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They do say spread out: the USA actually has a better population distribution than Chile and it's big in two dimensions, whereas Chile is incredibly tall but also incredibly narrow (think: that goth guy).

That said, Chile is ~~long~~ tall: we get from above our hemisphere's tropic line to the friggin' South pole.

Yes actually. Chile is 2,653 miles long. The longest longitudinal distance in the continental US is 2,802 miles.

We have many vastly different regions, so yes. The commonwealth, the South, the Midwest , the West, the Pacific Northwest, all very far apart and with different immediate concerns.

Yes. Chile is 2653 miles long/tall. The distance from San Diego to Portland (Maine) is 3100 miles. Just Alaska is 2145 miles wide when counting all the Aleutian Islands.

Kind of like Russia has a numbers advantage in Ukraine.

Alright bro. You first.

That's because they own like 40 guns themselves. At a certain point they stop being useful when you still only have two hands.

Well, sort of. Fascism is more precisely a marriage of nationalism and a police state with a corporatocracy where one aids the other in their goals. Which you could definitely argue is what's happening in the US, but isn't really what my point was (and certainly shouldn't be read as an endorsement!).

But yeah, that deal with devil is definitely a complicity. They've been willing to hand vast amounts of money, and rights, to the ruling class because they're been being paid very well to do so. And I don't see revolution happening until there's either a critical mass of people reaching starvation levels of poverty, or the middle class sees all that wealth they traded their rights for evaporate.

And by then it'll be too late because they are starving.

Armies, established or figurative, march on full stomachs. Even the BTS army.

But that number is "only" ~25 million out of over 340 million, or about 7% give or take (double checked my numbers; slightly off, but still under 10%). And they're likely in the worst position to do anything politically because they're too busy surviving. There is a crisis of under insured, but most people don't feel that pressure until it becomes a real problem, then they're in the group that is too busy surviving to enact change. For most Americans, that disposable income number includes healthcare. There's just a stupid amount of money in that country. And while there's a huge gap and most goes to the top, enough goes to the middle class to keep them pacified.

I'm definitely not endorsing the US system; it's a system of haves and have nots and embraces a wealth divide and can be pretty bleak. But most Americans just aren't feeling as much of a financial punch as the complaints might let on.

(This isn't to invalidate Americans who are struggling... been there, been homeless, it's awful. But middle class America, even by European standards, is pretty ridiculously wealthy.)

Yeah, but crucially, the ones who are in a position to feel that need keenly enough are sick.

They often have more immediate concerns.

My biggest concern is getting close to my aging parents without actually living in my home state of Florida. Fuck. I hate the idea of moving back.