I think there is a more pronounced strain of anti-authoritarianism here than in most other nations. So many of our immigrant ancestors had little reason to trust or respect authority. People on the losing side of wars sold into slavery. Religious dissidents of various degrees of fanaticism. Exiled scoundrels. Escaped criminals. The desperate poor. Failed revolutionaries. The suffering oppressed, perhaps looking to do a little oppression of their own.

Is it any wonder that when various elites claim to speak for God, our best interests, Science or the latest fashion in social justice, a substantial minority almost reflexively thumbs its nose? Even at a substantial cost? The old Tory in me deplores it. The libertarian in me applauds it.