In these respects, the United States is often seen as preachy, patronizing, and condescending, such attitudes are often deeply resented abroad. The trouble is, Americans really believe, often with good reason, in the superiority of their political (democracy) and economic (immense prosperity) institutions. And Americans feel they have an obligation to teach others how to achieve their successes; namely, by imitating and following the United States and its institutions. Such preachiness is not usually as a result of arrogance, much less a desire to dominate the world, but because Americans truly believe that the conditions of the Third World will be vastly improved if it imitates us and our institutions.