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What is it about the US?

This past weekend I traveled from Washington DC to North Pennsylavania along the I-95 corridor, looking at the sprawling suburbs, malls, and churches of America as I was driving, and thought about American culture.

Here's what I thought: The US is part of several countries that were populated by the British, and hence have an Anglo-Saxon cultural base:

- Australia
- New Zealand
- Canada
- USA
- South Africa

Yet, out of all these countries, the US remains culturally distinct, and extremely different from, say, Canada and Australia. Why? What is it about the US that makes it such a sharp contrast to the other former British colonies?

Why are the US' Anglo-Saxon siblings all Socialist, while the US abhors Socialism? Why are the other Anglo-Saxon countries secular, while the US is religious?

Could it be geography? Climate? Just what exactly is it, given that all the former colonies share the same ancestry.

BTW, I realize that there are actually two different "United States" (the South and the North - very distinct culturally), but there's a lot of things common to the continental US.

Re: What is it about the US?

quote:

Originally posted by HardTranceProd This past weekend I traveled from Washington DC to North Pennsylavania along the I-95 corridor, looking at the sprawling suburbs, malls, and churches of America as I was driving, and thought about American culture. Here's what I thought: The US is part of several countries that were populated by the British, and hence have an Anglo-Saxon cultural base: - Australia - New Zealand - Canada - USA - South Africa Yet, out of all these countries, the US remains culturally distinct, and extremely different from, say, Canada and Australia. Why? What is it about the US that makes it such a sharp contrast to the other former British colonies? Why are the US' Anglo-Saxon siblings all Socialist, while the US abhors Socialism? Why are the other Anglo-Saxon countries secular, while the US is religious? Could it be geography? Climate? Just what exactly is it, given that all the former colonies share the same ancestry. BTW, I realize that there are actually two different "United States" (the South and the North - very distinct culturally), but there's a lot of things common to the continental US.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the USA is the only nation in that list to revolt from the UK...

Maybe they didn't see eye to eye with that culture?

So my question is, why?

It's all coming from the same place, Britain.

For example, if you told me that Canada was settled by the British but the US by the Irish, I would understand the difference: Ireland is not the same as Britain, its culture is slightly different.

But here we have 5-6 countries that trace their origins to Britain.
All these countries have Protestant Anglo-Saxon values.

quote:

Originally posted by HardTranceProd So my question is, why? It's all coming from the same place, Britain. For example, if you told me that Canada was settled by the British but the US by the Irish, I would understand the difference: Ireland is not the same as Britain, its culture is slightly different. But here we have 5-6 countries that trace their origins to Britain. All these countries have Protestant Anglo-Saxon values.

Because Socialism sucks!

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka Because Socialism sucks!

Clearly, the people in all the other Anglo-Saxon countries don't think so at all, quite the opposite.

quote:

Originally posted by HardTranceProd Clearly, the people in all the other Anglo-Saxon countries don't think so at all, quite the opposite.

That's cool. Everyone is entitled to their opinions!

Re: Re: What is it about the US?

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Originally posted by Yoepus Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the USA is the only nation in that list to revolt from the UK...

yeah, id agree with that.

its also really cute to hear people call australia socialist too

id also point out that something like the US' legal culture has played a massive part. ie the australian constitution is very different from the US'. both in design & functionality. having inalienable rights such as free speech & the right to bear arms enshrined in law can fundamentally change the way in which a society evolves.

to the best of my knowledge the australian constitution doesnt give its citizens any rights at all. its mainly concerned with telling the various levels of govt/law how to relate.

the US is also at least 200 (??? sorry dont know exactly) years older than australia.

quote:

Originally posted by HardTranceProd But here we have 5-6 countries that trace their origins to Britain. All these countries have Protestant Anglo-Saxon values.

You see a loose thread in the fabric of reality.. i'll give it a little pull for you.

Is communism better than capitalism?

Would you be able to answer this question if communism existed solely on paper? Would you be able to answer this question if capitalism existed solely on paper?

How much of the world would you need to answer this question? and how long would it take?

or for humours sake...

Is Jesus God or is Jesus a Man. How much of the world would you need to answer that question?

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka That's cool. Everyone is entitled to their opinions!

well his point was not wheather or not it was good, but why the US turned out so different

But i guess it has something to do with a few driving forces or so makeing it more independent?

