How American are You?

I'm reading an interesting book written by our much missed Professor Neeleman: Estate Planning for the Healthy Wealthy Family: How to Promote Family Harmony, Affirm Your Values, and Protect Your Assets. I stumbled across this tidbit, and thought I'd share to help you evaluate how American you are:

Dr. Robert Kohls, the former executive director of the Washington International Center, a contract agency of the U.S. government that helps nonWesterners adapt to life in the United States, has commented extensively on perceived differences between Western and nonWestern values. Among the values he identifies as uniquely American are the following:

(1) personal control over the environment [Control freak? Check.]
(2) prudent use of time [YES! EMPHATIC YES!]
(3) equality of opportunity and class mobility [It's distracting how much I think about this one]
(4) competition as the best means to superior performance [most of time yes, but I think sometimes the perception of what is superior performance is skewed]
(5) privacy and personal space [very yes]
(6) materialism [I unabashedly want cute clothes, a BAC (big-ass cabin, thanks Scott), a swimming pool, a maid and personal masseuse.]

This is me to a T. Basically, I've always been super American without even realizing it. After all, I'm not particularly patriotic, I almost never eat fast food, I dislike sports, I love world travel, love play more than work, and have never once been tempted to eat a fried Twinkie. But being an efficiency-driven control freak with an egalitarian and competitive mindset who enjoys space and new shoes: finally a definition of American suited to me.

Thanks for clearing up that part of my identity, Neeleman.