The American spirit was evident in the words contained within the Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
" These are words of 'self-determinism', giving the individual a Government that allows for a persons own pursuits.
The Constitution neither confers greater rights to the individual, nor does it in any way limit an individual so long as they are operating within the Law; which of itself, does not limit anyone's pursuit of happiness nor success.
A self determined life recognizes that the onus of responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of the individual.
One has the right to pursue their dreams, but no where is it stated that one is entitled to their dreams.
Without getting tangled up in all the theological and philosophical aspects of self-determinism, I will submit basic definitions as set forth by Wikipedia to circumscribe a framework:

Need for competence: refers to the need to experience oneself as capable and competent in controlling the environment and being able to reliably predict outcomes.
Need for autonomy: refers to the need to actively participate in determining own behavior.
It includes the need to experience one's actions as result of autonomous choice without external interference.
Need for relatedness: refers to need to care for and be related to others.
It includes the need to experience authentic relatedness from others and to experience satisfaction in participation and involvement with the social world.
Legislated relatedness is not authentic.

Lacking the attendant responsibility of self-determinism is where socialism over-extends its basic supportive role in our society.
Obviously those that are in some way handicapped deserve our assistance.
Those that have been discriminated against deserve a fair chance.
Yet socialism has become the forerunner to Progressive Liberalism, inasmuch that socialism exploded beyond its economically defined boundary becomes a model of equalizing humanity.
In our modern reiteration of socialism, equal opportunity is translated to mean 'everyone should be equal'.
This is regressive.
It is in fact a perversion, inasmuch that a perversion (by definition) is the pathological distortion of Truth.
It is interesting to note that all perversions (and many psychological disorders) always seek 'more'.
The sick mind is voracious in its appetite, always consuming, never giving, and never sated.
America is being consumed by this ravenous appetite, as perversion seeks justification behind its' rationalization of a false nobility.
We Were all Born Dependent Primary archaic narcissism is our state of being upon birth.
There is no distinction between self and other, there is only primal 'self' and the need for narcissistic supplies to ameliorate a very fearful primal existence.
The dispensing of these supplies ameliorates fears, develops the super-ego, and indoctrinates the budding human being into responsible social and self-awareness in contrast to "other".
Developmental anomalies in this process can lead to pathological Narcissism.
Simplifying narcissism, it can be said that narcissism is a defense against Emptiness as it struggles to ameliorate the anxieties between Ego and Object.
This severely truncates the maturation process and gives rise to all manner of psychological and social aberrations.
Progressive Liberalism shouts "I deserve".
Rather than struggling with the maturation process of defining self, it cries out from the dark womb of emptiness and ineptitude.
It seeks comfort in the same manner that an infant suckles at the breast.
When a person has not adequately matured within the family environment, they seek an over emphasized need from Society.
Most psychological disorders can be traced to having their roots in an imbalance between Home and Society.
Society is unfeeling.
Society does not give narcissistic supplies to the individual.
Society is largely neutral, a blank blackboard awaiting the individual to take the chalk and author their personal script for life.
Society bestows upon the individuals that inhabit it the self-deterministic 'freedom of choice'.
When there are aberrations in those supplies that spring forth from the home, then an individual seeks more from Society then its intended purpose.
Society is then subconsciously perceived as the Mother's Breast, and those that remain fearful of life want to suck Society dry.
The tit of society becomes the pacifier against the fear of maturation and the responsibilities inherent therein.
We were all born liberal, just some of us grew up.