Re: What is it about the US?

quote:

Originally posted by HardTranceProd This past weekend I traveled from Washington DC to North Pennsylavania along the I-95 corridor, looking at the sprawling suburbs, malls, and churches of America as I was driving, and thought about American culture. Here's what I thought: The US is part of several countries that were populated by the British, and hence have an Anglo-Saxon cultural base: - Australia - New Zealand - Canada - USA - South Africa Yet, out of all these countries, the US remains culturally distinct, and extremely different from, say, Canada and Australia. Why? What is it about the US that makes it such a sharp contrast to the other former British colonies? Why are the US' Anglo-Saxon siblings all Socialist, while the US abhors Socialism? Why are the other Anglo-Saxon countries secular, while the US is religious? Could it be geography? Climate? Just what exactly is it, given that all the former colonies share the same ancestry. BTW, I realize that there are actually two different "United States" (the South and the North - very distinct culturally), but there's a lot of things common to the continental US.

Maybe it is because the US is run by huge corporations that have billions of dollars to do what they want. And what they want is to make lots of $. So thats why you see lots of suburbs and malls. It is all a part of the economy to make it grow and make these corporations richer than they are now, along the way they take out the small business owner.

It might also be because there are over a hundred million ppl compare that with other British once ruled countries. So the more ppl the more diverse it should be right?

there are no huge corporations in canada, groundhogs influence the way we dress and the way we vote!

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Originally posted by Goashem there are no huge corporations in canada, groundhogs influence the way we dress and the way we vote!

yea i figured that....but whatever....i mean if you look at it who has the biggest corporations in the world? The US.

A leading theory over the difference of religiousness (word?) between Europe and the USA is that, in Europe from the Medieval Age to the Indusrtial Revolution, the church (especially Catholicism) was just a big corporation that kings used to hold the people down, and a few became disgustingly rich off at the expense of everyone else. When everyone was finally released from this, they still resented the church, and so not many wanted to go, so less do. In the USA, there has never been that kind of culture, and so people do go to the church often.

What that has to do with the Commonwealth, I'm not entirely sure, but someone can have a crack at linking the two.

Re: Re: What is it about the US?

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Originally posted by metalgearsolid So thats why you see lots of suburbs and malls. It is all a part of the economy to make it grow and make these corporations richer than they are now, along the way they take out the small business owner.

Evil corporations...heh. If it strives to make a profit, it must therefore be eeeeeevil!!!

quote:

Originally posted by metalgearsolid yea i figured that....but whatever....i mean if you look at it who has the biggest corporations in the world? The US.

And why is that?
Because they didn't believe in the taxes being imposed on them from a controlling country across the ocean.
After their revolt from Britian, the U.S. businesses florished because there were no taxes, eventually making them a powerhouse in the world.
The U.S. is structured for businesses to florish (one of the reasons they're having problems dealing with socialist European businesses where the government paperwork can choke a horse) plain and simple.

I wouldn't call Canada a 'socialist' country by any means even though we do enjoy some socialist ideals like our HealthCare System.
Thanks to the overshadowing of the States, we have a very capitalist economy.
Unfortunately, our elected government (the Liberals) can do with a little shaking up.

quote:

Originally posted by Fir3start3r And why is that? Because they didn't believe in the taxes being imposed on them from a controlling country across the ocean. After their revolt from Britian, the U.S. businesses florished because there were no taxes, eventually making them a powerhouse in the world. The U.S. is structured for businesses to florish (one of the reasons they're having problems dealing with socialist European businesses where the government paperwork can choke a horse) plain and simple. I wouldn't call Canada a 'socialist' country by any means even though we do enjoy some socialist ideals like our HealthCare System. Thanks to the overshadowing of the States, we have a very capitalist economy. Unfortunately, our elected government (the Liberals) can do with a little shaking up.

It isn't only because of the taxes, what good are having no taxes when you don't have the peeps and land and resources. I seriously believe that if any country had the diverse land of the US they would be the worlds richest. I mean look at your country, Canada, you guys are big and have a lot of natural resources, but a majority of your land is frozen like russias. What does that do? It makes it difficult to grow crops and difficult to build roads, highways and homes. Oh and come on the US businesses having problem with European government, maybe its because the Europeans don't work much(excluding the brits, germs)?

