I will admit the “nation of contracts” piece is not from a IRL convo, it was a forum convo. That being said I’ve definitely encountered very similar polemics in face to face conversations in the US.

The level of skepticism of oligarchs and government corruption in the US is far less than in any country I’ve lived in (I’ve lived in 5 countries across North America, Europe and Asia, I’ve also visited another ~25 countries, some multiple times).

I am not saying there is no skepticism of either the judiciary or the oligarchic system, but a lot of people (note I never said a plurality or majority, I used the word “large”) actively and aggressively promote oligarchic polemics, corruption and criminality.

In other countries, you almost never have situations (IRL) where someone talks about the constitution or freedom of speech or any such concepts in a random manner. You can have conversation about such topics, but these are defined and focused discussions. In the US, as foreigner, you get the impression and that everyone and their mother claims to be constitutional expert. And the “free speech supporter” polemics (the ones I’ve heard IRL, not internet or media stuff) are extremely shallow, bordering on childish.

And the polemical outbursts almost always leverage standardized copytext. This is very noticeable if you are foreigner and you travel across the US and talk to different people in different environments.

It is not my intention to “shit on the US”, not at all. But it also not reasonable for me to deny my real experience in the US (not one location, I’ve been to maybe ~20 states or so).