[meddlepal]

I think you hit on the real problem. Most American's do not really care about other American's problems unless they're very closely related or the other problems are impacting them in some negative way.

I do not see a good way to fix that since that attitude seems to directly spawn from our highly-individualistic vision of society.

[nickff]

There is a great deal of evidence that the great majority of voters (not the same as average Americans,) do not vote on the basis of their own self-interest.[1] The problem here seems to be a bias in favor of entrusting the government with a great deal of power, in the hope of creating a good and stable society. Individualism and collectivism do not seem to have much to do with problem, though one could argue that the public is insufficiently aware of Public Choice Theory, among other problems with collective action.[2][3]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_the_Rational_Voter

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Serfdom

[CamperBob2]

There is a great deal of evidence that the great majority of voters (not the same as average Americans,) do not vote on the basis of their own self-interest.[1]

The "Those people in Party X or State Y are so dumb that they vote against their own interests" schtick really annoys me. Sometimes my own view of my interests may diverge from the author's. I have no problem voting against my immediate self-interest, if I think I will benefit from improvements to society in the long run.

[nickff]

My point was broader than that some are "voting against [their] immediate self-interest, if [they] think [they] will benefit from improvements to society in the long run", as many people may vote on some moral or ethical basis, or believe they are voting in their own short or long-term interests, but be ill-informed.

One example of this is that people in non-farm states support agriculture subsidies just as much as people in farm states, when it is clear that these subsidies are simply a wealth transfer (to the farm states).[1]

[1] http://freakonomics.com/2008/07/24/the-illogic-of-farm-subsi...