Stupid (but sincere) Questions about the USA

[DeepGreenEyes]

I've got a better idea...

Abolish the entire industry of private health insurance and do public universal healthcare already.

Yes, please.

As painful as the current leeching is, I really think the insane debacle that is "repeal and replace" is actually moving us closer. Someday these Medicaid-slashing, billionaire-taxcutting, "just-don't-buy-a-cellphone-if-you-can't-afford-health-insurance" fuckheads are going to wish they'd worked frantically for Obamacare at every turn.

 

[Blue]

It's seems strangely obvious, that a bill that literally kills off their own voter base might possibly sway election results
.. perhaps permanently.

Any repulbican genuinely surprised to have their own die hard constituents red in the face screaming "how could you let this happen"... Should forever forgo the privilege of that favored catch phrase "common sense".

But I'm sure they disown those constituents as "not the people that voted them in (and certainly not the people who funded them)

Why are you even entertaining the idea that they care about what their voters think?

There are obviously examples where they do, but I've heard too many stories of "representatives" straight up lying to the faces of their constituents and readily selling their political influence to the biggest donors, along with Congress' approval rating, to believe that overall they actually care more about being re-elected than they care about selling out and getting extremely rich extremely quickly.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I need to read through this thread more when I get a chance. I was hoping to find questions like "what is the longest you have driven and not left the state you are in." And "are there vast open stretches of land out west?" Having lived in the west 90% of my life, I think that there are things there that people from other countries would have no comprehension of.

*coughs politely from the Antipodes*

 

[seela]

I live in the USA, so I guess it's not my place to answer, really, but I'll still go ahead and answer that first question you asked about how long you've driven without leaving the state- 8 hours. Alllllllllllll the way across Kansas. It was one loooooooooooong drive, straight and more straight, across the absolutely flattest land I've ever seen. It was like being on a treadmill. The scenery never changed. I did rather enjoy being able to go 100mph, though.

Sitting in a car for 8 hours on a straight road and the scenery never even changes? That's close to my definition of hell.

The longest drive I've ever been on is about 11 hours in one day, then we slept the night and drove about 6 more hours the next day before reaching the border.

But at least the scenery didn't stay the same the entire time. I still wouldn't want to take the trip again, though.

 

[clistenovena]

It's great.... Until the monotany of the landscape knocks you the fuck out.

Nailed it. Exactly!

I recall having a similar experience driving across the Utah salt flats toward salt lake, only, about two thirds of the way across is this huge ridiculous post modern "tree" sculpture, apparently put there in the middle of no where specifically to help drivers stay awake.

I'm convinced that they put mileage signs up out there just to keep hope alive. If the signs could talk, they'd say, "Just 178 miles to go until you get to the next town that looks exactly like the one you passed 82 miles back. Keep going! You can make it!"

I have driven the drive you did, however I did the L shaped route as I came up from Dallas and went through Wichita before going west on I70. Yes, it's a long drive.

No "L" for us. NOt even a slight curve. Just straight from Missouri all the way across to Denver. I almost cried when I saw the haze of the Rocky Mountains on the distant horizon, I was that relieved.

Sitting in a car for 8 hours on a straight road and the scenery never even changes? That's close to my definition of hell.

Agreed! It is now mine as well. Never again. Not even if zombies are after me. They can just eat me right up. I'd rather that than endure the drive ever again. Ugh.

The longest drive I've ever been on is about 11 hours in one day, then we slept the night and drove about 6 more hours the next day before reaching the border.

I've heard tell of such things, but I really believed it was only a myth.

*coughs politely from the Antipodes*

Please forgive us middlers from North America. We rarely think in the global mind set. Self-absorbed lot we are. No need to question us about that.

 

[clistenovena]

Someday these Medicaid-slashing, billionaire-taxcutting, "just-don't-buy-a-cellphone-if-you-can't-afford-health-insurance" fuckheads are going to wish they'd worked frantically for Obamacare at every turn.

Some of the very, very few that aren't total idiots are already making noise about this very thing. The babblings of the majority will drown them out, however. Or those few will begin to tow the idiot line as well. My vote's for the latter. But as Consilience said, "Why are you even entertaining the idea that they care about what their voters think?"

As Mark Twain once so astutely stated, "History has tried hard to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians..." We just won't learn. ~sighs~

 

[HisArpy]

I once drove from Memphis Tennessee to Santa Barbara California straight through except for a 2-hour stop for a nap in a New Mexico rest stop.

I was a LOT younger then. I couldn't even do half that now. L.A. to Salt Lake City nearly killed me 10 years ago.

