Cheerfulness
I have been living outside of the United States for just about four years now (it will be 4 years next month, to the day). It is fairly unsurprising that in that time, I’ve felt a slowly growing affinity with my country. I’ve felt more “American” as I’ve been away, the color of “my” Americanism set apart from the fabric of Canadian character with a slightly different tint that is all around me now. And I should say that there isn’t really an “American national character” at all. I think that the culture of the United States (or any country) impacts the characters of individuals, sometimes in drastically different ways, but there is an underlying unity in the structure of those changes. There is something in common that makes American liberals desire universal health care, and American conservatives desire the abolition of abortion - though these are two drastically different manifestations. And that unity is really something I intuit, rather than understand, and I certainly couldn’t really describe it, though perhaps I can offer some hints about what I see.
A friend of mine from Ireland once described the impression he had of the American character - and he focused on the word cheerful. I thought that was actually pretty insightful, though I don’t think that it means that Americans are always (or even mostly) cheerful. But I think it captures something about the underlying story of America, especially the expectations that Americans seem to have. There is a cheerfulness underlying both the “libertarian” expectation that people are rational deciders, and that the free market will guide us alright, and behind the expectation that a large government with many programs can be efficiently and honorably run. Both seem to presume that people are able to rise above irrationality and petty selfishness to live in a better world. And as this might suggest, this has a dark side in naivety, in which many Americans (of all political stripes) seem to have an almost supernatural ability to ignore things which should at least shake, if not demolish the expectations that they have underlying the political positions they hold.
I also think this “cheerfulness” manifests in other ways. In fact, I think this character is why Americans are often thought of as rude, and the exact character of this is something that has really stood out for me as a difference between Americans and Canadians (with a reputation for being excessively polite). I can’t really think of a more specific word that sums up what I have in mind - but it’s something like a presumption of familiarity, and in particular a quickness in abandoning politeness for “genuineness”, which I think has roots in the strain of American culture that focuses on egalitarianism. I think there is something in American culture which views politeness as a way of keeping others at a distance - and I don’t think that this is entirely inaccurate. Politeness is really a way of moderating your own behavior, censoring yourself, and acting in ways that others are going to expect in order to make for smooth and easy social situations. But politeness often tends to fade in the American character as people become closer - it is viewed as “unnecessary”, and once someone has become a friend, then it’s okay to show them how you really feel, what you really think - to pull away a number of the guards and censors, often with a cheerful presumption that any issues will work themselves out. Politeness is there precisely to ensure that those “issues” never come up in the first place. And I think the American reputation for rudeness comes because many Americans want to push past politeness relatively early on in a relationship or social situation. It is a way of being friendly and “genuine”, rather than simply keeping things running smoothly. The quick abandonment of politeness is a sort of trust building and affirming transgression that is deeply implicated in an American character born of a great transgression this very day in 1776 (or so our mythology goes).
Of course, like all things, this too has a dark side. There is something self serving about the presumption that what is best and most genuine is to stop regulating your own behavior for the comfort of others - considering the full disclosure of your “true self” to be the highest social gift one can bestow on another regardless of what they want. But my point here is not that American cheerfulness or Canadian politeness is better or worse - cheerfulness can be warm or inconsiderate (or both), and politeness can be considerate or cold (or both). But a culture that prioritizes one or the other is going to have different expectations, and different ways of understanding something like a slap on the back, or the avoidance of potential controversies. It can influence the way one understand the “progression” and estimation of a social relationship. And, of course, it can shape the character of the relationship between two cultures. At times this pits a teasing and insensitive American boorishness, against a smoldering passive aggressive Canadian resentment (In Nietzsche’s sense of the word). But it can also pair genuine goodwill with sensitivity, generosity and openness with a healthy consideration of others.
On this July fourth, I will celebrate in my own heart American cheerfulness - but of course, it is not an unmixed celebration, as this cheerfulness causes problems as well as contributing in a positive way to the American character. But I’ll think also of American revolution, not simply as a celebration of events over 200 years ago, but as an ongoing process founded on “cheerful” enlightenment ideals of the ongoing potential for the betterment of the lot of humanity, and that the cheerful American attitude, while wonderful, always has room for growth, and this is no black mark against it, but yet another cause for celebration and ongoing revolution.

