American Inclinations

My quote today comes from another Frenchman but is actually a real person. Frederic Bastiat was a philosopher in the 1800s who wrote about the purpose of government.

"They [Socialist writer] assume that if the legislators left persons free to follow their own inclinations, they would arrive at atheism instead of religion, ignorance instead of knowledge, poverty instead of production and exchange. According to these writers, it is indeed fortunate that Heaven has bestowed upon certain men — governors and legislators — the exact opposite inclinations, not only for their own sake but also for the sake of the rest of the world! While mankind tends toward evil, the legislators yearn for good; while mankind advances toward darkness, the legislators aspire for enlightenment; while mankind is drawn toward vice, the legislators are attracted toward virtue. Since they have decided that this is the true state of affairs, they then demand the use of force in order to substitute their own inclinations for those of the human race"

Now I assume that we can agree that certain humans don't have better inclinations than all other humans and that the government shouldn't tell us what to believe or tell us we need to be enlightened. So I would ask why do so many people believe that America has better inclinations than other countries? If legislators don't need to tell us to yearn for good, to be enlightened, or to be virtuous why does America need to tell countries to like freedom, to hate despots, or to be enlightened?