What the U.S. Could Learn From Uruguay’s Progressive Policies

Marriage equality, legalized cannabis, gender-affirming surgery. Uruguay is one of the most progressive places in the world, and it’s putting the U.S. to shame.

What can the most democratic country in Latin America teach the U.S.? In part two of our series, What the U.S. Can Learn, Dena Takruri explores how Uruguay became a civil rights giant.

00:00 - Intro
00:41 - How Uruguay established civil rights for everyone
2:04 - Separating church and state in a conservative region
3:58 - Uruguay vs. the U.S. on the democracy index
6:20 - Challenges ahead
8:17 - Lessons for the U.S.

#Uruguay #Democracy #CivilRights

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[nicolaslopez]

As an Uruguayan the church in my country doesn’t have any power in politics or anything else. Have a good day! ;)

[FreezingFroggie]

A+ for pronouncing Uruguay properly :D

[mikejunior]

For the United States to learn anything all that's required, in my opinion, is for them to see the rest of the world as "not inferior" to the American way of life.

[kiritugeorge]

Many people are missing the point of this video. Its not saying Uruguay is a utopia. Its not saying that policies of a 3 million populated country can be copy pasted onto a 330 million populated country. Its simply saying...
What the United States can LEARN from Uruguay
Stop being so closed minded as to not see and hear the point of this video!

[jeremiasrobinson]

I spent a week in Punta del Diablo. I've fantasized about living there ever since.

[PLZRWD]

For any Black American wondering about a perspective of another Black man going there recently. Here is my brief experience:

I spent a week in in the capital Montevideo last September 2019! I had a wonderful time. The people I encountered were very hospitable! They are used to seeing Black people there mostly from Brazil migrating for work, studies and things like that. Most of them thought I was from Brazil until they heard me speak 😂. There is a community of Afro-Uruguayans there it I didn’t get a chance to mingle with them.

As for the weeeed tho, it was A m a z I n g 😎. Very nice buds!Comparable to what I’ve had in the Pacific Northwest - Oregon & Washington.

Obviously not really enough time to see how the treatment of Black people is on a daily life basis now but they do have a very E V I L history with the mistreatment of people of African descent as with almost every country in North and South America. From what I learned A lot of things they have done in the past 10-20 years to be very progressive. But that could be just for the majority and not the minority.

Definitely a place I plan to go back to and spend some more time in.

[anaadacosacositas]

I am Uruguayan and non-Christian and I never called Three Kings Day as children's day.
There is a children's day in August.

[cosmosofinfinity]

If only America was interested in learning from other countries...

[TomPCumft]

Its been more than 4 years now since I came living to Colonia del Sacramento. All I'll say is, this is probably the best decision of my life. Uruguay is basically the Eden's garden of the world

[brunobcosta]

I much appreciate Uruguay, have been there twice, and agree it sets a model for democracy and civil engagement. I disagree, though, with my Uruguayan friends when they argue, as done by Uruguayans in this video, that this has to do with compulsory voting. I am Brazilian and in Brazil voting is also compulsory; needless to say anything more. (No, really, I think it may have some impact... but certainly the other virtues of Uruguay's decentralized political system, with power being shared in may ways, plays a more significant role in there democratic glue).

[benmasclans]

As a Uruguian-American a lot of the stuff they say is right but there are a lot of downsides as well, nothing is perfect.
1. Everything is mad expensive including goods and energy if it's imported and starting a business is a bureaucratic nightmare
2. Good paying jobs are still hard to come by, you probably have to know someone in a high place just to get an entry-level job.
3. While the government does not blatantly exploit its people like most of Latin America, but similar to the US you definitely have to be in the higher levels of society to get elected it's hard for ordinary people to get elected to office.
4. True. Education is free and decent enough, but there’s a clear lack of diversification and budget for public universities - the life of a student is even more of a struggle there, minus the loans.
5. the police suffer from improper management of affairs to keep them active and working as they should - it’s not uncommon to call the nearest police station and listen to the waiting tone for half an hour, or for police to arrive an hour or two later after an emergency.
6. As the video said we still treat our black population poorly and there is some level of gender discrimination in everyday life.

[KathleenMcCormickLCSWMPH]

I’ve been to Uruguay and found it to be enchanting. Would love to move there from the US.

[harryk]

americans are always like WE CAN'T REPLICATE WHAT SMALLER COUNTRIES DO. well, you can still manage to collect taxes from people and spend almost a trillion on military spending so.. don't doubt your potential.

[Patrick-xpdj]

If you go to Uruguay, don't forget to say hi to one Ñery.

[Juan-ymyu]

No entendí nada pero creo que estaba hablando bien de Uruguay

[felaborde]

I’m really suprised that people of USA now that we exist

[tatianagarcia]

What?? I'm uruguayan, and i can assure you that the Church has NO influence in nothing, we are a secular country since 1919 (Art.5 of our Constitution).

[sammeettelang]

No wonder Uruguay is given entry by the European Union than the United States.

[Dimanya]

As an Uruguayan I find the overall point of the video good, but I think it overstates the benefits of compulsory voting (probably to not make the video too long). If America implemented compulsory voting overnight, most of its problems regarding their democracy would persist. I think the piece should be talking more about how adapting parts of our electoral system in general would greatly improve America's democracy. Some aspects I was kind of shocked the US didn't have. I'll explain:

First of all, in terms of election results. Not only do we not have an electoral college, we also don't have first past the post or winner take all systems. Government positions are 100% representative of the people's vote. Every vote matters, since every vote for a presidential candidate is just as valuable to win. No "safe" blue or red states that render voting for other parties moot. Presidential and parlamentary elections are done at the same time. To win on the first round you need 50% +1 vote, otherwise there's a runoff election between the 2 candidates with the most votes and in the runoff whoever has the most votes wins the presidency. Senators and Congressmen don't have individual races and are elected as a percentage of the votes. Since there are 30 Senators for every 3.33% of the vote, you get one. Congressmen are voted in with 1% of the vote (since there are 99 of them). Senators are national candidates, while Congressmen are local candidates for every "Departamento" (basically the equivalent of states, but not quite since we aren't a federation). Winning precincts is anecdotal, winning certain Departamentos is anecdotal, no swing states, "no malarkey". Also stuff like Gerrymandering is impossible since every vote goes to the same big pot with no middleman. Every vote matters, so every candidate has to push as hard as they can for every vote, everywhere.

Second is how our election process works. Once you are 18 or within a few months of turning 18, you can get your voting credential through a very simple (and cheap) process and you are automatically registered to vote in every election until you die. Primaries are nationally run (so no weird internal rulings or apps) and like normal elections, they are completely open. No need to register to any party to vote. You can decide who to vote for literally in the voting booth. Voting is always done on Sundays so as many people as possible can vote. People who need to work must be given 2 hours (guaranteed by law) to leave work and vote. Polling stations have representatives from every party and the military guarding the integrity of the election. We use paper ballots and official envelopes that are heavily controlled, yet still respect the secrecy of each vote. Votes are counted and recounted multiple times by inspectors and later validated by our election authority.


While obviously its not realistic to apply all these things 1 to 1 to the US, I think a lot of key aspects especially about voter registration, opening primaries and a more representative translation of the votes to the results, would greatly benefit democracy in the US and could make the 50+% of the population that doesn't vote actually participate in the electoral process. Also it would maybe make the positions of power be more representative of the will of the voters.