This is a partial answer to the question: “Why do we get so worked up about stuff – like elections?”

In Denmark, residents happily pay top dollar in taxes for “free” services from the government. In the U.S., dirt-poor farmers bristle at paying taxes for anything beyond a military that provides for the common defense. There’s a disconnect.

But the U.S., by virtue of its creation, is a different beast. We have a lot more Type-A, stop-at-nothing-to-succeed people. It’s who we are – and it’s who we are because of the way we came to be. (With apologies to Native Americans because, at least here, I’m writing as if they didn’t arrive first.)

An example: From 1845-1852, Ireland faced the Great Potato Famine, though the Irish largely drop “potato” from the name. For seven years, life was tough. Imagine that a family living in poverty – perhaps a father, mother, seven kids and 32 grandkids – are sitting by the fire splitting a potato. The conversation might go like this:

Son A: Damn, why is God punishing us so?

Son B: It’s not punishment, it’s a test. It’ll rain soon – I can feel it. Rain’s a comin’.

Son C: If we just get through this year, next year’s gotta be better. It sure can’t be any worse.

Son D: Screw this shit. I’m packing the family and working my way to America. They’re givin’ land away there, I hear. That’s a place where a man can work the land or in a factory or start his own business and make a real life for himself and his family. My wife and kids won’t starve. We’ll buy a little home, plant a garden.

Son A, B and C: Are you crazy? Where you gonna get that kind of money? People die on those boats. This is your home. Why’n the hell would you leave?

Son D: For a better life. Who knows when this things gonna end? My mind’s made up. I’m goin’.

The United States, in short, is a nation of Son D’s. Immigration means leaving family and friends behind. It means waving goodbye to a country where you feel part of the dirt. It means taking huge risks with little more than a promise of better times ahead.

It means Type-A people settled America as the Type-B people stayed home and hoped for the best. Even if they thought going to America was a good idea, the Type-B’s didn’t have enough gumption to commit to the process.

Over the generations, not every immigrant child developed a Type-A personality, but just as alcoholics many times begat more alcoholics, the nature – the personality – of Americans differ from many other countries. It helps explain why perks offered by countries like Denmark – six-week vacations, six-months off for new childcare and socialized medicine – receive a lot of eye-rolls in the U.S.

Is Type-A better? No. Nor is Type-B better. They simply are. But that U.S. personality difference helps explain why Americans love their guns and freedom; why they fight vigorously for a political party; why they get frustrated when friends offer an opinion that contradicts their own.

In a bit of irony, it also explains many Americans dislike for new immigrants. New Type-A immigrants with the balls to make the journey, apply for a green card and drag loved ones to new and unexplored regions threaten the Type-A’s already here.

We hated the Italians when they showed up; we hated the Irish; now we hate the Mexicans and, a bit more generically, the Muslims.

The big question: Are we right in our newfound dislikes, or is history just repeating itself?

© 2016 SmithTakes.com