And Canada come on it is a beautiful country even more because it is close to a big capitalist economy like the US and I doubt the US gov would want to see canada become socialist or communists. Shorter put the US gov doesn't want a neighbor, especially a country thats as important as yours, to become a rival political form.

quote:

Originally posted by metalgearsolid I mean look at your country, Canada, you guys are big and have a lot of natural resources, but a majority of your land is frozen like russias. What does that do? It makes it difficult to grow crops and difficult to build roads, highways and homes.

I don't buy that for a minute. Africa is one of the most resource rich regions of the planet, and also the poorest, most poverty stricken and disease riddled. I can assure you that none of that land is frozen. I think you'd need to substantially refine your argument for it to hold any water.

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka I don't buy that for a minute. Africa is one of the most resource rich regions of the planet, and also the poorest, most poverty stricken and disease riddled. I can assure you that none of that land is frozen. I think you'd need to substantially refine your argument for it to hold any water.

I also said you needed the people or in other words the entrepreneours who know how to create jobs and make $. And also don't tell me that Africa is just one nation? Is it one nation, shakka? Huh tell me what size is the biggest country there?!! It is 900,000sq miles and most of it is desert. Look at the US, for gods sake you live here right? How big is the US 3.5million sq miles. A country to be wealthy also needs to be big. I mean come on you can grow oranges in florida and coconuts and you can grow wheat in the mid west. You need to have fucking diverse land to grow(I am not mad, just a bit angered that you are a bit ignorant). I mean comone shakka doesn't it matter to have good land and good trading partners? I mean look if you really wanna get into this you would see that there are a lot of trade restrictions with Africa, so the wealtheir countries are not trading enough with them. If we traded enough with them I assure you, you would see more African countries with a lot of wealth.

Government matters also what does a gov do for its peeps? It creates stability, and without stabilty you wouldn't be able to grow. Look at all the rebel groups in Africa who are always fighting one another. There is no order in Africa that would compare to America, and other countries like canada and Germany.

quote:

Originally posted by metalgearsolid I also said you needed the people or in other words the entrepreneours who know how to create jobs and make $. And also don't tell me that Africa is just one nation? Is it one nation, shakka? Huh tell me what size is the biggest country there?!! It is 900,000sq miles and most of it is desert. Look at the US, for gods sake you live here right? How big is the US 3.5million sq miles. A country to be wealthy also needs to be big. I mean come on you can grow oranges in florida and coconuts and you can grow wheat in the mid west. You need to have fucking diverse land to grow(I am not mad, just a bit angered that you are a bit ignorant). I mean comone shakka doesn't it matter to have good land and good trading partners? I mean look if you really wanna get into this you would see that there are a lot of trade restrictions with Africa, so the wealtheir countries are not trading enough with them. If we traded enough with them I assure you, you would see more African countries with a lot of wealth.

Lol. Seem to have touched a nerve. I never called Africa a country, I referred to it as a region. Is size a prerequisite for success? Look at Japan--they seem to do fine on their small little, not-as-geographically-diverse-as-the-U.S. island nation. For every example you try to throw out, I guarantee you there are plenty of exceptions or inconsistencies. As a whole, Africa dwarfs the U.S. in sheer geographic size. And geographically speaking, I'm sure you'd find that conditions in Africa are equally if not more diverse than what you'd encounter in the U.S. Deserts, jungles, you name it. Hell, the cure for cancer is probably somewhere deep in the jungles of Africa. And in case you weren't aware, there is plenty of desert in the U.S. as well--it's called Las Vegas (well more than Vegas, but the humor was probably wasted anyway).

Your words. Verbatim.

quote:

Originally posted by metalgearsolid I seriously believe that if any country had the diverse land of the US they would be the worlds richest.

To which I said you'd have to seriously refine your argument. So you come back with this:

quote:

Government matters also what does a gov do for its peeps? It creates stability, and without stabilty you wouldn't be able to grow. Look at all the rebel groups in Africa who are always fighting one another. There is no order in Africa that would compare to America, and other countries like canada and Germany.

Now you seem to be making some progress with your argument. You realize that there's more to it than sheer size and "land diversity". Africa does poorly because it has some of the most corrupt leadership in the world. The people are powerless to better themselves when they can't read, write, or have access to a decent infrastructure. The U.S. certainly come equipped with highways, airports and hospitals when the settlers first arrived here, but they set up an organized, well run system of government and commerce that allowed for an environment of rapid development. Change the leadership in some of the worst African nations and you'll probably see an overall positive improvement in the populace there.

