{"id":11964,"date":"2024-02-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/?p=11964"},"modified":"2024-02-05T10:58:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T09:58:13","slug":"why-are-americans-convinced-of-their-perfection-prof-zbigniew-lewicki-explains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/why-are-americans-convinced-of-their-perfection-prof-zbigniew-lewicki-explains\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are Americans convinced of their perfection? Prof. Zbigniew Lewicki explains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wojciech Harpula: Since the Soviet Union fell, the United States has been the world\u2019s sole superpower, a constant reference point in global politics, economics, and culture. What do you think is the essence of the country and nation in the basic civilizational sense?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Zbigniew Lewicki*:<\/strong> In my view, there are a few features that reflect on America and Americans, the combination of which is unique and characteristic to that country and nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the history of the US is fully documented, which allows us to trace its origins and development. Since 1620, when the Mayflower<\/em> passengers built Plymouth in New England, which is widely considered the beginning both of British expansion in the New World and also of the US, everything\u2019s been set down in black and white. From further legislation and events to debates and disputes. Americans know who they are: where they came from on this continent, why and how their country was created, and how it developed. This gives them a sense of certainty and solidity, positioned on the sold ground of facts, not guesses. In their history, unlike in Europe, there\u2019s no place for the \u201cdarkness of history,\u201d suppositions, hypotheses, and legends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, America is a country that was conceived in war. The history of the British colonies in the New World abounded in military conflict and the history of the US as a state begins in an armed clash with Great Britain. The saying that Europe\u2019s from Venus and America\u2019s from Mars is largely true. For Americans, war, fighting, and death in battle are nothing unusual. They have great respect for those who die on the battlefield, but they don\u2019t regard that as a special sacrifice. Americans and American politicians believe that war is can be a necessity. This makes them different from Europeans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably because the history of Europe is basically a sequence of wars, with the cataclysms of the First and Second World Wars at the forefront. Americans lack this experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since their Civil War, there\u2019s been no fighting on American soil, it\u2019s true. However, the US participated in both world wars and suffered heavy losses in the struggle against Germany and Japan. Americans commonly believe that they were fighting for a just cause and that the victory of good over evil demanded sacrifice. They were prepared to make them. This \u201cwar\u201d feature and accepting violent means of resolving conflicts doesn\u2019t refer exclusively to the inner sphere. In this, until recently, the standard was striving for a community of views and decisions \u2013 another characteristic of America and Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today that\u2019s rather lost its relevance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has. It\u2019s currently working out less and less well, but there\u2019s no doubt that US citizens from the very beginning of that state\u2019s functions have applied the principle that dispute must lead to a solution that lies somewhere between the two opposing sides. And after the conflict, even the revolutionary one, has been resolved, the adversaries shake hands and go their own way. In Europe, there\u2019s a view that in a situation of differing opinions, someone has to win and someone has to lose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Phot.: cottonbro studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Someone is right, someone is not. The Americans, at least until recently, knew very well that a compromise was a situation neither side left fully satisfied. However, in that no one has completely lost the dispute, a platform has been established for further joint action. Please note their specific custom that the loser of an election officially then declares that they\u2019ve lost. This closed the procedure of counting votes, and both the loser and winner shook hands. In Europe, such a custom did not happen. American politics knew heated disputes and debates reflect conflicting interests of individual social groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, these were never \u201clife or death\u201d clashes. As a rule, they managed to reach a compromise that was more or less acceptable to both sides. I\u2019m talking about this in the past<\/a> tense because in the past few years we\u2019ve seen decisive changes for the worse in this area. Time will tell if it\u2019s possible to revive a good tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And since we are talking about politics, what\u2019s also extremely characteristic of Americans is the way they define their position as citizens in relation to state structures. In US English, the the \u201cgovernment\u201d actually means management. What we in Europe call government, that is, people performing managerial functions in the state, is \u201cadministration.\u201d Americans believe that the secretaries \u2013 that is, ministers in our language \u2013 in Washington, D.C., are supposed to manage an institution called the United States. However, they have no power to govern the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are hired workers. They weren\u2019t elected to tell free citizens how to live. Americans don\u2019t feel governed by anyone, they don\u2019t feel subjected to some structures in the nation\u2019s capital. On the contrary, the state and its structures work, among other things, to ensure that citizens enjoy their rights and freedoms as fully as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I once took a taxi in a city in the US. The driver drove through a yellow light at an intersection and just behind us was a police car. I asked the driver if he wasn\u2019t afraid to drive through a yellow light when the police were watching. He replied that \u201cI\u2019m not worried because they didn\u2019t see what color the light turned when I was entering the intersection.