I'm American and lived in another country for three years. I'm from a region and social class that doesn't normally leave the U.S. In other words, I'm not the kind of American who typically travels abroad.
I am pursuing FI because it's the best means of security I can obtain in this country. If I had been able to remain in the country I lived in, I would have been able to pursue the career change I wanted to make at a drastically reduced cost, work for myself without fear of losing my health care benefits, and enjoyed a better work-life balance, adequate time off, and better protection against exploitation by an employer if I chose to work for someone else.
There are lots of great things about America, but I think it's highly likely that many of the reasons we don't see as many Europeans pursuing FI is because they feel their society protects them in the way that Americans hope money will do.
Now that I am back in the U.S., people often don't believe me at all when I tell them I had good treatment in a public health care system, felt the schools my son attended were a higher quality than his American schools, got six weeks of vacation time annually, and still carried a pretty comparable tax burden. Also, fresh food was actually cheaper-- they never believe that!
I understand loving your country - America is a super-cool place! But I don't understand why we're supposed to love it with some kind of toxic codependent love that never points out wrongs or looks to improve and most especially, never looks to another country of an example of how we might improve.