HOW AMERICANS THINK ?

Everyone has an opinion on the U.S. elections. We all need to understand the U.S., what motivates them, why they react certain ways, because what they do impacts upon us all.

Non-Americans are confused, often alarmed and uneasy, about the language U.S. politicians use. Especially their use of God, evoking expressions of manifest destiny. Here’s where there is the greatest divide between Americans and other developed nations. Consider the findings of the following research and polling. 48% of Americans believe the U.S. has special protection from God, 58% believe the U.S. strength and success is based on religious faith, 60% say faith is involved in every aspect of their lives. Over 60% attend a church once or twice a week -10% in Europe. Here’s a conversation-stopper for a dinner party in London, Sydney or Hong Kong, 40% believe that the world will end with Armageddon and a battle between Jesus and the anti-Christ. Even more, 45%, believe Jesus will return in their lifetime. The great growing cultural divide between the U.S. and the European Union goes beyond religion. The U.S., born out of the European experience of the reformation and the great thinkers of the enlightenment, found its most famous and profound expression in the American Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and The Bill of Rights. God declared we were all equal in his sight, and that was good enough for the fathers of independence. This was basically Calvanistic, that hard work, thrift, and private ownership should be rewarded. Good idea, it delivered the American dream that millions have sought out and still do. But it was a solitary dream. You are on your own, you can’t blame society, you can get there with your own talents and the less government the better. Americans are very proud of this ideal. The U.S. revolution, unlike the French revolution, was essentially conservative, aimed at limiting the power of Government.

In a survey of 23 countries, U.S. citizens topped the poll of being very proud of their country. 60% stated their culture was superior than others compared to 37% of British and, wait for it, only 30% of the French polled. 98% of American youth thought this, compared to 65% of Germans. Most think they have the best living standards in the world. U.S. workers work 10 more weeks than Germans, 4_ weeks more than the British. American workers put in 1,877 hours per year compared to 1,840 hours in Japan, and 1,562 hours for French workers. The U.S. is only 1 of 3 of the industrial countries which has no legislative maternity leave. The European Union has paid maternity leave of 3 to 6 months. Many have 100% paid maternity leave for at least 3 months.

French workers output per hour, per worker, is $41.85, Norway $45.44, the U.S. $38.83. What does all this mean politically? In countries like Britain or New Zealand, there are votes to be harvested by promising to use the collective power of the state to redistribute income to assist the poor. That was the social contract. America is different, more people own businesses than are members of unions, more people own shares than actually bother to vote. America’s genius is based upon everyone
having an opportunity and everyone having the right to a second chance. This right and belief in renewal is a profound social and economic factor in the American success story. Take U.S. bankruptcy laws which are very forgiving and liberal. Put your company under Chapter 11 and trade your way forward. Debts forgiven. They also have a sort of moral Chapter 11. Confess, become born again and start again.

HOW AMERICANS THINK ?
40% of Americans report having a profound religious experience. They have a billionaires’ bankrupt club, people who have gone under and come back, successful, proud and boastful. No guilt about forgotten debts, lives wrecked. They prize individual rights and as a Nation, reflect unease about international collective rights as they are uneasy about collective social rights at home. George Washington warned against foreign entanglements. A profound power shift from a more liberal New England, an Atlantic emphasis to the south, Texas, and the west, California, is underway. This still resonates. The Wilsonian vision of a world run by international institutes and global laws, and the more individualistic Hamiltonian expression, which sees unilateralism, even isolationism, is still being fought out. Churchill once said of the American relationship, “We are separated by a common language.”