Interesting story: Brazilian cash "handout" program working wonders for the poor

[Igel]

14. Didn't used to be that way.

Those who didn't want to conform helped push it to that.

It's always been more individualistic than a lot of other cultures that value clan or class above everything else. America also had a lot of civil society, though, that imposed customs and obligations on people and enforce societal norms with peer pressure and moralistic legislation, helping to keep the individualistic rebel and iconoclast in check.

The two opposing forces got out of sync. They won't get back in sync in my lifetime. Many of those who knocked it out of sync (a sort of reactionary movement) and those who reacted to the reaction won't let it. It would mean losing, and the self-righteous often prefer a scorched earth policy.