I think you need to do a little research about income equality, happiness indexes, and standards of living. America isn't bad but there are much better.
Also, I don't consume American culture and thought everyday. I live in the UK and happily read British newspapers (bearing in mind we've had printed news before America even existed), listen to European rooted music, drive a French car, and watch British TV and comedies. I think you'll find that American culture in America is so fucking Ameri-centrist that you don't realise that other cultures thrive happily in their native countries, we just don't feel the need to force them on each other.
And fucking lol at "for any real change to happen in our society it has to happen in America first", you haven't even got a nationalised health service. In lots of aspects, America is decades in the past and the conservative right wing nut cases will happily regress it even further if they can.
I never said America is the first or anything. I'm just saying that American culture has the most impact all around the world. Global culture is American-centric. Hollywood, fashion, video games, tech industries are all American-centric. You participate in debates about American politics cause whether you like it or not you realize the importance of America in the world. For greater or worse(in my opinion greater).
American culture is weird it is Ameri-centric but at the same time it isn't. We consume cartoons with heavy Japanese influences, create music that was progressed by the British, eat food that is foreign but been Americanized. American culture isn't tied by any type of nativity which is probably the biggest appeal of it.
It's like this. I watch the UK Office. It's a bit too British, we don't share cultural mannerism, thought process, or what nots to share the same sense of humor. I just don't get it. Then I watch the American Office which is a water downed version of the British, dumbed down to the extent that any human being can watch it and get a cheap laugh. Sure you Brits will snarl at it cause of the lack of sophistication but I get something that is sort of British without it being too British. Same with pizza. Real Italian pizza isn't nearly as filling as the cheesed filled crust and every topping under the sun American counterpart. Real Italians will probably hate it but it's been Americanized so the world can enjoy it. Cause who doesn't enjoy a meal made for a glutton. Americanizing I think is dumbing something down or making it so simple that there isn't much to be explained. Now the world can enjoy it cause in a way it's more universal.
You can say you don't consume American culture and I'm sure you don't but you can't deny that your country favorite video game is Fifa, made by an American country. That box offices hits made by Hollywood aren't the biggest films of the year and whatever tech advancements the US produced has made it to the UK like Facebook and Instagram. Plus are there not Mcdonalds and Starbucks in your country too? Or that your politics haven't been shaped by American intervention in the Middle East. Even BMX is a hobby for the most part made by Americans run by Americans. UK might not be America but there is a hell of a lot of America in the UK than you care to admit too.
Back to my original point that in America the lowest citizen has a chance in creating something global. In a micro level think about someone like Eazy-E who pushed a certain type of culture or aesthetic in music that is being emulated world wide. Maybe some guy was doing it in France 10 years before or something like that but it didn't hit the audience til Eazy-E did. First in Compton, then the US, then the world. That's what I'm getting at. America sucks for A LOT of things but making a global impact no other country does it the same as America.
Plus everyone thinks the world sucks these days cause they spend all day looking at the computer wishing they were living some other person's life(which is sort of America's fault). Look at the people who did the Paris attacks, they aren't some cattle herder getting bombed in Afghanistan but just a bunch of a losers whose lives were good enough that they could go out and do something dumb like that. The real desperate are out there living not cause they want to but cause they don't have a choice. People on the internet act like they are the universal voice without realizing that a good faction of the world doesn't constantly voice their opinion online cause ain't nobody got time for that.