Generally speaking, American and non-American dopers often take fundamentally different approaches to social and political issues. Please excuse the generalisation, but it seems to me that American dopers are far, far more concerned with personal liberty and freedom from government intervention. On the other hand, European dopers seem to lean towards issues of “the good of society”; not to dismiss individual liberty, but to the extent that government intervention is seen as enabling rather than restrictive.
Obviously this has much to do with the history of the US; but I would like to hear other dopers’ opinions on why there is such a difference in these philosophies.
The US was founded on personal liberties, with the governmment being founded around that as an afterthought. In most European countries, which are typically much older than the US, it’s exactly the opposite. They’ve been under so many different forms of government, most of which involve socialism to some or to a full extent. The people model their beliefs around the government, as opposed to the other way around. I’m generalizing a lot here, but I think you get the point I’m trying to make. Just my $0.02.
Cheers…but here’s a couple of follow-up questions:
Why did the philosophy of personal liberty come before government? Was it related to the religious beliefs of the original settlers? (complete WAG, in case you weren’t already laughing)
I did wonder whether the struggle for independence had anything to do with it; and if so, why the constant warring in Europe hadn’t resulted in a similar distrust of government heavy-handedness.
First question first.
Was it related to the religious beliefs of the original settlers?
Yes. That wasn’t the entire reason, but it was part of it. There was a lot of religious strife going on about that time(freedom of religion and all that), and the colonists wanted freedom from that. They didn’t like the idea that one person, the King, could make all the decisions without the people having any say in it. As to why the colonists came up with these ideas, as opposed to the people in the homelands, the best guess I have is that they were separated by so much. Most colonies end up splitting off from their parent countries eventually. When Big Brother is watching you like a hawk, ideas tend to flourish a lot more freely. The original U.S. government was founded upon having a basically a Big Brother, but leaving him in handcuffs most of the time. The government was only supposed to step in when people’s lives were in danger, theft of property, etc.
Just a WAG, but probably pretty close to the truth.
Philosophically, you’re looking at a movement which dates back to I think the 17th Century (it’s been awhile since I studied this) and philosophers like John Locke and Rousseau. There are a lot of streams which converged into individualism, including capitalism, reliqious freedom, scientific inquiry, democracy, and rationalism. It wasn’t just the U.S. Look at the French Revolution (not what came after it, though.)
It’s really a pendulum of thought that swings betwen the role of society and the role of the individual. In the 1930s through 1950s, the U.S. was a far more group-oriented society. Beginning in the 1960s, the rights of the individual achieved more prominence.