You are spot on. If we are such an amazing country, then maybe someone can tell me why I am so overwhelmingly busy as a mental health therapist? The rates of anxiety and depression are immeasurable really. The basis of solid emotional health is always connection-to family, to friends, to community. America's ethic of competition, material wealth, and the rugged individual directly undermines a healthy sense of community where people are willing to consider the needs of others just as they do for themselves. Having that is not aspirational as many other countries demonstrate. I don't envy us either.