There are different ways I could express what, in my humble opinion, is wrong with the U.S.A. these days…
some more offensive than others…
So, let’s try for a potentially less offensive expression.
John F. Kennedy, Jr., our 35th President, implored the country, in his 1961 inaugural address, to…
ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
Perhaps unintentionally, what he did in that quote was encourage collectivism over individualism.
Because any idea that connotes collectivism immediately, for too many, conjures up the boogeyman of socialism, or worse, communism.
Nevertheless, JFK was in fact suggesting individual service to the collective, rather that the more individualistic (and capitalistic) notion of the having the collective serve the individual.
What do I mean by that exactly?
Well, let’s first define what is truly meant by “the collective.”
In a word, “the collective” refers to us…the Big US, or as I will hereinafter refer, U.S., as in the “U.S.” of A…
Now, the collective expresses its will (or so it should) via government action. That is, when the government is operating the way it is supposed to operate, i.e., of, by, and for the people.
I have referred often in the blog to a concept that I call “capitalism run amok.” In this post I’ve changed that to “individualism run amok.”
See there, doesn’t that seem less offensive?
What I am getting at with that subtle change is simply a catchy way to refer to the current social and economic situation in our country. A situation in which the individual has gained, or seeks to gain, the ability to manipulate the collective will for his or her own individual ends.
That’s the unavoidable end result of capitalism run amok.
That is, a situation in which the government (U.S.) no longer is an expression of collective will, but of a handful of individual wills, those who have amassed the economic power, through unbridled capitalistic freedom, to manipulate the so-called collective will.
Of course, once government can be so manipulated for individual ends, it no longer represents the collective will, wouldn’t you agree?
We have come to the point in the U.S.A. where most seem to believe in a market solution to every problem…
That if the government (i.e., the collective will) simply steps aside and allows the market to work on its own, everything will magically work out…
But is it working out, really?
Right now the country is faced with problems the likes of which none of U.S. have experienced in our lifetimes…
Donald J. Trump, the poster-child of individualism run amok, tells U.S. to just “open up the market” and all will be well…
However, the facts don’t demonstrate that all will be well. In fact, the truth demonstrates anything but that.
America was built via rugged individualism…by those “rugged individuals” who rode on the backs of the less fortunate and powerless. It has always been that way.
Now, am I saying that individualism is bad?
No, I’m saying that individualism run amok is bad.
Right now, they’ve gotten so severe as to threaten the long-term health and sustainable of our country as a whole.
So, what’s the solution?
What is a healthy degree of individualism?
Individualism rests on the ego-driven notion that the individual stands apart from his or her environment and that the latter exists to serve the former…
But that’s just not really true.
Now, I won’t get into a long-winded discussion of how the ego doesn’t even really exist at all…
Nevertheless, we are served by our egos to a great extent. After all, it’s the ego that motivates us to strain and strive for a better and more comfortable individual existence. It’s our ego that works to motivate action the lends toward the propagation of our species.
And who doesn’t want that?
I know I do! I work for it everyday…
And that’s a good thing.
But when we get so caught up with this notion of separate-ness that we lose sight of U.S., then problems with individualism run amok tend to arise.
Remember, U.S., or the collective, expresses its will via government action…
The type of action that actually serves U.S…
Lately our government has been doing anything but that!
And we make the mistake of allowing that situation to go on because we think that the market, which exists to serve the individual, always knows better, even better than U.S.!
But it doesn’t. Aren’t we seeing proof of that right now?
The market serves as a way for the individual to manipulate the collective…to stand apart from it and transact with it in order to derive some individual benefit. One very important function of government action, i.e., collective will, is to make sure there are rules in place that prevent this form of manipulation from getting out of hand…
However, it has, indeed, gotten out of hand.
I believe a more healthier form of individualism is one in which we do strive for a better individual existence, but we do so in a way that is cognizant of what JFK implored…
That we should prioritize the impact of our actions, so that as a whole they serve to benefit the collective, over and above our own individual self-interest.
Isn’t that exactly what JFK’s quote is all about? Haven’t you ever been inspired by it?
A whole generation of Americans were!
Maybe we need to get back to that sense of inspirational impact…
That sense of inspiration that would never protest the simple and painless act of wearing a mask in order to protect our collective health!
A healthy degree of individualism is one that wholly rejects the notion that the collective exists to serve any group of individuals who have been able to manipulate it via economic and political power…
Collective will exists to serve the powerless, not the powerful…
Individualism run amok is not the way it’s supposed to work folks…
But that’s the way it is working…
Isn’t it high time for a change?
A once in a lifetime opportunity will avail itself come November 3rd!