America is an outlier on a global scale. It is the most individualistic country in the world. Other Western countries show individualistic tendencies as well, but the US is the extreme. This individualistic mentality has led America to great prosperity. But now we are seeing it lead to its decline, and potential downfall.
Individualistic cultures value traits such as: independence, uniqueness, self-reliance, autonomy, assertiveness. This is opposed to collectivist cultures which value traits such as: group loyalty, generosity, self-sacrifice, dependability. Every culture is a mix but the United States is an outlier on the individualistic side.
The American dream is that every individual has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is from the Declaration of Independence, written in 1776. A declaration of war, it contained a list of grievances which were intended to encourage others to rise up against tyranny. Individual rights were seen as the bedrock of liberty. Over a decade later these rights were codified in the constitution.
The constitution outlines the formation of the government. It defines the three branches of government and the roles and responsibilities of each. It is structured so that the government could not infringe on an individual’s rights, or at least make it difficult to do so. Fun fact, the constitution gets much its structure from the Iroquois confederacy.
The constitution also contains the Bill of Rights. The first 10 amendments to the constitution which were adopted in 1791. It spells out Americans’ rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like freedom of speech, press, and religion.
Where this becomes a big issue is with the 9th Amendment. Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1965 in Griswold v. State of Connecticut wrote “other fundamental personal rights should not be denied such protection or disparaged in any other way simply because they are not specifically listed in the first eight constitutional amendments.“
In other words just because the founding fathers couldn’t think of the right, and make note of it, doesn’t mean you don’t have it. Griswold v. State of Connecticut was a case about birth control and the right to use it. When the founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights, they didn’t predict the need to make an law regarding birth control.
They were essentially trying to future proof the Bill of Rights. Do you have the right to become a cyborg? Probably. The ninth amendment would seem to say that. Do you have the right to tattoo “Poop” across your forehead. Yup. Not recommended but it is allowed under the Bill of Rights. Do you have the right to not participate in community clean-up or local festivals. Yes, not participating is covered. Do you have the right to not attend church or believe in God. Yes, all of this is covered.
The Bill of Rights guarantees Americans the individual freedoms to pursue whatever makes them happy. This commitment to individualism propelled the US from a group of rebellious colonies to a world leader in the 19th and 20th centuries. The mythos of the rugged individual conquering the untamed land helped fuel this advancement. First through the settlement of the West. Figures like Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp and Davie Crockett. Later through the notion of the individual genius. Figures like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Albert Einstein. And finally the self-made man. Individuals such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs. These individual of achievement are pervasive in all aspects of American culture.
They’re also completely false. The idea of the completely successful individual is a pernicious fallacy. Everyone has had help from someone. It is biologically ingrained in us to want to belong. Belonging is smack in the middle of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, just above food and safety. It’s hard-wired into our very being. A survival mechanism which is so deeply rooted that most of the time we are completely unaware of how it manifests itself. It is why we unconsciously mimic the gestures of people we like. Why we will begin to pick up the accents of the locale we live. Why we dress a certain way. It’s also why in many cultures banishment was such a huge punishment to lay on someone. You were killing them, because no one could survive as an individual.
The notion of individual freedoms has, over time, shifted to a self-centeredness. The ideas that one’s own wants and desires are paramount to all else. The focus on the individual has shifted America away from cooperation and collaboration. Instead it has led to egotism and self-absorption.
Take someone listening to music on their phone without headphones on public transit. They have an individual right to do so. But then so does everyone else. Can you imagine the cacophony on that bus. The desires and selfishness of that individual infringes on everyone else. Because the individiual’s rights are seen as surpassing the collective.
A more serious example is COVID-19.
Many of the same people who claim to be willing to die for their country, are not willing to get vaccinated or wear masks. Even if it is to save their own families. Even if it is to save their own lives.
In Texas, they’ve passed legislation to ensure people don’t need to comply with vaccine mandates. And further prohibit businesses that receive public funds from requiring vaccination proof.
Interestingly, this is not the first time people have been resistant to wear a mask. Apparently getting people to do the right thing has been an issue before.
George Washington, America’s first president and war hero, mandated the first mass inoculation when he vaccinated his army against smallpox. As he put it, “Necessity not only authorizes but seems to require the measure, for should the disorder infect the Army . . . we should have more to dread from it, than from the Sword of the Enemy.” Watch the video below, vaccines were messed up back then!
Lucky for us smallpox has been eradicated. And many other diseases are held at bay through herd immunity. Herd immunity is the idea that if a certain percentage of the population is vaccinated against a disease. Then the small percentage that isn’t will be unlikely to be infected, or be able to spread the infection because those around them are immune. Herd immunity for each disease is different. For measles for example, it is around 95%.
Given America’s penchant for individualism that herd immunity happen. It’s vaccination rate currently sits at 54.6% Comparatively in China, a collectivist culture, the vaccination rate is around 63.4%. While the numbers are not where they need to be yet, China is clearly leading the way.
The individualism; the self-reliance and independence, that was crucial in the formation and development of America is now seeming to impede it’s progression. Unless America can rally around this collective cause, the lack of accountability to the larger whole will ensure it longer remains world power. That however could require a very large mindshift in many people, which is incompatible with the individualistic mentality. It would require putting the needs of the many before the needs of the self, and I am not hopeful.