further down on the coast, which was an 85 mile journey. We viewed that as being prohibitively far away for a day trip, and I don’t remember ever going there if we weren’t spending at least 4 days there (including the travel days).
It’s insane how relative our perceptions of these things are.
I’ve gone 100 miles just to spend the day at an arcade.
What’s the speed limit like in Europe (and the UK)?
UK: 30 miles in built-up areas, 70 miles on motorways. Most of Europe has 120 or 130 km/h (75 or 80 mph), except Germany which technically has no general speed limit on the Autobahn.
I think our speed limits are comparable to similar roads in the US, but that there are more highways/long and wide roads with a high speed limit in the US, so it probably goes faster.
The route we used to drive to get me to college (high school) was 8 miles and took around 30 minutes on a good day. I imagine that’s more time than a comparable journey would take for you.
There weren’t really any sections of this route where we could drive fast. The first mile was suburban and had a speed limit of 30mph, but frequent traffic lights and minor slowdowns due to parked cars on the side of the road (the UK has fewer dedicated parking places like driveways or garages). The next couple of miles had a limit of 60mph, but it was super twisty and hilly roads such that you’d be insane to drive at 60mph. Places like these are quite common, where it’s like the speed limit is just obligatory and they’re just saying “use your best judgement for the conditions”. Does the US have many speed limits like that, I wonder? Regardless of if there are similar stretches of road in the US, they’re far more dense in the UK, I reckon
Once we got out of the twisty, wooded area, it was a 40mph limit, but even that was only for two miles, before it dropped back down to a 30mph due to the main road taking you through a small farming hamlet that used to be a thriving settlement 600 or so years ago. Then once we got past that, there was a tiny stretch of 40mph road until we hit the urban areas, with all the intersections and traffic that entailed.
My point is that in the UK, if you’re not on a Motorway, then even the big main roads will often have you constantly slowing down and speeding up. The UK is much more dense than the US, even in somewhat rural places like where I lived.
To give another brief example, that 85 mile, longer seaside journey I mentioned in my original comment would typically take 2 and a half hours, if traffic was normal. Looking at the map, a lot of this journey wouldn’t take place on motorways.
Thanks for sharing your perspective; I really enjoy getting glimpses into the worlds of other people. It’s especially nice to have normal and interesting conversations with Americans online, because with how much the US dominates the news, it can be easy to slip into thinking of the US purely as a big, abstract entity.