Forget the government for a moment - there used to be legions of (mostly young) Americans who would go out into the world and be goofy innocent relatively egoless ambassadors, some in official do-gooder roles such as the Peace Corps but mostly good people being good people.

They made up for their older compatriots organizing coups or what not, because it was hard to hate a country whose representatives on the street were genuinely nice.

IMHO that exuberant goodness has taken a sharp downturn.