Writing in USA Today, Llewellyn Howell notes that the right for every culture to exist and assert itself is a "mantra" of American intellectualism (par. 2). The concept of an equal say is part of our national ethic, and though who this equality extends to has required adjustment, the nation's greatest orators and writers have consistently defended this intellectual attitude.
This, of course, has led to some concrete practical differences between our own pluralist society and others. The United States from its very inception has had a markedly decreased sense of class differences when compared to European countries of the same era (Manley). Though there are certainly different economic classes, the available mobility between...
Without a nobility and inherited political power, the equality of opportunity was secured. Like general political equality, the system has certainly shown some flaws, but fundamental concepts of property and political inheritance were changed in what was a radical departure at the time (Manley). Though the thought of inherited political power is ludicrous in most countries today (with the notable exception of the United Kingdom's House of Lords), it remained the norm for most European countries throughout much of the nineteenth century and even into the twentieth.
On a purely ideological level, as well, it can be seen that
