What 'American society' means

As Americans continue to be locked down in their fight against the coronavirus, there is a growing and noticeable unease. Polls still show the public generally supportive of government policies to fight the disease, but patience is clearly wearing thin.

That should not come as a surprise. The United States has always been a country whose definition is not so much what it is as what new things it is doing. Locking down and doing nothing is not in our nature.