The US is a weird 'country' when compared to the other 'Western' countries in Europe and South America. We're more 'commonwealth-y' than France or Argentina. W

The US is a weird 'country' when compared to the other 'Western' countries in Europe and South America. We're more 'commonwealth-y' than France or Argentina. We don't have a national police/gendarme and are very against the thought of forming one. Just look at the mess of jurisdictions that the FBI and ATF have, let alone any other agency. You'd have to re-write the constitution to get one. Our states really are sovereign in their own rights. In Colorado you can smoke as much weed as you like, but you can't even ride a bike if your BAC is over 0.05%. In Texas, you can drink in the car as long as you are 'sober'. California has some pretty strange laws over water rights and property tax. Pennsylvania won't allow you to buy liquor in certain counties on Sunday. The laws here are very strange comparatively. Each state has it's own 'army' in a kinda, sorta, not really, but yes really way. Navies differ, but Wyoming seriously wanted a battleship for a lake of theirs. Slavery is it's own mess of evil, but also demonstrates how different the US can be. We had a war over that one, still managed to keep on humming, kinda. Our second amendment is also insane to foreigners except the Swiss. Some states think it's fine, some don't. There's a bit of a spat going on right now over it, what with the massacres and all. We sure do love our flag though, that is true. Many people say that's because we are so diverse, we need something to keep together. I say it's the English language, football, and American Idol. Oh, also the racism. That seems to 'help' too. Also, we've never had sustained conscription here, like in South Korea, Italy, Austria, Israel, etc. Only ~7% of us have ever served in the armed forces in any way. I couldn't find easy numbers for other countries, but that 18-20 year old male conscription laws would skew the percentages higher, I'd think.