What are "American values"?

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Hi all. Let's talk about "American values". What are they? I've asked conservatives. I've asked liberals. They give me completely different answers.

Conservatives will usually tell me "America is a land of freedom." Of course, freedom is hard to define. I totally understand why America was called "the land of freedom" when it was initially founded. Back then, America was a democratic country is a world full of absolute monarchies. Only white, male landowners could vote but whatever. It was better than nothing.

Nowadays, there are plenty of other democratic countries. That's why so many people roll their eyes whenever "land of freedom" rhetoric comes up.

When pressed on this issue, conservatives will usually say "America is the land of the free market." Is the "free market" a good thing? Well ... the earth's natural resources are controlled by an elite few. The rest of us need to work our asses off just to afford basic things that human beings need in order to live.

People who "support the free market" are usually people who think that we should all work constantly just to make enough money to live. Just kidding. If you inherited a ton of land from grandpappy, you have it easy.

In other words, the so-called "free market" is only truly free for people who have a ton of money. In a free-market society, anyone can claim a piece of land as their own and grow food on it. Right? Well ... the earth only has a limited amount of land. That's where the "free market" falls apart. Those who claim all the land become aristocrats.

Do you feel depressed? You should. Let's switch to a brighter topic. Let's talk about American liberals. I love American liberals.

American liberals will usually say "America is a land of immigrants. People from all around the world come here. Diversity is what America is all about."

I will admit that this is an admirable position to take ... except that diversity isn't uniquely American. America is a nation of immigrants? So is Canada. So is Australia. So is New Zealand. Europe has become a land of immigrants in recent years, thanks to the ongoing refugee crisis.

Now check out this article.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-bernie-sanders-is-most-popular-u-s-politician/

TL;DR: Bernie Sanders is currently the most popular politician in the United States. Sanders is a guy who wants to make America more like Europe. In other words, "American values" are really just Western values now. America no longer has a unique set of values. Americans want the same stuff that Europeans want. Long ago, Europe adopted the democratic foundation that made America great. Now, Americans want the economic system that is making the Eurozone great.

When American conservatives talk about "American values", they are talking about the values of the American financial elite. When American liberals talk about "American values", they are really just talking about the values which unite Western Civilization as a whole.

Patriotism = Dead
Good riddance.

Discuss.

the world used to see America as a land where the little person could speak like the big person and eventually become another big person. now the rest of the word sees us as an international bully and a nation where big citizens bully little citizens and rig everything to keep the little citizens down, disenfranchised and silent. now "American values" are what the big people say they are (IOW "all for me and screw you.")

... well ... not anymore.

There is clearly a huge gulf between the American masses and the American elites. The elites are trying to supress the values of the masses. They are failing. Hard. The internet is largely responsible for this.

In any country, there are elite values and popular values. The masses have one set of values. The ruling elutes have another set. Sometimes, the gulf is small. Other times, it's huge.

We should make bets on when this thread gets locked.

There is no American values ATM. Too polarized.

We are #1

Our sports are the best
Our movies are the best
Our dollar is the best
Our standard of living is the best
Our freedoms are the best
Our Olympic teams are the best
Our technologies are the best
Our military is the best
Our universities are the best
Our household per capita income is the best
Our household per capita financial wealth is the best
Our medical research is the best
Our hospitals are the best in the world
...
...

what is there to discuss? sounds like you've got it all figured out...



of course, "best" on its own conveys nothing until you compare it to a standard, or give a quantity or a statistic, or....

thus the question is begged by me, not just here but practically every time i hear "the best"....best at what?

granted....some are obvious.......

for the 99%, our healthcare is NOT the best. our life expectancy is not the best, neither is our infant mortality. only the wealthy here have decent healthcare. everybody else here is kept weak by disease, in a cynically controlled manner.

If our dollar is the best why does it cost so much extra in USD compared to the Euro, lol just bought a couple things from Sweden only 90 euros in their currency 116 dollars in USD. Also highest standard of living? and you're very lucky if you ever reach it, so for most americans its a dream and not a reality. Our olympics teams aren't the best and in fac the olympics is just another human problem with all the waste and abandoned buildings left behind.

And well regardless of all the 'best' things we have, we have lost when it comes to environmental awareness, this is why I think other countries have every right to put sanctions on the U.S to force us to address climate change, plastic waste and other negative human contributions to the environment if our own government and people wont do it.

by this, i think is meant "most gold medals".

^^^^in light of that thought, it seems "American values" are exemplified by the phrase, "winner take all, and the devil take the hindmost." the American golden rule is, he with the gold makes the rules.

But 43rd per capita.

Grenada was the most successful nation in Rio 2016, with 1 medal per 106825 people.

Celebrities are most important.

Doesn't matter.

American attitude is that we're the best in everything.

Our history books tell us how great we are.

We mostly don't even bother learning about other nations, other languages, other cultures, because we know we're the best.

Other countries are portrayed as dysfunctional.

Like, a common American expression is "eat your food, kids are starving in China" (China being some awful crap country). "Switzerland" gets a lot of ridicule because it's non-intervention policy gets it labeled as "weak". Russians are still #1 "evil people" in our movies (because of Communism). Middle-easterners probably #2. "Europe" is dismissed as screwed up, because of "Socialism".

We dominate space-exploration, winners of many wars, the heros of WWII, nearly all meaningful inventions were done in the US. ....

It's an American value: to believe we're the best.

USA! USA! USA!

1. Our dollar is the best, because, the US dollar is the world's reserve currency.

2. Yeah, I think it's right. Americans on average can get more "stuff" than anyone else. That is largely true, because we have the world's reserve currency, we can maintain a huge trade imbalance (trade paper for real stuff).

3. Other countries don't have the military power to do sanctions against the US. And if one of them did, we could just replace that leader with a US-friendly one. We have done it many times.

I wish I could multiquote, because I'd like to add what Aunt Blabby said about "winner take all and the devil take the hindmost" and "he who has the gold makes the rules."

I WANT to say that "American values" are the society outlined in the Constitution, as well as being summed up as the equality (both de facto and de jure) of all people under the law, the ability to achieve a measure of success (with success being defined as comfort and security, not fantastic wealth) by hard work and responsible decision making, respect for others' points of view, and self-reliance within a framework of mutual assistance (you know, how the pioneers did it).

That's pretty much a joke these days, though. "American values" seem to boil down to celebrity-worship, wealth-worship, youth-worship, and a version of "nationalism" and "patriotism" that bears more resemblance to a high school pep rally than actual civic responsibility and respect.

No wonder our last election boiled down to a contest between a back-stabbing social-climbing mean girl and a revolting backslapping locker room golden boy. It's high school all over again, on a grand scale.