You picked a poor country to compare it to then.
Congratulations, America is burnt toast and Singapore prides itself for being "better than burnt toast". Quite the sales pitch.
Your comparison does nothing of the sort though; America is a police state.
Just look at how many people we imprison (particularly in for-profit prisons), our absurd war on drugs with absolutely obscene punishments and classifications of drugs that defy scientific literature, the number of people executed in America every single year, America's ludicrous notion of civil forfeit that involves the government suing inanimate objects that are incapable of defending themselves, a country where the public prosecutor is a political position used as a stepping stone to greater politics (provided the politician in question can achieve high conviction rates at all costs...) police departments that are increasingly using "seized" property with no legitimate notion of due process to buy themselves "riot gear" and drones...
What is the point of looking at that list and saying "well we aren't that bad"? You are just telling me that your toast is better than burnt.
I am telling you that your toast may not be burnt, but your diner sure as shit still smells of smoke.
If you like burnt food, then knock yourself out, but don't pretend for an instant that it isn't burnt.
I thought this might be what you are getting at.
I suspect that, if you find somebody who has lived under the Stasi, or Ceaucescu in Romania, or in North Korea or Burma, or various other examples of actual police states, they'll fall all over themselves telling you how good you've got it.
>What is the point of looking at that list and saying "well we aren't that bad"?
Haha, people might be less inclined to visit me if they thought that the secret police might jail them for thought crime?
I dunno what to say other than "it's good to keep some sort of perspective". I certainly don't deny your criticisms are valid. I just think both societies have a whole lot more to go before they qualify as stasi-esque police states.