Iceland is far more pragmatic and homogeneous than the US and that allows easier coordination on public policy. Policy in the US isn't about creating good outcomes (even if ostensibly that is the state goal); rather, it's about boosting the status of your political tribe relative to that of your opponents.
FWIW, the puke cleanup trucks spraying water trawl Reykjavik's downtown streets at dawn on weekends, but it seems to be increasingly to cope with the impacts of the tourist industry rather than domestic issues (though it's hard to tell what language anyone is speaking too far into a rúntur).
