> such as the ones that exist in mainland Europe, where once a government is elected it can pretty much do what it wants to do without having to worry about par

> such as the ones that exist in mainland Europe, where once a government is elected it can pretty much do what it wants to do without having to worry about partisan issues at least until the next elections come around. The biggest difference is, the European Union has 500 million people spread under 29 different countries' national governments. The United States has 300 million people under 1 country's national government. The decisive action you're talking about would be more like the entire EU decisively getting something across than a particular nation. Things do happen faster on the state level.