This is a common problem when looking at the US as a whole compared to many other countries. The US is a huge, very diverse place. When I travel to the NE, then to the south, and finally to the west coast it feels like I've been in 3 different countries. The language while still english is slightly different, the attitudes are different, and the people are different. In this environment it really does make sense to have less federal involvement and more local involvement since each locale likely has completely different issues.

On the whole it makes much more sense to start breaking the US into regions when doing comparisons with other countries. From there we might be able to find the real problems and look for focused, local solutions.