American Exceptionalism; a list
The US is unique in many respects, some of which may surprise you
Recently I’ve been fascinated by how many things the US does where it stands alone or with a few obscure countries. I searched far and wide and was unable to find a comprehensive list so here’s my attempt.
Only 4 places (New Zealand, United States, Brazil, Hong Kong) permit Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. This refers to those commercials that urge you to ask your doctor about some new pill.
The United States along with Bangladesh, the Western Sahara (a barely populated disputed region), Liberia, Angola, Cuba, Libya, most of the Middle East, and French Guiana, have failed to instrument a Value Added Tax. This is a consumption-based tax which would help greatly simplify the tax code.
The United States stands with Liberia and Myanmar as one of the only 3 countries that have failed to adopt The Metric System. Sierra Leone switched over this century. The US’s southern neighbor, Mexico, switched to metric in the 1800s.
Along with Nicaragua and Syria, the United States is one of only 3 countries that won’t be partaking in the terms of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Lest you think this is a new trend, the US, along with South Sudan, which didn’t exist in 1997, are the only two countries which haven’t ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
This isn’t the only international document that hasn’t been ratified by the US. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been ratified by 157 countries and has stragglers like North Korea, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the United States. The convention to stop discriminating against women has been ratified by everyone with the exception of Palau, Holy See, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga and the United States. Even the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities hasn’t been ratified.
And it’s not like this is an oversight. Ratification of the disability treaty for instance, was attempted, but fell 6 votes short in 2012. There are more treaties like this, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The United States is the only G7 country without Universal Healthcare, something that countries such as Tunisia and Botswana have managed to pass.
The United States along with Suriname, Liberia, New Guinea and the island nations of Tonga, Palau, Nauru, and Western Samoa compose the 8 countries without Paid Parental Leave. These island nations, along with the USA are also the only countries without a minimum number of holidays. Even nations like Bangladesh and Mozambique have 10 days while Rwanda and Burundi have 15.
Staying with labor, International Workers Day, established in observation of the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, which won the 8-hour work day, is a national holiday, not in Chicago, not in Illinois or the USA, but in almost everywhere except the United States.
This goes further with child labor. The United States is the only country that hasn’t ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Most recently Somalia and South Sudan signed on)
In fact, slavery is still legal in the US because the constitutional amendment had a loophole for crime. This has allowed the south to continue to have slave-like plantations which they now name prison farms. (yes, that’s a link to Wikipedia, not some conspiracy site).
If you think this is just an accident that nobody has gotten around to cleaning up yet, in 1930 there was a forced labor convention covering slavery. Countries that haven’t signed include China, the United States, Afghanistan, and North Korea. In 1954 there was another document covering labor rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which is signed and ratified by most of the world, with the usual exceptions; the United States along with countries like Palau, Saudi Arabia, and South Sudan. This isn’t something post-1980; 1930 is FDR and 1954 is Eisenhower era.
Falling behind countries like Madagascar and the Congo, the United States along with Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, are the only industrialized countries which permit capital punishment.
With food, Canada and the USA are the only countries that permit BVO as an additive. rBGH has been banned in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and the EU since 2000 but is still in US food; this along with Ractopamime are primary reason the US can’t sell its meat products to over 160 countries. Potassium Bromate is banned in the European Union, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Nigeria, South Korea, Peru, Sri Lanka, China, and India but is also, still considered safe for consumption in the US.
What’s Going on Here?
This isn’t a political article, just a list. A lazy do-nothing congress, lack of reverence for international law, Americans not thinking of themselves as part of a global community? Actually, all of this and none of this is true. While doing research I found that this same exercise could be done focusing on China, the UK, Russia or even Australia.
So this is just a list of facts and not meant to be a political statement. In the research there were a number of politically slanted statements which have been excluded because they lacked sufficient evidence. The first was gun laws which are so varied (where they can be carried or concealed, which ones are allowed, licenses for types of use, regulations on ammunition, etc) that it’s hard to do any cross-nation comparison faithfully. There were also statistics about youth incarceration which pivot on framing foreign legal systems within the confines of US law. This can’t always be mapped in a truly accurate way so they were also excluded.
Can you think of any more examples with good references? I’d love to add to the list.
