The proper scope of government and the choices it should make are always controversial. Differences in the size of the government’s presence and in what sorts of functions and policies the government emphasizes are due largely to differences in what the people of the country value. We explore Americans’ values in the next section.
American Values
People derive their values from the general culture they inherit from past generations and also from their personal experiences. We will deal with Americans’ “political culture” in detail in Chapter 6. For our purposes here, we can note that the Europeans who first settled the thirteen original colonies, most of whom came from England, brought with them from their home country many ideas about how government should operate. These ideas—passed from generation to generation and gradually modified by the ideas of newer cultures and immigrant groups as well—have helped to shape the values of Americans today. Historical experiences have also helped to shape these values. As we will explore in further detail in this chapter, the original migration from Europe, the continuing lure of an open frontier for much of the nineteenth century, and the modification of our values by newer cultures and ethnic groups have profoundly influenced Americans’ ideas about the proper role of government.
Four basic American values have played a prominent role in determining the extent of government’s involvement in people’s lives and what the government does:
1 fairness based on contributions
2 freedom and individualism
3 support for the rule of law
4 religion
Let us look at each of these values separately.
Fairness Based on Contributions
Fairness—treating people in the way they deserve—is a universal value found in all societies. Societies differ, however, in what they see as the basis for determining what people deserve. In the United States, fairness is often interpreted as getting what one deserves on the basis of what one has accomplished or contributed. In many other countries, fairness may more likely be interpreted in terms of equality—that is, as getting the equal treatment one deserves based simply on being a member of the society.
In a recent survey, people in 52 countries were asked a series of questions, including the following:
Imagine two secretaries, of the same age, doing practically the same job. One finds out that the other earns considerably more than she does. The better paid secretary, however, is quicker, more efficient and more reliable at her job. In your opinion, is it fair or not fair that one secretary is paid more than the other?14
In almost all of the countries, a majority thought it was fair to pay the more efficient secretary the higher wage, but the size of the majority that believed this varied greatly. Fully 89 percent of Americans thought the difference in pay was fair—a higher percentage than in all but 4 of the 52 countries and a higher percentage than in any Western European country. Only 11 percent of Americans thought the difference was unfair, while about a quarter of the Italian and Spanish respondents felt it was unfair, as did about a third of the Indian and Brazilian respondents.
It’s not that Americans don’t believe strongly that they and others should be treated fairly—they do, as reflected by the public outcry over the government’s decision to distribute bailout aid to banks during the financial crisis in 2009 after the banks made risky investments. But what these survey results demonstrate is that Americans base fairness on one’s level of effort and one’s contributions to society rather than on everyone being treated equally. Because of this view, government programs that are intended to help the vulnerable and make income distribution more equal tend to be controversial in the United States and usually face an uphill fight. When such proposals are made, arguments in favor of them tend to emphasize what the vulnerable or the poor have contributed through their own efforts rather than their neediness or the importance of treating everyone equally. Americans are much more likely to support programs for retired workers than for other at-risk populations, in large part because retired workers are thought to deserve support as a result of their earlier contributions.
This is not to say that the definition of fairness as treating everyone equally or according to their need lacks any support at all. In another part of the survey cited earlier, almost half of Americans stated that they believe, in general, that incomes should be made more equal. But overall, there is more emphasis on fairness as equal reward for equal accomplishment than in most countries.
Freedom and Individualism
In addition to fairness, Americans also regard freedom and individualism as important values. Individualism is the belief that people should be able to rely on themselves and be free to make decisions and act freely, with as little governmental or other societal control as possible. We value highly those who think for themselves. In 2016, for example, Donald Trump presented himself in the presidential campaign as a blunt “straight talker” who was not bound by ordinary rules of politeness. When John F. Kennedy wrote a book titled Profiles in Courage, he featured public officials who had taken stands that went against their parties or the opinions of their constituents, doing instead what they thought was right. Generally, Americans have always liked rebels and nonconformists, those who “march to a different drummer” or “color outside the lines.”
individualism The belief that people should have freedom to make decisions and act with as little government intervention or other control as possible.
The value of individualism has its roots in colonial times. Many of the early settlers from England and Scotland—Catholics in Maryland, Quakers in Pennsylvania, and Puritans in New England—had fled to the colonies to escape religious persecution and discrimination. Other colonists, such as convicted criminals and poor farmers, had emigrated to escape punishment and to start over after having their land confiscated. On some level, all of these colonists had sought freedom from government control.
Over the last two centuries, many waves of immigrants—including but not limited to Asians, Eastern Europeans, and Latin Americans—arrived in this country with little except their self-sufficiency and their willingness to work. Their primary goal was to build good lives for themselves and their children. Their experience of relying on their own labor and on their own determination to succeed reinforced the traditional American values of individualism and self-reliance.
For many years, America was considered a “frontier society,” and this status encouraged the nation’s disposition toward individualism.15 Until the twentieth century, open land always beckoned. On the frontier, government ruled with a relatively loose hand and individuals had a good deal of independence. Indeed, this independence was one of the appeals of the frontier.
The United States’ status as a frontier society—and stories of the “Wild West” that made it back east—contributed to Americans’ view of the nation as one that prized freedom and individualism.
The New York Historical Society / Getty Images
Finally, an important current in political thought that emerged around the time of the American Revolution further contributed to this