Americans have had every participatory inclination beaten out of them (metaphorically speaking). Their political parties have no participation beyond asking for money and their unions are the same. They've been fed a steady drip of 24/7 news designed to keep them afraid of everyone they don't already know, and that's by design. Things are going to have to get a lot worse for the average American before they'll be willing to organize in any meaningful way. I hope this changes, don't get me wrong, but I expect that it'll have to get a lot worse before it gets better.