 

[clistenovena]

I once drove from Memphis Tennessee to Santa Barbara California straight through except for a 2-hour stop for a nap in a New Mexico rest stop.

Once again,

 

[seela]

Agreed! It is now mine as well. Never again. Not even if zombies are after me. They can just eat me right up. I'd rather that than endure the drive ever again. Ugh.

I've heard tell of such things, but I really believed it was only a myth.

Ha, please try to escape the zombies, I'm sure there are more scenic routes to safety, as well.

The drive I was on was basically through the entire country, ie. not through a State. I don't live in the US, just to be clear. You could squeeze in 1-1.5 hours more if you wanted to drive from the southernmost point to the northernmost point, but what I experienced was long enough for me!

 

[clistenovena]

Ha, please try to escape the zombies, I'm sure there are more scenic routes to safety, as well.

Air travel then. Wait, do zombies fly. On planes, I mean.

The drive I was on was basically through the entire country, ie. not through a State. I don't live in the US, just to be clear. You could squeeze in 1-1.5 hours more if you wanted to drive from the southernmost point to the northernmost point, but what I experienced was long enough for me!

Well, if it meant crossing an entire country...maybe. Sans zombies, of course.

 

[Zionisacat]

Also coughs quietly from the antipodes. To quote my GPS when I drove from Adelaide to Perth ;

In two days, turn left.

 

[Cumference]

Also coughs quietly from the antipodes. To quote my GPS when I drove from Adelaide to Perth ;

In two days, turn left.

I remember the feeling from a US road trip.

I can't quite say if it was horrifying or exhilarating, when the GPS said "drive 768 kilometers, then turn left"

That's twice the length of my country!

 

[HisArpy]

Once again,

Yeah. It was something like 34 hours behind the wheel. I was exhausted at the end but I wanted to be home.

 

[barefootgirl69]

We once drove all the way across the US from the California coast to Greenville, SC in 36 hours... no hotels just fuel and food. Never again.

 

[HumasWanderingWeiner]

I remember the feeling from a US road trip.

I can't quite say if it was horrifying or exhilarating, when the GPS said "drive 768 kilometers, then turn left"

That's twice the length of my country!

I just google mapped my route from where I currently live to my house in the mountains of Colorado. I get on the local highway and drive 13 hours, 958 miles, until my first turn which is in Wyoming.

 

[HumasWanderingWeiner]

Sitting in a car for 8 hours on a straight road and the scenery never even changes? That's close to my definition of hell.

The longest drive I've ever been on is about 11 hours in one day, then we slept the night and drove about 6 more hours the next day before reaching the border.

But at least the scenery didn't stay the same the entire time. I still wouldn't want to take the trip again, though.

I don't recall too many drives where the scenery never changes. I've driven all over the US and usually it changes every few hours.

I think the most memorable place to drive is going west on I84 in Oregon, coming down out of the Blue Mountains into Pendelton Oregon. The mountains are such that the east and west bound lanes get separated by about a mile in some points. You are coming off a mountain and viewing lush green plains from north to south.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find an image from east to west, instead, this is west to east.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AHpAKAR09l0/maxresdefault.jpg

Further on the drive, this becomes the view. Mt. Hood and the Columbia river.


http://www.markhitstheroad.com/us/wa/images/i08a0373-maryhill-columbia-river-mt-hood.jpg

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

It's seems strangely obvious, that a bill that literally kills off their own voter base might possibly sway election results
.. perhaps permanently.

Any repulbican genuinely surprised to have their own die hard constituents red in the face screaming "how could you let this happen"... Should forever forgo the privilege of that favored catch phrase "common sense".

But I'm sure they disown those constituents as "not the people that voted them in (and certainly not the people who funded them)

Yeah, you're right. It's always a mystery as to why working class white voters vote against their own economic interests, and this one puts it in stark black and white. The GOP is literally pledging to do something that would put many of their constituents in dire health straits. My theory (not an original or novel one) is that tribalism is powerful, and economic kinship or self-interest is only one motivator. The idea of "who I am" - however that is defined racially, religiously, culturally - will always be powerful.

Some of the very, very few that aren't total idiots are already making noise about this very thing. The babblings of the majority will drown them out, however. Or those few will begin to tow the idiot line as well. My vote's for the latter. But as Consilience said, "Why are you even entertaining the idea that they care about what their voters think?"

As Mark Twain once so astutely stated, "History has tried hard to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians..." We just won't learn. ~sighs~

I do think there are MOC who want middle and working class people to, if not be the focus of policy, to have a seat at the table. However, I think we have one party now that has unabashedly proclaimed its allegiance to the most wealthy Americans and corporations, period. They're fine with ordinary people having the crumbs (and debt) left from those policies, and a lot of people are just dandy with those crumbs.

