30 Things The US Does Better Than Most Countries

I love the Interstate Rest Areas on road trips. I'm a Canadian from the west coast, and was always VERY impressed with the 24/7 rest areas. Clean washrooms, nice grassy areas for dogs, picnic tables, and a lot of times people selling crafts, or offering free coffee!

I've only driven through the western states, (WA,OR,CA,NV,UT,AZ) but yeah, those rest areas were always reliable. Always well marked signs when the next one was coming up. Just made everything about travelling easier! Thanks neighbours!

National Parks

Chatting, I’m from an Asian country where most people will avoid talking to stranger. But you can literally talk to anyone you met in the street in the US and most of them are willing to talk

Turning corn into things that are not corn.

So, here's the truth. America is, and does, a *lot* of things.

We have the world's greatest athletes and most obese population. We have the best healthcare in the world, and 90% of our population can't afford it. We're leaders in creating new wealth and dead end service jobs. We were founded on a revolutionary promise of liberty and justice, by men who owned slaves.

If you really want my top four wins, though, here they are:

**The national parks system and Bureau of Land Management.**
We have hundreds of thousands of square miles of wilderness that is preserved, leased for commercial purposes, available for recreation, or simply held in trust for the people of the United States. And if you haven't seen for yourself, I assure you, [it's f*****g gorgeous](https://www.ourescapeclause.com/best-national-parks-in-usa/). We have wild ancient forests, coral reefs, stunning mountains, tundra, grasslands, deserts, and some of the most impressive and beautiful natural features on this planet. Huge portions are preserved and maintained where literally everyone can enjoy them.

**NASA**
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration put a man on the moon, led the world in space exploration, and spurned developed literally [hundreds of incredible technologies we use every day](https://spinoff.nasa.gov/): Aside from the obvious aerospace advances, we have them to thank for GPS, memory foam mattresses, improved HVAC and insulation, LCD screens, LEDs, microcomputing, food preservation, water purification, solar panels, high capacity batteries, and dozens of different materials and processes. In addition, they've been the leading source of new information about our planet, climate change, and the universe.

**The Smithsonian Institution**
There are people who mistakenly think the Smithsonian is a museum. The Smithsonian is in fact a collection of over 20 museums, galleries, and zoo across three states, plus dozens of research and education centers, collections, affiliates around the globe. It is the single largest organization for science, culture, and history in the world, and it's contributions to preserving history and to literally every scientific discipline are beyond measure. And to me, the greatest part is the heart of the organization in Washington DC: *THIS* is what we've chosen to surround the National Mall, the platonic ideal of our commons and center of our democracy- Dozens of living monuments to art, science, history, and culture. I've personally made at least 3 or 4 visits totaling more than two full weeks, and I've only made it halfway through.

**Music**
The United States is the birthplace of Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Country-Western, Rap, and a half a dozen different forms of regional folk music. Nearly every culture in the world imitates our musical forms.

Holidays. My favorite time to be an American is October, I love how hype we get about Halloween here.

Wilderness/land conservation. Hands down. It still isn’t enough and it’s largely a product of the fact that this continent was industrialized/colonized so late in the game + its sheer vastness, but we have some of the best land conservation schemes on the planet. It might be the only thing where I prefer the US over much of Europe, and it’s a huge thing.

Serious answer? Logistics. We're quite a large country and we've gotten very good at moving things around.

Jazz

Handicap/wheelchair accessibility. Even in smaller towns, our family member in a wheelchair got in and out of restaurants and stores easily.

Honestly? Being friendly and welcoming to strangers. Saying this as a Canadian.

Air conditioner everywhere and free public restrooms. You have to pay to use the restrooms in Europe.

Friendliness.

I’m from London and have lived in the US for 15 years. People here overall are very open to talking to strangers

Geodiversity. We have nearly every biome on Earth available in the lower 48 alone. Adding Alaska and Hawaii just completes the set.

Question: Is there any biome that doesn't exist in The US?

Buffets. No buffet I’ve had can beat the one’s I had in the states.

The ability of the American farmer to produce food. It is really staggering the amount of food that is grown here.

Good ethnically diverse food.

There’s a lot that Europe does better about food (for instance, care about quality of ingredients and preparation even at “everyday” priced restaurants).

But in most of the non-US world, you can get very good food of the place you are in, and maybe some mediocre Asian food. (England and Indian food being an exception.) If you are in Rome, for instance, the Italian food will be excellent, but you won’t find a great Spanish tapas bar, Mexican taqueria, or some great pho.

The fact that in most major US cities you can get excellent food that represents a dozen or more different food cultures is unique and awesome.

Women's sports are really wells supported here - so are female athletes.

Despite many memes americans might say about it - if you go to other countries female athletics is really almost non-existent.

Theme Parks

While we have a LONG way to go, the USA is comparatively better than a lot of places regarding supporting people with disabilities.