I think that the notion of
individualism is more developed in the United States than anywhere
else in the world. It was a powerful tenet of our foundational
document and a necessary characteristic of those who initially sailed
the seas to establish colonies here. All men are created equal, the
pursuit of happiness, the expectation of being as worthy as the next
person are all manifestations of our individualism. And it is an
important part of our heritage but we ignore at our own peril our
history of cooperative effort and the willingness of individuals to
put the greater good above their own.
The very early colonies were
essentially communes and that was necessary to make possible the
likelihood of survival. Native American societies lived in such a
lifestyle going so far as to not even consider the private ownership
of land. European nations seem to be much more cooperative in their
populations and that is evidenced in their reliance on social
programs that eliminate much of the risk of living.
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Our sanctification of the individual
has had great benefits to our nation because it has allowed us to
concentrate our wealth and energy in the areas that brought
advantages to the United States even though we left many fallen
behind us. That has long been considered OK since it was also long
thought that even that person had equal opportunity to pull himself
up by his own bootstraps and be successful. That dream of
possibility was often enough to satisfy one's yearning for the good
life.
Times change and so does opportunity.
We have to consider that our desire for self-satisfaction and
self-gratification also leads to plain old selfishness. Sometimes
our desire to aggregate wealth and advantage leads us inexorably to
the deprivation others may suffer. There is just no escaping that
fact.
The times are gone when one could just
move further west in search of land or fortune. Or when an Irish lad
could weather the storms of the North Atlantic for a chance at a life
in which there was enough to eat. Our economic model based on ever
growing markets and consumerism has reached the saturation point
within our own borders and now the great corporations have to seek
greater wealth by expanding consumer bases beyond our borders leaving
much of the domestic public to pick up the scraps that fall from the
table. Those mega-giants have little concern for people rather than
profits.
Oh, don't think me to be crying in my
beer. The United States is still the wealthiest nation on the face
of the planet and maybe the wealthiest that has ever been. It is
just that future opportunity for those who do not enjoy the
advantages of wealth is dimmed and is growing dimmer. A degree from
the University of Kentucky may get you a job managing a Chick-fil-et
but a degree from Harvard or Yale opens the doors of some of the
wealthiest corporations in the United States. Is it because the
education one receives there is so much better? Well, sometimes but
the real advantage comes from the network of alumni of those
institutions. Such access is simply not available to the average
student aspiring to attain a part of the American Dream. Now we find
that education at even the state universities is being priced out of
the reach of many Americans. That is not the American Dream.
Our parents and grandparents grew up in
the time of the Robber Barons, The Great Depression and then World
War II. The oldest of them had seen the want of the great public
while the Robber Barons consolidated wealth among the elite finally
leading to the collapse of the financial system. Out of the ruins of
that power and prestige came the Populist movements and the election
of FDR who promptly set about establishing Social Security along with
a host of other agencies that would protect people from those who had
no concern for the health of the common man.
We still have robber barons, we just
don't call them that. These days they are hedge fund managers.
Those people who are expert at taking money from other wealthy people
and doing whatever it takes to turn a hefty profit for those
shareholders. They have enough heft to be able to pour millions
into buying favorable legislation that has resulted in them having to
pay a fraction of the tax rate the common man pays. If you think
that is the American Dream you've been led down the garden path. It
is no secret, the game is rigged and it is not those of the great
unwashed who are on the receiving end. Instead it is those who are
not just individualists but also those who wash their selfishness in
the water of free enterprise in order to call it clean. It is not
clean. It is what scripture calls lucre in the admonition against
love of money. Is a person free who is enslaved to a system whose
institutions foster inequality? There are more chains than those
that make shackles.
The great example is that our nation
has from time to time thrown off the mantle of individualism and
selfishness and pulled together equally for the common good. The
restrictions that we place on ourselves in order that the entire
people can enjoy the fruits of this great experiment are significant
temperings of selfishness. We are at a time when those who would
emphasize the collective good are ideologically opposed to those who
shout the virtues of individualism. Mankind is at a point in history
when the individual, while able to accomplish much, will not be able
to bring equality of opportunity. It must be the associations of
people that will bring the next great leaps for humanity.
Some of great wealth have already
planned to give away the vast portion of their wealth and that is
commendable but it faintly smells of what Daniel Moynahan called
benevolent despotism. While we should never condemn people who gain
wealth through honest endeavor we must be aggressive in our
understanding of what constitutes honest endeavor.
That's my take on individualism and
selfishness. On dealing a fair game or dealing from the bottom of
the deck. What's yours?
These are some really strange events and somewhat unanticipated by almost everyone. It smacks somewhat of "sour grapes" for some of those who were against the ACA in the first place. The rollout of "Obamacare" has been rockier than it should have been but there are reasons that has happened in addition to poor software development. I will interject at this point that Medicare and Social Security were both initiated without access to an internet. The rollout of both of those took months to accomplish and some even went for a few years. The great hubbub about this enrolment period is due to intense criticism by political and ideological opponents.
This is a big change. It will not be without pain. Real change is always upsetting to the status quo. I am including a link to some information about the New Zealand medical insurance system which is pretty much what ours will end up being if people can resist tearing the ACA apart.
