I think the number of ways the a country as big and powerful and geographically isolated and culturally diverse as the USA is different than a rich western demo

I think the number of ways the a country as big and powerful and geographically isolated and culturally diverse as the USA is different than a rich western democracy is out of scope of a forum comment. But I think the short answer is that your woes generally fall into 2 categories: fallout from slavery/racism (prison, capital punishment) and stuff that has to do with terrorism/being the sole hegemonic power in the world (torture...etc.).