Americans who behave as you suggest Richard only serve to reinforce the stereotype of all Americans being stupid, isolationist, crass, uncultured and only interested in conspicuous over consumption, which we know is the impression that a large part of the world has of Americans, sadly Americans do themselves no favors and it is the impression that they give to other cultures,hence the ability of Islam to point at America and say it is the great Satan.
nearly all Americans i deal with are not like that at all but it seems the people who shout the loudest on the interweb are.
people i talk to about it all say the same thing, we are seeing the end of the American empire, at the end of all empires you see the same thing, the Romans and the Greeks, and the British all had the same end of empire decline into mass hysteria and madness.