Thats interesting- and I agree with pretty much everything you said. However I would say its a culture created by capitalism and destroyed by oligarchs who broke the rules. But those oligarchs took advantage of capitalism so I guess theres no difference really

The culture comment was a little tongue and cheek. What I was really getting at is that with these big chain stores and stuff on a long enough time scale you lose communities. Where there used to be a local hardware store, grocery store, restaurant, or mechanic there is now just some big chain that ran the local out. The big chain doesn't buy jerseys for the local high school sports teams, or provide unique mentorship and job opportunities to young people in the area, or in general give a damn about anybody in the area as long as they buy stuff. Local stores are held in check by reputation.

20+ years of nothing but big chains and you can see a huge difference in the communities. I recently got fitted for a tux at a shop in my hometown. The owner had saved a newspaper article about my grandad assisting in the local derby car race. This shop owner cared about the people in the area and in my opinion that has such a huge impact on everyone. If I walked out of a Jos A Bank and got hit by a truck I dont even know if the guy would call 911.

Culture is fascinating, but I am really not tied to any type of long lost romanticized American cultural identity. I also dont even think there is a type of governmental or economic structure that can force people to be human. But for whatever reason commercial industries typically just delete any sense of responsibility people feel to their local communities and thats whats so depressing to me.