This essay argues that America's deeply ingrained culture of consumption is the primary driving force behind both the degradation of democratic ideals and the rise of anti-American sentiment worldwide. Drawing on works by Thomas Friedman, Benjamin Barber, and others, the paper traces the United States' historical identity as a democratic beacon, then examines how rampant consumerism has distorted that image. It connects visible American excess — advertising, waste, and resource consumption disproportionate to the country's 4.5% share of world population — to global resentment, radicalization, and the erosion of the goodwill that once made American democracy an aspirational model for other nations.
The paper demonstrates thematic synthesis: rather than treating democracy, consumerism, and anti-American sentiment as separate topics, the author threads them together into a single causal chain. Each section builds on the last, showing how domestic consumption patterns produce measurable consequences in global politics and foreign perception — a technique that transforms a descriptive survey into a coherent argument.
The essay follows a classic five-part argumentative structure: an introductory section establishing historical context and a clear thesis; two body sections defining the problem (democracy's erosion, consumerism's rise); two consequence sections (anti-American sentiment, democratic degradation abroad); and a brief conclusion calling for civic reflection. The Works Cited page follows MLA format with print sources from the mid-2000s, placing the paper in a specific scholarly moment in post-9/11 discourse.
The United States has long been a world leader on many fronts. The presidential administration of Theodore Roosevelt may have been the first to declare openly that Americans wanted to establish themselves as a global power, but the U.S. had long maintained an interest in global politics. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, America fought land and sea battles in the Mediterranean against the Barbary pirates (Sassen 216). The Marine Hymn, which speaks of "the shores of Tripoli," is dedicated to that conflict in which U.S. Marines first fought on foreign soil. An intrepid spirit has led the free men and women of America to create innovations in business, finance, war, agriculture, and other industries that have been the envy of the rest of the world. This has produced a certain amount of arrogance among the people and leaders of the nation, which has also made America the largest consuming nation in the world (Friedman 37).
While this may not seem like a critical issue on its surface, it has contributed to a view held by many people around the world that Americans are both unnaturally arrogant and consume a disproportionate share of the world's goods. For a country that contains approximately 4.5% of the world's population, Americans consume more than any other nation by a significant margin. It is the argument of this essay that America's culture of consumption is the driving force behind the degradation of democracy and the rise of anti-American sentiment overseas.
The United States may not have invented the idea of democracy, but the founding fathers were instrumental in taking the ideas of Locke and Hume and pressing them into a workable framework. The founders took what others had theorized for millennia and formed a government that was true to the principles of governing for the people. Through the Constitution, they demonstrated what a country could be, and they used their representative republic to secure freedom for any who wished to claim it.
Unfortunately, the current citizens of the United States have lost much of what the founders intended (Friedman 121). This is not the fault of any one particular ideology or political party. The people of America have always been a diverse group, welcoming those born in other lands to share in this one. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated with the principle of a nation that gives refuge to those who could find none in the lands they came from. The idea of freedom is an infectious one that many tired and poor people wish to partake in.
This country was founded on a new type of democracy that allowed every citizen to have a say in the business of the nation. Of course, this was not fully realized until almost two hundred years had passed, and several struggles — both militant and peaceful — had been waged to give every person over the age of 18 the right to vote. The citizens of the United States were a beacon to the rest of the world. Though sometimes envied, they were respected because of their political system and America's genuine desire to aid those who could not otherwise help themselves. Unfortunately, the democracy envisioned by the founding fathers has been corrupted, because the people of the U.S. have lost their sense of proportion (Friedman 87).
The United States has long been the nation that provides more food and services for the world than any other (Norberg 12). It is difficult to name a product that was not in some way influenced by American innovation. Yet a country that once led the world in manufacturing has now shipped most of its manufacturing jobs overseas. A country that was once frugal in its investments and had learned the difficult lessons of greed has again become greedy.
Some would argue that consumption is the right of the American people, since the United States also enjoys the world's largest gross domestic product (GDP). People in the U.S. work longer hours than those in any other industrialized nation and have historically produced more as well. Production remains high among American companies, but many of those goods are now manufactured in foreign countries (Fotopoulos). The wealth that Americans generate is often built on the labor of smaller countries that produce goods at a much lower cost.
Consumption is fundamentally about commercialism. Advertisements promote the wares of any company that can afford airtime, and the people of the U.S. buy far more products than they need. This dynamic has moderated somewhat in recent years, but a poor person in the U.S. would still be considered quite wealthy by the standards of much of the rest of the world (Fotopoulos). People around the world observe the society that Americans have created and are either envious of its prosperity or disturbed by the blatant waste that consumerism displays.
911 is an emergency number in the United States, but it also marks a date that will live in infamy as one of the least safe days in the nation's history. Not since Pearl Harbor had another adversary dared to attack Americans on their own soil. It was almost unthinkable that a country with some of the world's best emergency services and intelligence forces could be attacked from within its own borders. And yet it happened. On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked. Two flew into the Twin Towers in New York City. One crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. The final plane struck the Pentagon, America's seat of military power. The group claiming responsibility declared it a message to the American people — a message about safety and consumerism (Barber 311).
People around the world can see the advertisements of American companies. They recognize the products, and they believe they understand the people who live in the country that produces them. Because the United States was exposing young people in other countries to its rampant consumerism, a group of terrorists crashed planes and killed over three thousand people. The attacks were, in part, a violent rejection of the cultural and economic dominance that American cultural imperialism had come to represent.
Since that time, many messages have been sent to Western countries that share in the consumption culture the United States has cultivated. Terrorist acts are frequently followed by statements denouncing the consumerism that threatens to engulf the world. People are going hungry across the globe while people in the U.S. discard food. Many live in makeshift shelters and cardboard dwellings, while they observe "wealthy" Americans living in solid, climate-controlled homes. The individuals who have carried out bombings around the world represent only a fraction of the many who resent the hedonistic lifestyle that American advertising portrays.
It has long been the policy of the United States that every person around the world deserves to experience the freedoms that Americans enjoy every day. Unfortunately, when over-consumption of world resources is what many people witness while they themselves go hungry, that goal is undermined. Democracy is not seen by these populations as something desirable; it is seen, instead, as the selfish byproduct of that very democracy.
Sassen, Saskia. Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006. Print.
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