We're an ex British colony (with the Queen as our official Head of State still) so it's very 'anglo saxon' - which is such a stupid term but everyone knows what it means so I will use it for convenience.
That said, we are also a nation of indigenous Maori (15% ish) and migrants (much bigger percentage) particularly from the Pacific Islands and Asia. We are little and young with conservative farmers and progressive cities and though we have a lot of the same issues as every country, it is smaller and easier to adress and we talk about our problems more.
I am now living in Melbourne, Australia and the differences in regards to race relations and the history with indigenous populations is astounding. In a bad way.
From an ouside view, the US does seem to be filled with religious freaks. Paranoid ones too! You just have such a large populations that only mobilise on social issues and a political party that sometimes does its best to incite fear and hate.
I particularly like NZ's way of voting on social issues. We are a parliamentary monarch, running under a mixed member proportional system (parties get the same percentage of seats in parliament as they do vote. They usually have to create alliances to get a majority and govern). On controversial issues (like the prostituion reform act, civil union bill) the parties all let their MPs vote according to their conscience, not down party lines.
no subject
That said, we are also a nation of indigenous Maori (15% ish) and migrants (much bigger percentage) particularly from the Pacific Islands and Asia. We are little and young with conservative farmers and progressive cities and though we have a lot of the same issues as every country, it is smaller and easier to adress and we talk about our problems more.
I am now living in Melbourne, Australia and the differences in regards to race relations and the history with indigenous populations is astounding. In a bad way.
From an ouside view, the US does seem to be filled with religious freaks. Paranoid ones too! You just have such a large populations that only mobilise on social issues and a political party that sometimes does its best to incite fear and hate.
I particularly like NZ's way of voting on social issues. We are a parliamentary monarch, running under a mixed member proportional system (parties get the same percentage of seats in parliament as they do vote. They usually have to create alliances to get a majority and govern). On controversial issues (like the prostituion reform act, civil union bill) the parties all let their MPs vote according to their conscience, not down party lines.