It is absolutely legit to point towards models that are in place and working elsewhere. Your approach here is a little narrow minded.
See, by your logic, the US would have never been able to influence the Western World at all. If everyone would have said "this isn't the US, this is <country X>, no progress with American influence would have ever made.
It's in fact one of the USA's biggest weaknesses, to ignore and disregard others. Common sense tells us, how we benefit the most when we learn from each other...