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Eight American Cultural Traits Last edited September, 2007. America is different politically and economically from
virtually all other existing states. It can also be argued that Americans
possess a unique cultural identity which transcends all divisions within our own
ethnic, racial, religious, political, philosophical and other factions.
The reference to culture here is not made in the Hollywood-Madison Avenue
pop-culture sense, but rather in the sense of character and personality traits
that Americans share as a group. More than simply an American
exceptionalism, either, the American culture referenced here is a product of our
historical origin and possibly even our genetics. We really are a nation
of immigrants who, from colonial times to the present day, took extraordinary
personal risks and were willing to pay the ultimate human price for liberty and
for new opportunity. Such explorers, voyagers, and adventurers shared a set of
common personality traits no matter what the circumstances of their previous
life. Whether 17th century religious refugees from Europe, roaming
settlers in the American West, freed American slaves making their way North,
Mexican or Cuban immigrants in the present day, or any of the thousand other
stories in-between, successful new Americans have shared a set of remarkably
common qualities. Is it not evident that these common qualities would be
passed down to new generations by example or even by genes? The premise put forth in this writing is that there is a
set of common American traits outside of our politico-economic structures, but
eminently compatible with the same, which make our nation more robust than it
otherwise would be. This set of cultural traits is nearly universal across
an unbelievably diverse population, many of which who would disagree with each
other in almost every other respect. This set of traits has been passed
down, at least to some degree, to succeeding generations. Our American
cultural personality can be considered the high-octane fuel for the capitalist
and democratic engine powering our national being. Such an engine may run
satisfactorily on a lower octane fuel, but it is the high-test American culture
that allows us to really open up the throttle. Therefore, it is well worth
identifying and protecting this fuel from contamination or dilution so as to
preserve the performance of our engine. Let us examine eight American
cultural traits that should be common to and valued by us all. 1: Independence. Americans are individuals at
heart. We are self-defined and self-made. We do not take kindly to others
foisting their views or their will on us and we do not wish to be characterized
by others as something we are not. From the beginning, the "live free
or die" attitude has been one fundamental basis of our culture. This
is easily understandable, given that most immigrants came to America or moved to
another section of America for the expressed purpose of escaping some form of
persecution or dominance by others. The trait of personal independence has
helped us avoid the sameness of thought and belief in our citizens historically
found elsewhere in the world and it has helped to protect our political system
from early demise. Today the cultural trait of independence is largely intact,
but it does need defense against modern attacks. Moral relativism,
"diversity" tolerance campaigns that often lump people together by
stereotype or race, and certain religious factions that promote cookie-cutter
thinking among their flock all pose a real danger to this cultural footing. Very
popular today, even in official capacities such as public education, is the idea
that one's personal identity should be
tied to ancestry or race.
For example, schools promote "black history month" and in many cases foster the
idea that great accomplishments of a group's ancestors somehow make a member of
that group's future generation great too. This is counter to the American
principal that each individual be judged on his or her own accomplishments.
A similar issue can be found in current conservative religious organizations
which dictate that members must follow a particular political script.
Individuality is again lost to a kind of group-think. As
new immigrants compose a lower and lower percentage of our population, we must
be wary to keep independence as a hallmark of our culture. Without the new
blood to infuse our culture with energy, we must hold high the independent
thinkers and iconoclasts in our history and in our daily lives so that our children
read the message loud and clear. 2: Hard work. Americans have never been afraid
of hard work. From colonial era farms to "Charlie Hustle" on
modern little league baseball fields, Americans have valued the idea that working
intensely pays off in spades. That is true on an individual basis and
collectively. From the beginning, laziness was the ultimate American sin
punishable by hunger, low pay, personal failure and a deserved lack of public
esteem. Hard work, in fact, was its own reward. American farms and
factories were no place for slackers, nor were ships and railroads, nor was the
military. When the going got tough, the tough got going. Even
collectively, we took pride in hard work, with World War II being the ultimate
historical example. GI Joe and Rosie the Riveter both rolled up their
sleeves, got their hands dirty, and got the job done in record time. After
the war, Americans continued on with the collective hard work applied to
highways, houses and babies. Today, though, hard work—the really tough stuff—sometimes seems a
quaint relic to many in the current generation. Two dangerous
counter-culture threads appear in large part to be the cause. One, started
early in the twentieth century, is related to a sort of labor union
"mentality" which can be summed up with the phrase: "what have
you done for me lately?" Instead of the idea that hard work now will
eventually pay off later, this growing cultural trend suggests that work should
not even be initiated until generous rewards are secured for the eventual
effort. It is not limited to the union workplace either, as white-collar
workers, knowledge workers, and even school children have latched on to the same
idea. Young children are often
subjected to token reward systems
in public school classrooms, which stifle
the intrinsic value of hard work The second thread appears to have started with parents in the late 1950s,
the 1960s and the 1970s who wanted to give their children the things they didn't
have and to spare their children the tough choices they felt that they faced.
