I have a theory about how we got this way in America. I think that it is an odd side effect of our ethos as risk takers and individualists. In many other countries, it appears that there are some things that people won't do simply because they would be ashamed to, or ostracized. There's no need to pass a law with outrageous fines or sentences in an attempt to prevent things from happening.
In the US, we tend to side with the rebel. Or, at least we did back in the 60s and 70s. What we are seeing today is a legal clamping down in order to compensate fused with post 9/11 paranoia.
Related: I believe that the reason why we Americans don't engage in irony in conversation as much as, say, the British is that there is nothing that you can say or do that someone somewhere in the US won't believe or do earnestly. It's an aspect of our culture, and sort of a generalized case of Poe's Law.
Many of the recent federal laws have nothing to do with things that people would be ashamed to do, or with terrorism. I forget the details of the case, but a woman was facing jail time for some offense related to harassing a whale by coming too close to it in a whale watching boat (since whales are an endangered species protected under federal law). Also, a lot of landowners have had their properties retroactively declared to be federally protected wetlands, making it a federal crime to erect new buildings on them. And at this time, manufacturing 100 watt incandescent light bulbs is a violation of federal law (or maybe this year it's down to 75 watts).
In the US, we tend to side with the rebel. Or, at least we did back in the 60s and 70s. What we are seeing today is a legal clamping down in order to compensate fused with post 9/11 paranoia.
Related: I believe that the reason why we Americans don't engage in irony in conversation as much as, say, the British is that there is nothing that you can say or do that someone somewhere in the US won't believe or do earnestly. It's an aspect of our culture, and sort of a generalized case of Poe's Law.