FREEDOM

Americans think that their society is the freest in the world. This ideal is pushed down their throats by everyone - teachers, media, politicians. This is the very idea that unifies America.
Proof: Even today's immigration offices are flooded with hopeful applicants.
Root: Historically speaking, America is a nation who chose to live there as the better alternative, because they wanted to get away from religious or political persecution or misery.

The American Constitution is the first democratic constitution of the world. The first ten amendments to the American Constitution, the Bill of Rights essentially anticipates the Declaration of Human Rights. The Bill of Rights states that all people are equal and that the role of Government is to protect each person's basic "inalienable" rights ( freedom of speech, press, religion).

This ideal of freedom has not always corresponded to reality.

* slavery and discrimination against Black Americans
* extinction of Native Americans
* the Red Hunt masterminded by Republican Senator McCarthy in the 50ies: At the height of the Cold War innumerable federal officials and artists suspected of communist affiliations were forced to appear before Senate Committees in order to name names. The result was that many government employees were fired and that artist could no longer act or publish.
* Interventions through the CIA in Central and South America, namely in Guatemala, Chile, El Salvador and Nicaragua, in order to bring down or prevent socialist governments and to keep in power right wing rulers that would do what the USA wanted them to.
At the same time profound changes and liberalization were made happen by the various protest movements in the 60ies, which started in San Francisco. Generally speaking, the USA has always been at the forefront of civil right legislation (blacks, women, gays.)

INDIVIDUALISM

Most major American philosophers in the 18th and 19th centuries, many thinkers and writers throughout the US history held that the free individual's identity is sacred and that the individual's dignity and integrity should never be violated in any way.
Many writers argued for more individual self-reliance:

* The idea is that you ought to trust exclusively yourself and your own judgment and conscience.
* We should constantly revolt against routine and habitual ways of thinking
* We can control our fate (myth: the American Adam who was given a second chance by God!)

Individualism, understood not only as self-reliance but also as economic self-sufficiency, has been a central theme in American history.
Historical roots: In the early days, most Americans were farmers whose success depended on their ability to confront the hardships of land and climate on their own, without help. Innumerable westerns and many more recent mainstream movies glorify such frontier heroes. Moreover a lot of rags-to-riches stories, like the one about the Rockefellers, reflect this attitude.
Today: Most Americans work for large organizations, but very few really like it. Owning your own private business is still most people's dream, because then nobody interferes and you have to rely on yourself. As a result, it is much easier to open your own business because there are fewer regulations. (Death of a Salesman)

The ideal of freedom is also reflected in people's attitude towards government: Americans strongly disapprove of government interference. "Government stay out!" (? Volunteerism)

As a matter of fact, there is no comprehensive welfare system in the USA. Although workers have incomparably fewer rights than in Europe, unions are weak. Even those at the bottom are in favor of laws that restrict unions, just because they could restrict their freedom. (e.g.: just private health care and old pension plans)

Another result: social Darwinism: survival of the fittest, It's everybody's fault if they don't make it

VOLUNTEERISM

This concept is closely bound up with the idea of self reliance and "government stay out", "we can help ourselves".
Definition: Volunteerism means helping through privately initiated, rather than government sponsored programs. Volunteers organize themselves in order to solve community problems:
o saving an educational TV Station from going bankrupt
o new uniforms for the school football teams
o ? raise money by selling cookies etc.
The willingness to participate in such groups is so widespread that six out of ten Americans are members of volunteer organizations.

MOBILITY

The confidence of Americans in the abundance of resources relates to their habit of mobility: For them, the most practical solution to problems is often to move elsewhere and make a fresh start. Mobility is not a sign of aimlessness but of optimism, of the willingness to get up and do something about your situation.
Many Americans take it for granted that they may live in 4 to 5 cities in their lifetime. Constantly "house-hunting", they look for "for sale" signs. Americans hate the idea that a house might immobilize them. As a result, they develop relatively little attachment to a single place. This explains why the national pride is much longer than the regional pride.

IDEALIZING WHAT IS PRACTICAL

Many historians claim that most beliefs and values which are characteristically American emerged within the context of the frontier experience. Survival in the wilderness was only achieved by robust, practical individuals. They had to farm, build houses, look after the education of their kids.
o Whatever was practical and fast, was okay.
Typically American: do-it-yourselves; can-do spirit, shelves full of "How-to" books
o self-service facilities such as supermarkets, self-service restaurants, gas stations.
PSYCHOLOGY OF ABUNDANCE

Americans have throughout their history regarded their country as a land of limitless wealth.
When first settlers came, fertile land was cheap and available to anyone who wanted to farm. Yet, as settlement on the east coast increased, resources were rapidly depleted. But people just moved on. The abundance of resources attracted millions of farmers, fur hunters and so on. The result were polluted rivers, deforestation and extinction of certain species, already in the 19th century.
Ruthless exploitation of resources has continued throughout this century and Americans only reluctantly recognize that the nation's resources are limited and no longer cheap. But limits are something Americans find hard to accept, because the idea contradicts everything that has been said before.

AMERICAN PATRIOTISMIt has little to do with the love of the land, but is concentrated on the historical event of the nation's creation as a new start and on the idea of freedom which inspired the nation's beginning.

QUESTIONNING OF VALUES

The questioning of values began in the 60ies, the time of the Vietnam. Americans took a more critical look at their own history at home and abroad. Moreover the WATERGATE - affaire in the early 70ies created fundamental divisions among Americans about their country's goals. Generally one has to say that there is no longer a coherent system of beliefs that holds the country together in the same way as there was until the beginning of the 60ies.