The money in politics is obviously a flesh eating virus, and almost 40 years of the relentless drumbeat that "government is evil" has been incredibly harmful for the process.

We once drove all the way across the US from the California coast to Greenville, SC in 36 hours... no hotels just fuel and food. Never again.

Once I skipped college and went right into business, then drove all night past a huge spinner before finally stopping on a rectangle that said, "Buy furniture, pay $10,000."

 

[HisArpy]

I remember the feeling from a US road trip.

I can't quite say if it was horrifying or exhilarating, when the GPS said "drive 768 kilometers, then turn left"

That's twice the length of my country!

This is something that really doesn't make it into the heads of a lot of Eurpoean or Middle Eastern people.

Most Countries are equivalent to just ONE of our States. And we have 50.

I'm not trying to be hurtful or boastful of disrespectful when I say that. Its just a simple truth. It's why we are so economically powerful. Why the world looks at us as both a breadbasket and a sales outlet. And why we have so much influence globally. We are, quite literally, the elephant in the room just based on geographic size and population total.

Enough politics. Back to our regular size comparitor. Las Vegas to Los Angeles is 6 hours if you obey the speed limit. Santa Barbara to San Diego via the inland route is a smidge over 3 hours at 85 on cruise control including a 10 minute potty break in San Dimas. Or, at least it was 2 weeks ago...

 

[DarkSimian]

This is something that really doesn't make it into the heads of a lot of Eurpoean or Middle Eastern people.

Most Countries are equivalent to just ONE of our States. And we have 50.

I'm not trying to be hurtful or boastful of disrespectful when I say that. Its just a simple truth. It's why we are so economically powerful. Why the world looks at us as both a breadbasket and a sales outlet. And why we have so much influence globally. We are, quite literally, the elephant in the room just based on geographic size and population total.

Enough politics. Back to our regular size comparitor. Las Vegas to Los Angeles is 6 hours if you obey the speed limit. Santa Barbara to San Diego via the inland route is a smidge over 3 hours at 85 on cruise control including a 10 minute potty break in San Dimas. Or, at least it was 2 weeks ago...

I live in Texas, the second largest state in the US. To put that in perspective; it is 802 miles from El Paso, the western most point in Texas, to Los Angeles, CA. Going the other direction, it is 814 miles to Texarkana, TX, the eastern most point in the state. It's 12 miles LONGER to drive across Texas, than it is to drive thru 3 other states and get to LA.

 

[gracie920101]

I can say I have driven coast to coast (San Diego to Virginia Beach) but thank goodness there were stops along the way. 10 days on the road got really old but we could have made it in 4 without stopping to visit.
Longest drive, 19 hours Miami to the southern Oklahoma border a couple of years ago. Whew! Too old for that shit...my body ached for 3 days after.

 

[Azuldrgon]

I drove from my hometown near Quantico, Virginia to my mother in law's apartment up near in Seattle in about four days and to be honest, it wasn't all the same landscape.

 

[HumasWanderingWeiner]

I drove from my hometown near Quantico, Virginia to my mother in law's apartment up near in Seattle in about four days and to be honest, it wasn't all the same landscape.

That's for sure. I've been along that same route and it's really diverse. My old BMW was my best road car. It was complete perfection.

 

[HumasWanderingWeiner]

Question for everyone. Does it seem like there are more homeless as the days go by? I don't remember this many 5 years ago much less 20 years ago. And do other countries have a lot of homeless?

 

[Blue]

Question for everyone. Does it seem like there are more homeless as the days go by? I don't remember this many 5 years ago much less 20 years ago. And do other countries have a lot of homeless?

The USA homeless problem has it's own wikipedia page.

Apparently the UK is doing worse than the USA when it come to homelessness. Not numerically (Millions compared to hundreds of thousands in the USA and UK respectively) but from the minimal reading I've just done we're lagging behind a little in actually fixing it.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/21/homelessness-england-rising-scandal-rough-sleeping
https://www.theguardian.com/society...rs-in-england-rises-for-sixth-successive-year
These only record people who are sleeping rough, apparently the conservative estimate for all homeless people here is in the hundreds of thousands.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-38157410

 

[seela]

Bump time! And now with an extra stupid question!

So. It seems very common (on TV and movies at least - my primary source of all things American!) that Americans say that somebody is going to, for example, "Paris, France" instead of just saying "Paris". And I understand the reason: you have probably 20 places called Paris scattered all across your vast country, so it helps keep things clear. The same goes for lots of other cities as well.

If someone said they're going to Paris without adding any qualifier to it, would you not automatically think of the capital of France?