As a European immigrant to the US, it pains me to see such misconceptions so widely held. Some of this is complete nonsense, but some stems from a mix of unsophisticated thinking and a profound lack of understanding of the country.
> The US is philosophically much more egotistic than other developed countries
A weakness and a strength, see below.
> Politically the US is the most divided western country with its two party system
Political gridlock and fighting is largely irrelevant because the commercial sphere is the real motive force of the country. This point seems especially difficult to comprehend for Europeans accustomed to pervasive state participation in daily life. The vibrancy and diversity of the capitalist economy here is unparalleled.
> Money in politics means it's one of the most corrupt
The corruption flows from America's egotism; money is a red-herring. Political fund-raising is about relative success, not absolute (you just need to outspend your opponent), so the vast amounts in play are simply a function of a zero-sum arms race: American society deploying its ever-growing wealth to buy a fixed quantity of political influence. $1M creates no more obligation than $1000 if the latter is sufficient to win.
> Conservative media does a very good job at keeping at least 50% of the country comically uninformed
This is just silly. Fox News is 95% of "conservative media," and viewership on any given night is 2.6 million people, ~0.8% of the population. Multiply by whatever fudge factor you want to get to total viewership. You've got a ways to go to get to half the country.
> The billionare .0001% will probably do their utmost to keep the status quo
Paranoid, conspiracy-minded nonsense.
> The "American Dream" gives people the impression that working hard solves everything and that their country is the best in the world period.
This is very true, conditional on you being capable. The USA has an immensely deep bench of talent and does an excellent job assimilating talent from around the world. All of these talented people are immensely incentivized to deliver, and they deliver in spades! Their contributions pull the rest of the world up with them, despite all the inequality belly-aching from collectivist types. If you are a person of intelligence and ambition, there is no better place than the US to maximize your gifts.
> The US is doing very good in a lot of areas
You're damn right it is! Most curiously to me, many Europeans bemoan the state of our lower and middle classes, despite those same people doing _better_ than their European counterparts on almost every material measure at almost every decile! [try to play with e.g. EDHI by DECILE at http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/
> but I think collective egotism is preventing it from reaching its true potential.
Perhaps. It certainly makes it more difficult to solve certain collective action problems, but it also encourages citizens to tackle problems others find trivial. I doubt, for example, that Twitter could have been built outside the US: the a priori use is to selfishly broadcast thoughts about me, me, me; the vast social utility is an emergent property.
> The US is philosophically much more egotistic than other developed countries
A weakness and a strength, see below.
> Politically the US is the most divided western country with its two party system
Political gridlock and fighting is largely irrelevant because the commercial sphere is the real motive force of the country. This point seems especially difficult to comprehend for Europeans accustomed to pervasive state participation in daily life. The vibrancy and diversity of the capitalist economy here is unparalleled.
> Money in politics means it's one of the most corrupt
The corruption flows from America's egotism; money is a red-herring. Political fund-raising is about relative success, not absolute (you just need to outspend your opponent), so the vast amounts in play are simply a function of a zero-sum arms race: American society deploying its ever-growing wealth to buy a fixed quantity of political influence. $1M creates no more obligation than $1000 if the latter is sufficient to win.
> Conservative media does a very good job at keeping at least 50% of the country comically uninformed
This is just silly. Fox News is 95% of "conservative media," and viewership on any given night is 2.6 million people, ~0.8% of the population. Multiply by whatever fudge factor you want to get to total viewership. You've got a ways to go to get to half the country.
> The billionare .0001% will probably do their utmost to keep the status quo
Paranoid, conspiracy-minded nonsense.
> The "American Dream" gives people the impression that working hard solves everything and that their country is the best in the world period.
This is very true, conditional on you being capable. The USA has an immensely deep bench of talent and does an excellent job assimilating talent from around the world. All of these talented people are immensely incentivized to deliver, and they deliver in spades! Their contributions pull the rest of the world up with them, despite all the inequality belly-aching from collectivist types. If you are a person of intelligence and ambition, there is no better place than the US to maximize your gifts.
> The US is doing very good in a lot of areas
You're damn right it is! Most curiously to me, many Europeans bemoan the state of our lower and middle classes, despite those same people doing _better_ than their European counterparts on almost every material measure at almost every decile! [try to play with e.g. EDHI by DECILE at http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/
> but I think collective egotism is preventing it from reaching its true potential.
Perhaps. It certainly makes it more difficult to solve certain collective action problems, but it also encourages citizens to tackle problems others find trivial. I doubt, for example, that Twitter could have been built outside the US: the a priori use is to selfishly broadcast thoughts about me, me, me; the vast social utility is an emergent property.