Essentially, mothers and fathers who
wanted to be friends with their
children—instead of parents—spoiled a few generations. This cultural
thread continues to grow too. We must resist these two threats to the
culture of hard work that made America strong through two centuries. 3: Inventiveness. American inventiveness is the
stuff of legend. From our earliest history when necessity was the mother
of invention, to the periods of depression when citizens had to "make
do", to periods of war when new technologies were fabricated on the spot,
to periods of boom when new money was reinvested to make new discoveries, we
have a solid history of advancement. The inventiveness is not limited to
technology either, as illustrated by our unique political system, our medical
leadership, even our distinctively American form of music: jazz.
Historically we have had a cultural proclivity of one-upmanship in our work and
in our individual lives. It is the American competition to make things better,
stronger, faster and cheaper. We want, we invent. Fortunately, the fundamental American cultural trait for
inventiveness appears to be alive and well in modern times. We continue to
invent new technologies, new systems, and new means of human interaction at a
pace that defies comprehension by a single person. 4. Personal ambition. Every immigrant to
step into this country and every citizen that ever picked up and moved to
another area of our country did so based on personal ambition. Our
Constitution created the land of opportunity, our capitalist system rewards
personal ambition in that land. Our culture, naturally, has been molded by
the idea that Americans can and should fulfill their personal desires and that
they should pursue them vigorously. Individual happiness and the pursuit
of dreams is at the core of
our being. Today, personal ambition thrives in our culture, although
it sometimes has a dark side. Historically this cultural trait meant that
individuals pursued their dreams with every ounce of their energy but did so in
an honest way. That is to say, it did not cause them to seek fortunes,
happiness or glory at the expense of others. Personal ambition was
a fire in the belly that drove individuals to work hard, to invent, and to take
risks, but not to exploit others in order to advance on their goals. We
must take back this cultural trait from those today who lie, cheat, steal, and
abuse others in the name of ambition. 5. Risk-taking. Americans have never been
afraid to put it all on the line to reach a goal. From the beginning we
pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to get the job done.
We revolted against powers stronger than ourselves, we moved west into a great
unknown, we even split ourselves briefly in two to resolve a single terrible
issue called slavery. Numerous popular stories of individuals taking huge
personal risk in order to pursue an idea, an invention or a business are
legendary. Risks taken by individuals and by our entire nation have been the
precursor for each following success. In modern times our risk-taking
culture has continued unabated. Today Americans continue to risk their
lives, their fortunes and their honor for the sake of ideas, for the sake of
happiness and wealth, for the sake of love and security. Our sons and
daughters are stationed in harm's way all around the world and our businessmen
and women venture huge monetary sums across businesses and borders. Even
our national obsession with sports competition reflects a fascination with risks
as played out on a ball field. This cultural trait is in no danger. 6. Commitment. Perhaps more accurately described as stubbornness,
Americans have historically had a certain dedication or "stick-to-it"
attitude for our enterprises and ideas. This was a handy thing indeed for
early settlers who faced overwhelming odds, or for military commanders
throughout our history who needed commitment that bordered on insanity.
George Washington in his leadership of a rag-tag army is a good example. The so-called
"captains of industry" in the late 1800s exhibited commitment as did
famous inventors such as Thomas Edison or the Wright brothers. Such American
stubbornness is of mythical proportions. Even today, could the Cuban exile
community in Florida be described as anything but stubborn? This American cultural trait appears to be in good health
today, even if some of our modern stubbornness veers toward stupidity.
Nonetheless, it is well worth preserving this heritage. 7. Skepticism. For a country with a "show
me" state, it should be no surprise that Americans in general have always
exhibited a healthy skepticism. While such an attitude has sometimes
thrown hurdles in front of progress, it has also helped to keep progress honest.
Americans laughed at the "horseless carriage" and other new
technologies, but such skepticism also forced inventors to consider the most
efficient means of turning a novelty into an imperative. American
skepticism in the realms of industry, finance, medicine, politics and more has
been a useful force that separates the wheat from the chaff. In the modern
era, President Reagan's famous "trust but verify" line is a perfect
embodiment of this American cultural trait. We appear to have retained our
beneficial reservations about all that is new or improved. 8. Honesty. For much of our history at least,
a man's handshake was as good as his word. Americans were intellectually honest,
contractually honest, and personally honest. We have passed down maxims
and phrases such as "honesty is the best policy", or "an honest
day's pay for an honest day's work" for generations. The old myth
of George Washington and his cherry tree can be no better an example of our
historical obsession with honesty. For most of our history Americans
expected and generally got the truth, the fair shake, and the honorable way. Sometime during the late twentieth century this cultural
trait faltered. It is not fair, of course, to paint all Americans as
dishonest because of a few bad apples. A small number of politicians or
Wall Street traders going rotten does not mean America is now a land of scheming
demons. However, what has changed is the expectation that
honesty will prevail. It can be argued that Americans are now cynical to a
degree that it is hurting our progress. Honesty as a cultural trait is
long gone; it is replaced now by an unvarying sense of suspicion. *** Copyright 2004-2007 rationalamerican.com *** To cite this article: Painter, John. Eight American Cultural Traits. (September 2007). Retrieved month x, 2xxx, from <http://rationalamerican.com/defined> |
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