I think the "Don't tell us what to do or think or believe" is well ingrained in American Culture since the beginning. I think it's a mixture of many parts - Some of this goes back to the entrepreneurial/exploration spirit that is ingrained in America. Maybe this is an unhealthy side effect of that. Some of this goes to the rebel American spirit as well - always fighting against someone/something else that is seen as trying to impose a belief/way of being. Some of this goes to the Puritan influence - overly confident in knowing and then imposing that knowing on others for their own good. Some of it is on the very dualistic nature of the country that has existed since the beginning. Some of it comes from identity being defined based on who we are not, rather than who we are. Some of it comes from a belief in national exceptionalism - that regardless of how anyone may screw things up, God has ordained a specialness to the nation. Some of it may come from the distrust that people have that again has been in the nation since the founding - the founding fathers distrusted those in authority and you can see that distrust through all the founding documents - the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. All of this is based on not trusting those in authority.