\u201d I began to explain that it was the police, they could stop him and fine him. Then the driver turned to me, saying: \u201cYou\u2019re from Europe, right?\u201d That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. Americans in generally don\u2019t feel governed. They don\u2019t have European respect for the state, its bureaucracy, institutions, and functionaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because every child in the US learns the words of the Declaration of Independence. There\u2019s an unusual formulation in it: that every human has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those words shaped the American mentality. No one in school says to me or to you \u201cDear, you have the right to liberty and happiness.\u201d In school we were told, and it\u2019s probably also said today, that everyone has their duties and tasks to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re taught that we should conscientiously do what parents, school, society, homeland, and finally the government expect of us. Nobody talks about the right to pursue personal happiness in European schools, while Americans hear from the very beginning of education that \u201cYou have the right to liberty and happiness.\u201d That document hangs in every school. This establishes your thinking about your role in the world, the state, and the collective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Phot.: Midjourney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This also results in the \u201cAmerican dream\u201d and the belief that each person relies on themself, and that due to their own abilities and efforts, regardless of place of birth and social background, they can attain wealth and position.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, but this isn\u2019t the only source of that attitude. This conviction also stems from the historical path that the Americans have gone through. When settlers appeared in America in the 17th and 18th centuries, for a long time, each held the right to several dozen or so acres of land for free or at low cost. But they had to locate that land, register ownership in the surveyor\u2019s office, and above all develop it, that is, clear it of century-old trees. It wasn\u2019t an easy job. The nearest neighbor lived a few or a dozen miles away. Some new arrivals from a very heavily socialized Europe, where they lived in rural clusters or urban crowds, couldn\u2019t bear the feeling of loneliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no one to help those settlers, society developed a sense that the best government was one that had as little to say as possible. Government is there not to disturb, not to place restrictions or barriers on free people. They can\u2019t expect help from the government so they don\u2019t want it to interfere in their lives. They pay taxes \u2013 that\u2019s enough. And for a very long time, the state in the United States functioned that way, with the developmental field left very wide for individual entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state\u2019s role increased with reforms by Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression, and later under Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama, yet to this day there are very few administrative restrictions on doing business. Specific regulations vary depend on the state you\u2019re in, but in general one can start an economic venture practically without consent or permits. To open a restaurant or grocery store, you mostly have to take into account sanitary control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s also important is that in America, you can start from scratch more than once. It\u2019s said that one can succeed in building a business the fifth or sixth time. If someone went bankrupt honestly \u2013 didn\u2019t cheat anyone, didn\u2019t steal anything \u2013 they can start over, with a clean slate. Americans assume that everyone has the right to make a mistake on the path to pursuing happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And one more factor that strongly distinguishes the US from Europe: one can achieve great success no matter where or in what family they were born. If I am talented, I can get a lot of money and no one wonders who my parents or grandparents were. There is no exaggeration in saying that it remains a country of great opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t that a myth? Whites\u2019 dominance from the East Coast is evident in many spheres.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, parents\u2019 good connections always help children. That rule works at any latitude, the US is no exception. However, social mobility is much higher than in Europe. America’s intellectual elite is concentrated on the East Coast. We read their newspapers and watch TV and shape opinions about America according to what elites there say, but that doesn\u2019t mean they shape the system and values. What\u2019s important, elites there consciously work for the social advancement of talented individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a common belief that when you make a lot of money, some of it should be given to the community. Hence, thousands of foundations fund university scholarships for talented young people. In America, it costs money to get an education, but if one is capable and hard-working, they can overcome the barrier of lack of money thanks to the whole system of talent support. A classic example of this is Barack Obama\u2019s life path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve talked about the specific characteristics of America and Americans. I would add the conviction of its uniqueness and the special role it has to play in the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agree, but that isn\u2019t a specific trait for Americans. Many nations consider themselves unique and endowed with a special mission. However, there\u2019s no doubt: Americans believe their country is unique and the world should follow its example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did this conviction come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sources were religious. The 17th-century settlers, especially the Puritans, were convinced that the task entrusted to them by God was to build a new, happy state and await the second coming of Christ. They thought they were chosen by God, who assigned them the task of building a new community that would serve as an example for the whole world. This belief took the form of the concept of Manifest Destiny, that is, \u201cRevealed Destiny\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recommend:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
A Cashless World: Convenience and Transparency or a Limitation of Freedom?<\/a><\/blockquote>