What is taken for granted in the US?

Everything.

we’re americans, duh

Not just sustaining, but delicious food.

The first thing that comes to my mind is clean water.

Always-on electricity

Plumbing that works

Relatively sane traffic (meaning that people generally stay in lanes, generally obey traffic signals – and signals generally work – and most of the traffic we encounter is motorized)

A certain deference to people’s opinion, even if we disagree. That is, a certain respect for “beingness”, for the sense of a person’s right to even exist, and an acknowledgement of that fact – unless they’re lying on the pavement.

Generally drinkable water and breathable air

Indoor toilets
A TV in nearly every home
Free Speech
a car for most people
free K – 12 grade schooling
Financial aid
parks

Free bathrooms.

24/7 electricity

public libraries

@CWOTUS Generally drinkable water and breathable air
I don’t know, but for the most part I would say they have breathable are, it might smell of animals or occasional burning wood, but they have no factories, cars, leaf blowers, lawn movers, buses, etc to foul up the air; in fact, they virtually have no technology like that.

In all fairness, that is just some of them, but not all 3rd world places.

Freedom.

I had hoped no one would say freedom. If anything, we’re taking our loss of freedom for granted.

We are only free to keep the status quo. Nothing more.

When Obama Fed Thugs come to destroy state sanctioned marijuana growers, that’s not freedom. That’s totalitarianism.

When politicians are bought and paid for by big biz and lobbyists, that’s not freedom. That’s corporatocracy.

When banks are bailed out at the expense of the citizens, and no one goes to jail, but rather the salaries are increased instead, that’s not freedom. That’s extortion.

When spying networks are setup to monitor every citizen from every angle, at the expense of the citizen, and in a blatant rejection of the founding consitution, that’s not freedom. That’s tyranny.

When our cities are crumbling and our education system promotes only that which the corporate meat grinder can use, negating the arts and extinguishing creative thinking, that’s not freedom. That’s a child abuse.

When politicians spend millions on campaign promises that never come true, and millions more is earned in advertising, while people are losing their homes and prices soar, that’s not freedom. That’s a freaking circus.

Welcome to America. Land of the Glee. Home of the Naive.

The fact that you’re not getting bombed by the US, unless it’s another civil war

Actually, @Hypocrisy_Central, one of the worst health problems in all of what we call “the third world” (and which still includes large parts of China and most of India) is “breathing smoke-filled air” from poorly ventilated cookstoves in people’s kitchens. If you fly to Beijing and come in via the northern route, you may not even see the Great Wall on a sunny day. There’s no such thing as “a clear day” in Beijing. “Clear” is just “less brown”.

-from Discover magazine
Around the world, for example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease claimed roughly twice the number of lives as HIV/AIDS in 2010, but HIV/AIDS was much more fatal to young people, and therefore appears higher in the DALY ranking. Likewise, as risk factors, not eating enough fruit out-rivals illicit drug use. For years, experts have said that most of the world’s major childhood diseases could be eliminated with clean water. What global burden suggests is that while lack of access to water and sanitation is a concern, five times worse for the world is indoor smoke from cookstoves, a major contributor to respiratory illnesses, communicable diseases, cardiovascular problems and cancers.

But I would also add to the list:
Being able to drive by being able to have, borrow or rent a car, and

Being able to get a driver’s license without much difficulty. “Driver’s Ed” in Europe is very expensive and almost no one passes the exam their first time out. I worked with very bright people in the Netherlands who had had to take the test up to five times to finally pass. After spending, I think, thousands of dollars on training.

Personal plumbing, personal heat/AC, delicious food, food delivery service, personal technology, and what @RealEyesRealizeRealLies said.

Unrestricted interstate/intrastate travel.

Big butts.

@Blackberry . . . snorted beer on that one

@Blackberry Why, do you like ‘em? Don’t lie now…

The ability of people of different faiths to get along in relative peace, for the most part. We might all argue about religion, but we generally don’t burn people for believing differently from us now, or “backsliding” or “apostasy”. I can’t imagine when we might ever elect an avowed atheist / agnostic President, though.

Even when most of the country strongly disapproves of some tiny sects, such as Westboro Baptist Church, they can do what they do without much worry about being murdered for their unpopular protests.

Canadians.

Groceries packed with many shelves of food. People from other countries are aghast at it.

WiFi

Mexican karaoke bars?

It’s possible to drive for 3,000 miles and never see a soldier.