[oceanplexian]

> I come from a background of high-trust societies

You mentioned the concept of 'high trust societies'. Assuming you are referring to one or the other, how long ago did Western European, or East Asian countries transition from authoritarian, anti-democratic regimes to being regarded as high trust societies?

In my opinion, it seems that many of these high trust societies were the exact opposite within living memory. Which would make me even more skeptical and cautious, not more trusting.

The US might get flak for our system, but it has been around and survived world wars, civil wars, etc. Our inherent distrust of "big government" has a track record of preserving a functional democracy longer than any other system. And the outcome has been a highly competitive and successful economy that hasn't been replicated elsewhere.

[DaiPlusPlus]

Canada and Australia too. Curb your American exceptionalism.

And arguably, wouldn’t it have been better if no civil-war happened in the first place?

[NicoJuicy]

I think most of that can be attributed based on the land locked neighbors, no state actors neighboring the US have malicious intent ( eg. Russia, China, Iran, ...)

[mthoms]

There's a lot of truth to that, but success can be measured in different ways. Other democratic, capitalist-leaning countries have much less economic inequality. To them, that's a feature, not a bug.

The US economy of today is nothing like the US economy of the 50's and 60's where working class people could own homes, had stable jobs and could afford healthcare. To treat it like the same consistent "system" throughout the past is missing a lot of nuance.

The way economic inequality is trending today, this will all end very badly IMHO.

Edit: By total coincidence, this relevant TED talk is now on the second page of HN -

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40278189