), on the left (Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff Book
and excellent short film) and by social commentators variously claimed by the left and right (Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community). 
What does government have to do with this? Two things: moral leadership and smart policies. Rightly or wrongly, our leaders have profound power to influence our sense of appropriate national behavior, whether that's by telling us to shop more after 9/11 or grow vegetables in our backyards during WWII. Someone in our government ought to have the courage to stand up and say what those left and right commentators linked above are saying: we should be more deliberate about how we live our lives and ensure our values better reflect family, friends, and community - rather than worshiping the pursuit of profit and stuff as the ultimate endgame and organizing ideal.
We know that happiness has stronger correlation with social interaction and economic security than it does with higher incomes and longer commutes (For a wonderful portrayal of this, see Buettner's Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest
). Thanks to civic efforts in Albert Lea, Minnesota, we also know that these kinds of insights can be put into action through citizen and community choices to have more sidewalk space and connect education with contemporary health concerns. That's just the tip of the iceberg in respect to how government policy can affect our everyday experience of how much social interaction we're likely to have, whether we're sure the foods we're consuming are healthy, and what we believe the appropriate balance of saving, investment, work, and family is.It's not that government should tell us exactly what to do. It is that government makes choices about what kind of incentives we all face and what sort of behaviors the policy environment encourages. This is illustrated all too well with the massive increase in American debt beginning with banking and finance industry deregulation in the 1980s. When banks and credit card companies are permitted to charge higher and higher interest, they become more and more unscrupulous in their efforts to encourage people to spend more than they have. When the government continuously says 'buy, buy, buy,' eases interests rates, and de-regulates multiple forms of lending, it should be no surprise that consumers buy buy buy - and sometimes, wrongly, unfortunately, and with some fault of their own too, they buy buy buy well beyond their means.
Government creates environments where behaviors are more or less likely. Leaders should encourage people to become their best selves. Our government has done a rotten job of encouraging people to live within their means, consider questions of value and meaning for themselves and their communities, and continue to chart a path toward a better future.
I believe in a better America.
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