History, ah, a wonderful subject.... the Boston Tea Party, & all that jazz! How Hollywood changes who did what (like the Enigma decoding machine)....
Seriously though, if only we (UK/Europe) had been able to develop our GA & other flying aspects as the same way in the USA, the up/down battles of pilot availability versus self-funded ratings (or sponsorship, cadet schemes, whatever) would probably have never existed.
In short, you guys fly everywhere - we drive or take the train (unless there are the wrong type of leaves on the line to stop the trains - a frequent excuse from rail providers!). Costs for private flying are prohibitively expensive over here, which is why so many "self-improvers" go the the US for hours building or JAA approved courses. It doesn't help that unless you go the "approved course" route, I think that you need 500 hrs multi for an unfrozen ATPL - great, typical price at a high-end training school is US $415 per hour for something like a Cougar or Seneca II!! Ouch!! Just for a
PPL in the UK, you are looking at up to $14K with all the add-ons.
In the USA, maybe half the price!! OK, plus flights & accommodation - still a superb deal!!
So, like spelling (colour/color!), we unfortunately have a very different (& expensive) aviation environment over here. We certainly don't like it, but maybe it will change for the better as demand for pilots increases.