American Exceptionalism, etc. bother me too (an American), but it seems a bit incongruous to call it a failed state while simultaneously relating the story of someone desiring to immigrate to it so badly that they'd wait 14 months and get Congress to intervene. If it's so failed, your partner can leave and I'm sure someone else will be happy to come.

Of course I am a hypocrite. My partner wants to visit the US; I would prefer to live elsewhere. But, sometimes compromise is needed in relationships.

'failed state' is certainly hyperbole here -- there are large elements of society which continue to function, despite the problems at the national government level. It would truly be a failed state if, for example, the national government's performance level were propagated to the whole society.

As much as the US has inefficiencies, the hyperbole is a bit strong. There's quite a difference between being the "best country in the world" and a "failed state."

Why would you bring your partner into a "failed state?"

Certainly the mindset/passive prejudice that America is the "best country in the world (TM)" did not become a thing because of our once-fast Visa processing times.

The U.S. is only dysfunctional if you compare it to a small minority of handpicked countries, mostly Western/Northern European ones.

So this amounts to saying that the U.S. is dysfunctional compared to the most developed part of the world, which is almost a tautology.

Whoa, easy there. It's not very hard to find a failed state. And US is not one of them.

Those types of visa issues are common in many countries, especially in Western Europe.

Not to say that the US hasn't made a lot of stupid laws and policies around immigration, but they're not alone.