Why the World and the USA Don’t Understand Each Other

Understanding America’s Identity: Individualism vs. Collectivism

This is a blog post from a Brit who I think has hit on why there is such misunderstanding between most of the World and the USA.

This discovery came after reading Mark Levin’s fascinating book Liberty and Tyranny – I reviewed it here. I learned from Levin’s book that there’s an important ideological difference between the United States and the countries I grew up in – one that goes a long way to explaining why people on the right wing think so ‘differently’ to Eurotrash like me.

In America – since the nation’s birth – individualism has been key foundation of society. Conversely, in Europe (especially following World War II) there’s always been more of a push towards collectivism.

The difference is subtle, but profound.

He goes on to show how this resulted from the USA’s founding and how it also influences politics in the USA. Individualism explains the opposition to health care, the draft, prohibition, and many other issues. He also shows how the extremes of both the left and the right are collectivist in nature. It is well worth the read.