American Individualism: The We're On Our Own Society

Obama was wrong when he derided individualism as the "you're on your own" society. Humans were never meant to be alone, of course. The edifice of our social ideals, individualism, was meant to promote a certain kind of society and certain social bonds. Self reliance and personal responsibility themselves came from a moral communal vision: of God's city on a hill, an example to the world. A people who could escape the nightmare of history, the register of man's follies, total depravity, original sin. This condition is inherited by all, but salvation is not a collective affair for nobody deserves salvation just for existing. Hoover's rugged individualism was about character, of the direct link between individual effort and social good, of those who took it upon themselves to improve the welfare of others rather than impersonal bureaucracy. One can only be their brother and sister's keeper if others are as willing to take initiative as we are ourselves. In America we take individualism as a moral creed for each person directed outward.