Your last point rings especially true. There seems to be a whole class of people in the United States who, despite their professed love for the free market, ref

Your last point rings especially true. There seems to be a whole class of people in the United States who, despite their professed love for the free market, refuse to consider any sort of marketplace of ideas when it involves public policy from other countries. Like, its somehow completely incomprehensible to people that the Germans might have devised a better system for running trains (they build better trains, so not so far-fetched) or that the Japanese might have a better grasp on building quality public transportation than we do. Rather, there's this idea that the American way of doing things must be the absolute best in every possible situation. Its a very damaging idea, and historically has led to stagnation and collapse (Qing dynasty China comes to mind as a great example of this).