Yeah, so, how we ended up going off on this tangent about cooperation versus competition, your post:
^That right there is a cooperation model of behavior. The US is much more driven by competition and individual accomplishment. So, it's not really our societal norm that our leaders are expected to lead for the good of the people. We give lip service to that ideal but a lot of times it's ignored.
Not 100% of people of the US value competition over cooperation but more than half. Also as hannimal points out, there might be a generation shift in behavior underway. So it's a dynamic in our society too. It's complicated.
About the only things I know about co operative versus competitive behaviors is they have always co existed in different ratios in all societies. For instance psychological studies done with native children and white children, show a marked prevalence for co operative problem solving than the white kids did, this is more tribal versus civil or settled, small communities versus large impersonal communities that agrarianism fostered. The natives in Canada are fairly left wing, NDP or liberal and they are that way too in south and central America, where much of the strife is between those who perceive themselves as natives and those who see themselves as european is caused by this, the europeans had the power and still do.
I think in the end stress brings out the worst in people and cause a loss of emotional control, some one angry is more likely to use the N word among others, the veneer of civil behavior evaporates. I also think homogeneous societies like Japan, Germany and as America and the UK saw themselves in another age, could work cooperatively, there was more of a sense of caring and unity at all levels. In America as long a brown folks could be excluded deals could be made, but anything that could benefit african Americans in particular was vigorously opposed by a segment of the population that used to be divided among the parties, no longer.
We must form communities to be happy and when we are excluded from a community unjustly if harms society at large, those who refuse to form a community with others different from themselves are to blame for this problem, no one else. Tolerance is not enough, but it will do temporarily until a better generation can be raised who can form communities with those a bit different than themselves. When people form communities they cooperate more with in those communities, I'd say that was a general rule that applies to all of us humans and the first community is our family. Patriotism is about love, for our friends, families, communities and country, patriots want the best for all their fellow citizens and support efforts to attain that goal. Sometimes that might mean fighting in uniform or even on the streets, but always at the ballot box whenever you can.
