American ideals were mostly a myth but they motivated people and gave them hope, both short and long term, but now those ideals seem antiquated & anachronistic. Example: liberty to make choices for yourself and to reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of your own actions, is what The Constitution is based on. Another example is guns; that’s an American ideal literally guaranteed in The Constitution. What about Free Speech to say whatever we want even if it hurts other people’s feelings. And meritocracy determines whether someone is selected over another person. Not to mention patriotism. Our ideals also included exploration & discovery, but landing a human on Mars is no longer a priority. Instead, those ideals have been replaced with a sense of entitlement & grievance; the glorification of the famous; and a general seething perversity that would rather see everyone fail than have inequality. It's gotten so bad that at least half the nation actively rejects the old ideals. There w
