I’m an Aussie living in the States. There are some good things here - like the free Early Intervention program for children under the age of 3. Rapid in-home access to free programs covering speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioural therapy, physio therapy etc etc for children in need. My daughter (with the same genetic diagnosis I’ve got) has much better access to healthcare than I had.

I live in a very ‘blue’ part of the US which runs towards being ‘fucking socialist’. Our local public high school is something people pay $25-50k pa in back in Australia. The services in my State / town are excellent (and there was recently a conniption because a gun store wanted to open up and the local town and residents wanted to make that as difficult as legally possible).

If you’re doing ok around here then you get 5 weeks leave + public holidays. 5 months fully paid maternity leave. World class healthcare. The public transport is good, and so are the utilities. There’s state mandated paid sick leave, and state mandated parental leave, free little libraries, and free community fridges, and subsidised housing etc, free energy audits to help reduce energy use and increase renewables usage.

BUT as I always say, there are many different Americas. I live in a corner of the country that I can (my partner and employment are here) but I never would’ve moved to, say, Texas, or Mississippi, or Florida, or Kentucky. Everything you say is true, and a very valid complaint (I’m also pissed that childcare is so $$$ while paying workers barely above minimum wage - I had better working conditions at a summer job doing data entry back when I was in Oz). Let’s also add in gerrymandering (I never thought I’d love the Australian electoral commission). And the lack of news reporting that isn’t just opinion pieces (fuck I love watching the ABC when I’m back home - it’s so refreshing to just see the news!)

Yes, the US has a fuck tonne of problems. I just like people to realise it’s not a monoculture everywhere in the country. Not every part of the country is fucked. But for fuck sakes Australian pollies, stop trying to copy all the billshit American policies.