Talk:United States

Drug Policy

Can something be included in the human rights section about the federal government's stance on drugs and the treatment of users/distributors? Distributors are punished as seriously as some violent crimes. Users are generally forced to hide from the police-state that has been established to remove these people from society and contain them all within some form of monitoring (probation, prison, random screenings, job-related drug tests, etc.) Additionally, the private business sector is encouraged not hire someone who uses or has used drugs. Is this considered a federal fascism, or does the government have to execute these people for it to be considered fascist?

Human rights

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The role of finance and the crash of 2008

In the section on the U.S. economy, a sentence or two should be added about the financialization of the U.S. economy and the whole shift from keynesan full-employment to economic neo-liberalism, a.k.a. the Washington Consensus. the resulting crash of 2008, and the debate that has been going on for three years now over the role of finance. This debate has roiled the economics profession, and there are some particularly harsh critiques of the failure of most economists to foresee the crash -- and not all of them are marxist critiques. See, for example, the work of Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Simon Johnson, Dean Baker, Thomas Palley, Frank Partnoy, Nomi Prins, Nouriel Roubini, and Yves Smith. This issue is one of the most important - and most intractable - that has preoccipied political debate for three years now, and the failure of political elites to find a solution has led to both right and left discontent in the streets. -- Tony Wikrent — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.162.246.134 (talk) 14:46, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Misleading first sentence

Hello,

I have two suggestions. The first sentence for the article about the United States is misleading. It suggests that the federal constitutional republic is comprised equally by fifty states and a federal district. This is insulting to the United States citizens who do not live in a state or district. To have the sentence discussing territories relegated to the end of the paragraph is worse, it shows their lands and homes as insignificant. I suggest to take out the last sentence, and to rewrite the first sentence to state:

"The United States of America (also called the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states, a federal capital district and several territories in the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean sea. "

(There are millions of U.S. citizens who live in the U.S. but not in a state!! Ex. Puerto Rico, Guam....)

And for the section about politics I think the basic allotment of voting rights among U.S. citizens residing in the United States is not explicit. In fact, it should be the first sentence for the voting section. It is a basic constitutional requirement that it is not enough to be a citizen to vote for the President, but one must also reside in a state or D.C. Therefore, there are about 4 million or so American citizens who are not allowed to vote for the President. Or to send voting representative or senators to Congress.

Thus I propose this sentence:

"Only U.S. citizens who live in one of the fifty states may vote for the President, or to send voting representatives and senators to the federal Congress. The U.S. citizens who live in the federal district may vote for the President, but they may not send voting representatives and senators to the federal Congress. The U.S. citizens who live in one of the territories are constitutionally forbidden from voting for the President or to send voting representative and senators to the federal Congress." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tahoe530 (talk • contribs) 17:52, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Puerto Rico (along with all of the other unincorporated territories) is not part of the United States, it is a possession thereof. The population and area in the infobox do not include it, nor should they. The United States consists of fifty states, one federal district, and one incorporated territory. --Golbez (talk) 21:25, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

I do agree, however, that the nature of delegates should be mentioned, as they are official members of the federal legislature, though not voting members. --Golbez (talk) 23:08, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

The "Political divisions" section currently states: "American citizens residing in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens residing in the states; however, they are generally exempt from federal income tax, may not vote for president, and have only nonvoting representation in the U.S. Congress." I think that already covers the valid concerns here. DocKino (talk) 08:27, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Ah, I had only searched for the term 'delegate'. Maybe that belongs more in a section on politics or elections than in political divisions? --Golbez (talk) 14:24, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Title of article

Why is it "United States" and not "United States of America"? Maybe it is self explanatory in the US, but in other countries the America part is often used, too. So I assume this is the consequence of non-intentional US-centrism. 80.98.146.68 (talk) 19:52, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Please go to the top of this discussion page and read the Frequently Asked Questions, this is answered therein. --Golbez (talk) 20:01, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I overlooked it. 80.98.146.68 (talk) 23:12, 17 December 2011 (UTC)