I'm Dutch, and I'm a voter in a democracy. I have to accept that the people we collectively elect represent us, and that their policies are an expression of what We, The People, want. I was a part of the group that voted, I was a part of those who made the decisions, therefore I accept that I can be held accountable for those decisions. Even if I strongly disagree with a particular point I have to accept that a group that I'm a part of made that decision.

Americans believe all of that, but I think a big source of misunderstanding is the different degrees of regard given to the relationship democratic representation has to scale. I am not sure Europeans (particularly those from small unitary states) realize how good they have it terms of the locality of representation.

No other continent comes close to the locality of European democracy. Your votes have so much impact on you. It isn't like that in the US, and if anything, North America is the distant second place. It's even worse elsewhere. At least in NA, there is federalism holding any liberal democracy together at all.

I don't think Trump understands this, either. He thinks he is Mayor of America, with commensurate authority. He does not understand how unstable a union like the US would be if power was not as spread out as it is. He whined about it being unfair "some judge on an island in the Pacific" could stop his travel ban and the reaction Americans was to scoff at him because of course that's how it works Donny!

As a Dutch person can you honestly say you fully understand the impact on civic apathy of that judge being farther from Trump than you are right now?