We're not the smartest or wisest, but we're definitely the strongest. The cultural climate of America has always been "Beat the bad guys" think Cowboys vs. Indians. After WWII, everyone in the US was living it up and partying, because we honestly believed that we had saved the entire world. Through war. We are just a little more barbaric, apparently. Honestly, if every country out there ganged up on us with non-nuclear weapons, the might of our military could probably take on the entire civilized world. It's ridiculous. Just the size of the US Navy alone is staggering. So I think that's the overarching attitude. We have the mindset that we need to kill something in order to be the "hero" and so we're always searching for something to kill. When I see a "Go army!" meat head driving an unnecessarily enormous truck in a big city, I think "Look at me! Go Army! I can't cope or be successful in a peaceful society!" It's the same for the United States.