this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
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Liberal at the time? Sure. These days it seems more like libertarian values. Rugged individualism does not make for a very collective society.
That's what I am trying to say. Americans still think individualism is the ultimate goal because that is what their country was founded upon.
As a dumb American, I am a little conflicted by the premise.
Many European countries are much older than the USA and I presume they are more homogeneous in terms of population. Yet constitutions in Europe are either newer that the US constitution or they're treated with much less deferance (eg they're free game for modifications).
I admit to having spent very little time thinking about this, but I wonder if the US is stuck in a self selection loop? People drawn towards rugged individualism, which is a large component of the "American Dream" come here and perpetuate the cycle.
Western European countries are not that homogeneous as you might think. For example 12.1% of the people living in Germany were born outside the EU and another 7.4% in other EU countries. In the US 15.2% were born outside the US.
Canada and USA are sumilar in age compared to Europe. The biggest difference I see between Canadian attitude toward life and USA seems to boil down to free healthcare. With free healthcare you don't have to amass wealth to take care of yourself just in case. And you don't have to keep worrying about law suits if somebody is injured. It changes your relationship with the citizens, because Canadians are in it together, Americans fend for themselves.
And in the province of British Columbia we have socialized crown corp car insurance. You don't sue another insurance company for damages (or health care costs) in a car accident, because its all one insurer. Your car gets fixed, your medical is paid. If they payout less than the premiums collected we get rebate cheques. For majority of accidents where damage is minimal and nobody is seriously hurt, you don't even have the police come for a traffic report, you just self report it online.
Everything is a lot less adversarial