Americans and people in general act on the basis that they think independently of one another. It sounds good and it is highly flattering to believe such a thing but the world would not be structured the way it is if people really thought independently.
The universe, at least the portion of it we occupy is governed by laws of dominance and subservience. Every life form that survives does so by dominating and making use of anything weaker. Strong members of a species find ways to be served by weaker members.
Human beings are natural herders of other animals. We organize other animals into herds so that we can eat them, milk them, sheer them, skin them and use them to satisfy any needs they might fulfill. Herding does not stop with other animals. Human beings also herd one another. The Old Testament is full of examples of one country conquering another with the result being weaker nations serving the strong ones. Humans use the same techniques of reward and punishment in herding one another as they use in herding animals of a different species.
The Declaration of Independence states that “All men are created equal.” Hopefully this was meant in terms of equal under the law or treated equally within the legal system. Most likely, we are all born with certain attributes so as to perform necessary tasks within the group. Those who become presidents, representatives and senators are born with political personalities which are largely the same as those of sociopaths. In order to take control of large groups of people, one must be completely ruthless. Something like a need to be honest would be a definite hindrance to anyone trying to be a king or a president. On the other hand the vast majority are preprogrammed to offer services to those in charge in return for comfort.
Who has independent thoughts? Perhaps as much as three percent actually speak words that are the result of original thoughts. Everyone else believes they are thinking but what passes as a thought is only a recording the mind has made. Almost all political discourse is of this nature, especially what is heard in conservative echo chambers.
With the advent of the Internet, is was initially thought the masses would be empowered. For a while it turned out that way but the end result is that technology facilitates herding efforts. The Internet makes it possible to manage the thoughts, opinions and behaviors of countless people. The most profitable businesses these days are corporations like Google and Facebook that build and manage herds of people.
American Citizens wrongly profess that they are in charge of government. The role of American Citizens is much like that of dairy cows. Like cows, citizens are made as comfortable as possible because that way they are of greater use to the people in charge. Programs for the poor are actually of greater benefit to the elitist who run government. As long as the poor are comfortable there is not much chance they will riot or cause problems in other ways.
In a democracy, there is great competition to determine who gets to milk the herd. The Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention are facilitators of the herding process. Any American who joins or supports a political party is actually unwittingly promoting his own poverty. Aggregations of people are managed in about the same way as aggregations of animals.
Every human being has the ability to think independently but the herd member role is the path of least resistance. In the coming times of stress, do not expect common people to take control of government. In all of history, that has never happened. When people are under stress they ask for more government even when government is the cause of the stress. It is human nature to treat government as if it had divine powers. This will be very unpleasant for the very small number who live and think outside of the herd.