The problems with America that nobody notices...

Why the fundamentals of America are wrong

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Video by:
Oliver Franke
Research & Script:
Charles Street, Oliver Franke
Edit & Animations:
Oliver Franke

Full script w/ sources:

[OBFYT]

Apologies for being inactive for so long... I really just needed a break and had to find the joy for making videos again. And I've found that now, so you should expect to see many more videos coming out in the near future! I'm glad to be back, I've missed making videos for you guys <3

[MrHodoAstartes]

Worth noting that those 250 bucks you pay as a student in Germany often go in large part to a transit ticket.
Which means all local trains (i.e. non-express) in the federal state, plus trams and busses.
This means millions of students are living in cities with no need for a car at all. And the liberty to visit places at no cost.
I was so broke at one point that I took a train to a neighboring city to go to the blood bank that paid best.

However, Germany just instituted a cheap nation-wide subscription ticket for public transit, so that may shake up the student ticket meta somewhat.
This was started in reaction to the Ukraine War, to lower gas consumption and push traffic into the public transit system where possible. Also as part of a major green project to move from cars to public alternatives as a credible alternative for as many people as possible.

[ChrischiTutorialLPs]

8 parking spaces per car in the US is what happens when you tell a store that they need to have enough parking space for every single person that could fit into your store at once, regardless of the fact that the megamall next door has enough parking space for you to park there instead.

[Oceanbeachfish]

When I was abroad in Europe and Asia I quickly noticed just how well-designed they are and how convenient it is to get around and get the stuff you need while only having to walk. I sure miss all that convenience

[jps]

I'm an American who has lived overseas for most of the last 20 years, mostly in Europe. I would tell a European to not think of America as an extension of Europe, and I would tell non-Americans in general to think of the United States as a plural, countable noun, rather than as a singular entity; actually, it's even messier than that because most of the cultural, as well as some legal, differences are within, not between, states (often urban vs. rural). The U.S. Constitution grants most powers to the states, as it is a federal system; this is often referred to as states' rights. That's a better place to start if you want to understand my country.

[null]

I’m a Texan and I’ve never been on a train, or subway in my entire life.

[austinhernandez]

My class went on a music tour in east germany last month. My favorite thing about it was the trains. There were trains going to many cities, both high speed to transport between cities, and light rails within the cities. We went to 10 cities, all by train, except for a bus early one morning to the airport in Frankfurt. We also took light rail in the cities. Another thing I noticed on the train is that even in the rural areas we passed by, there were still bike lanes and sidewalks and many trails everywhere. In America, that's completely non existent in rural areas, except for historical/tourist areas. In the suburb I live in now, there's only 3 walking/cycling trails, but you have to drive a car to get there, and they're only used for recreation or exercise, as they go nowhere. So germany proved that the city population size doesn't matter. Even people in rural areas there had people cycling on the trails in the middle of nowhere. Germany isn't perfect, some cities still had some heavy car traffic in some areas(though nowhere near as bad as the US), but it's FAR ahead of the US in almost every way when it comes to city design and infrastructure and transportation. It's easy to live there without a car, but nearly impossible in most of the US. As an American flying back home to get in my car, I was very jealous.

[phobos]

In response to your last bit about how state laws differ, picture America as the eu that's a bit more federalized, states are meant to be countries and thus have their own armies, laws, etc... It's like asking why the tax laws are different in germany compared to denmark when all I did was drive across the border, not even needing to show my passport.

[matthewboyd]

American: a 15 minute today is impossible. I wouldn't dare walk that far


Meanwhile: parking lot is 7 minute trip to building

[Karim]

12:00 more decentralisation is good honestly. Centralisation means less democracy, more corruption and less following the need of the people. Thats why the EU should and must not get more power. The commission already is authoritarian enough

[corruptedpoison]

People love to ignore Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Australia etc where they also have car cultures.

[legoking]

Different states have different laws because it allows for experimentation to see what works and what doesn't. Plus, it allows for versatile changes according to geographical, social, and year-by-year changes.

[TexMexTraveler]

Key Corrections? Thanks for your video. The Acela train is pronounces a-sell-a. In the United States, the federal government has (in general) purview over trade, foreign policy, defense, communications, most financial regulations and a few other areas. Each state is sovereign except in those areas controlled by the federal government. So each state and its legislature and citizens decide what laws should be for them. As an example, I live in Texas, a very large state with some long desolate freeways and 3 very large metro areas. Our statewide maximum speed limit is 85 and is reflected in the fact that we want to go faster to get to where we are going. However in Pennsylvania, a mostly mountainous state, they have a lower speed limit of just 65, likely for safe driving in more difficult terrain. For such a large country, what works for one area does not necessarily work in another. This is also why there are different gun laws across the 50 states, and why you can turn on red in some states but not others as you pointed out in your video. Because many things that affect our daily life are decided at the state, county or city level, we get a set of laws which reflects the citizen's wishes in each area, rather than laws set down by a federal government that can be 2, 500 miles away and lacks understanding with local issues and needs. Is this a perfect system? No. But does it work for us?, yes.

[mitchellwalker]

Surprised to hear that Los Angeles has such a low public transport ridership despite having a population of over 3 million. Over 12 million if your counting the metropolitan area.

[christao]

Thanks for this thoughtful video. Regarding your surprise at states having varying laws, this goes back to the founding of the nation. The original states were independent colonies, essentially mini-countries. The design of the country is an effort to balance the interests of those individual states with the need for a central government to take care of things states cannot do well on their own. It *is* messy but it also seeks to respect the right of people to govern themselves by devolving many decisions to the local level. As an American who has lived abroad for almost two decades, I can clearly see the flaws of the system but I can also see that the design is a feature of the system, too.

[alexs]

8 spots for overflow cus you can't expect even distribution of cars throughout the nation

[TheyCalledMeT]

back then .. 18 years ago i didn't understand the electoral college either ..
see it as something like .. every european country votes on their favorable representation in the european parliament .. so every country according to their size can put a certain number of representatives into the EU parliament ..
to go by a "democratic" majority vote means 2 population strong countries could dictate over everyone else.
a serious problem every us State has on a state level .. cities can dictate what's happening in the countryside trough outnumbering the population and vote against the interest of rural people .. i.e. what happenes with river water .. voting it away from farmers holding it exclusive to cities

[chrisgodfrey]

Proportional Representation doesn't work as mentioned in the video!

PR Systems distribute seats in accordance to which votes where gained overall. Gerrymandering is impossible in a PR system since all votes count, not just those that end up winning the district. Thus, districts can be drawn however one wants, since in the end it will all be proportional anyways.

[innotech]

why would I want to walk around when it is 98F outside and rains hard every day?

[anyvibers]

As an American, overall I agree with pretty much everything said with the exception of state law and federal law. Overall this is something that is quite good despite the oddities that you mentioned. It allows for a state to do something that its residents want but may not be popular enough to change on a federal level. (I hope we get trains man im down bad cars are expensive)