""Terrorized" is too strong a word, but American society is filled with anxiety and fear - fear of homelessness and failure, fear of the terrorists, fear of all those Mexicans crossing the border. Maybe you've been away too long, but it's one of our foundational principles of social organization."
I was going to say, "poor you!" but then I remembered that you live in the wealthiest society on earth. And the last time that I visited, I seem to remember that it was very pleasant indeed, not least for the excellent company.
There is something of a culture of fear in the UK, too, I suppose. But for the most part the fears that motivate Britons are imaginary scares like East European criminals, middle eastern terrorists, predatory paedophiles, Avian Flu, 'human-BSE', autism-inducing MMR vaccines, the heterosexual AIDS pandemic, and so on and so forth. Quite why they are prey to these nightmares is an interesting question.
In terms of measurable social goods, you would be very hard put to show that Britain, like the rest of Europe, China, Russia, and I suspect the US too, is not much better off than it was a generation ago.