well I am not American but I can tell you it is not just your country doing so
and there was a time where we seemed to believe that it took a whole village to make it work
now it seems like it's as you say: my side right, your side wrong and if I get the "might" then I am right and if you suffer even if I make you suffer it's your own fault that you weren't strong enough to overcome me
it's all about making the self strong and standing on the backs of the weaker regardless of what makes that weakness
part of me thinks it may be due to the large number of boomers (I am one) were taught life is tough, go out and make it happen...then we told the next generation (our kids) I will make your road smooth...I will give you everything
now we are mired
Sometimes great ideas come from unlikely sources.
In a science fiction series on TV, the captain of the spaceship said that any society could be judged by how it treats the weakest of its number.
He was referring to how a child is treated by parents and teachers. I think it could also be applied to the sick or disabled.
Somehow, in Western Society, "weakest" has been changed to read "poorest".
I know many people who are working very hard for not too much. However, the "not too much" that they are getting is more than anyone in their family ever got before and they are very pleased and proud to be getting it.
There is a great thing derived by fulfilling potential. Even if the potential is not great. If we remove all of the obstacles and equalize all the rewards, that is not, it seems to me, a good thing.
I am not rich. I have worked my whole life starting with a paper route at age 11 and not suffered any life changing accidents or illness AND I live in the USA so I live better than anyone lived in the world before 1850.
I am happy and I feel like I have accomplished something. To judge that I am not rich enough and give me the option to accept charity amounting to more than I could earn devalues what I have earned.
The money is only one part of the value that is received by a person who works for a living. When I have worked for something, whether it is an earned wage or a good work out, it gains value.
Giving me something that costs me nothing automatically defines down the perceived value. I value more highly those things that I have worked to get.