But please, call me ignorant for critiquing your seriously flawed argument. Only trying to help a brutha out. MGS.

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka Lol. Seem to have touched a nerve. I never called Africa a country, I referred to it as a region. Is size a prerequisite for success? Look at Japan--they seem to do fine on their small little, not-as-geographically-diverse-as-the-U.S. island nation. For every example you try to throw out, I guarantee you there are plenty of exceptions or inconsistencies. As a whole, Africa dwarfs the U.S. in sheer geographic size. And geographically speaking, I'm sure you'd find that conditions in Africa are equally if not more diverse than what you'd encounter in the U.S. Deserts, jungles, you name it. Hell, the cure for cancer is probably somewhere deep in the jungles of Africa. And in case you weren't aware, there is plenty of desert in the U.S. as well--it's called Las Vegas (well more than Vegas, but the humor was probably wasted anyway). Your words. Verbatim.

sorry I have issues just ask Arbiter. He will tell you I have something wrong with me. But something is wrong with him too we argued for like two days and for what? I have no clue. My words equal Verbatim, great.

quote:

Africa does poorly because it has some of the most corrupt leadership in the world. The people are powerless to better themselves when they can't read, write, or have access to a decent infrastructure. The U.S. certainly come equipped with highways, airports and hospitals when the settlers first arrived here, but they set up an organized, well run system of government and commerce that allowed for an environment of rapid development. Change the leadership in some of the worst African nations and you'll probably see an overall positive improvement in the populace there.

Right my point you got. Thank you Shakka.

quote:

But please, call me ignorant for critiquing your seriously flawed argument. Only trying to help a brutha out. MGS.

It is ok as long as it is constructive. i mean sometimes you yourselve give some pretty flawed arguments, but hey who is perfect?

There a combination of factors that lead to why the U.S. has been so successful. The resources, as discussed were a huge factor, the influx of immigration, which can also explain why the U.S. is so much different (the diversity), and the strong tariffs the U.S. applied while the country was growing all helped the country explode in strength. Capitalism works especially well in a system of numerous resources, because it allows a country to be self-sufficient in the market of goods.

Also, why does everybody have such a hard-on for the small-business owner. He employs fewer people, provides fewer products and at higher prices? An arguement, of course, can be made for quality, but this applies only to a handful of goods. Let's not have nostalgia guide our political opinions.

Re: What is it about the US?

quote:

Originally posted by HardTranceProd This past weekend I traveled from Washington DC to North Pennsylavania along the I-95 corridor, looking at the sprawling suburbs, malls, and churches of America as I was driving, and thought about American culture. Here's what I thought: The US is part of several countries that were populated by the British, and hence have an Anglo-Saxon cultural base: - Australia - New Zealand - Canada - USA - South Africa Yet, out of all these countries, the US remains culturally distinct, and extremely different from, say, Canada and Australia. Why? What is it about the US that makes it such a sharp contrast to the other former British colonies? Why are the US' Anglo-Saxon siblings all Socialist, while the US abhors Socialism? Why are the other Anglo-Saxon countries secular, while the US is religious? Could it be geography? Climate? Just what exactly is it, given that all the former colonies share the same ancestry. BTW, I realize that there are actually two different "United States" (the South and the North - very distinct culturally), but there's a lot of things common to the continental US.

You see the source of your confusion lies in your assumption that your culture is "anglo-saxon". Go out and ask your friends how many of them are descendants of brits. You'll be surprised at how many say: My grandma was polish, or irish , or german, or italian, or hungarian etc. You ll find very few who say im anglo.
The culture of the United States is unique because its almost every other culture combined. Hence the idea of "the melting pot".

quote:

Originally posted by metalgearsolid yea i figured that....but whatever....i mean if you look at it who has the biggest corporations in the world? The US.

The biggest corporations no longer belong to 1 nation in particular. hence the transnationals and globalization.

no but one country has about 100 of the biggest corporations currently

quote:

Originally posted by kush paintings Also, why does everybody have such a hard-on for the small-business owner. He employs fewer people, provides fewer products and at higher prices? An arguement, of course, can be made for quality, but this applies only to a handful of goods.

I am not sure you are correct about that. I think I have heard that small businesses create about 3/4 of the jobs or something like that. I am not really sure but i know they do play a part when it comes to hiring a lot of ppl.

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