American Individualism

I believe that early in our history, Americans began to practice a bad habit, a habit that has over the years grown out of proportion and has come to bite us in our anatomy.  It runs contrary to that which is best in Christianity. 

It’s “American Individualism.”  It comes from the images of the single pioneer, the “mountain man,” the lone sodbuster, gunfighter, gold miner, gambler or school-marm.  Americans venerated the exploits of the frontier marshals (who, by the way, disarmed just about everyone before trouble could start).  Citizens heard of the exploits of individual heroes in World War I such as Sergeant York.  Newspapers and radio told the story of the “Lone Eagle”; Charles Lindbergh, and World War II’s Audie Murphy - but not his comrades.  We read Horatio Alger’s fictions about the poor kid who, through pluck and hard work, succeeded in adulthood.  We had the Lone Ranger and superheroes Batman, and Wonder Woman… all individuals. 

We don’t hear about civic duty anymore, or our responsibilities to the community.  Driving a vehicle, sometimes unsafely, has become some sort of civil right.  People who had draft deferments become high-level politicians who send other people’s children to die in battle.  Tax-avoidance is a multibillion dollar industry, notwithstanding the roads, bridges, communications, schools and emergency services we wouldn’t have without the common effort of taxation. People boast about their manipulations to get out of jury duty.  Government “of the people” is now “us and them” because we don’t want anyone telling us what to do and we don’t want tax-supported research to confront our faulty individual opinions and religious beliefs, and finally, those of us who see the poor as a threat to our wealth don’t want “the government” playing Robin Hood. 

Jesus would have cried, as he cried over Jerusalem.  The people had lost their direction and turned in on themselves. 

Americanized Christianity has Jesus as a gun-toting, flag-waving white male American “patriot” who stands for the rights of churches to rule by misdirection.  Realistically, Jesus seems to have been a man who was out for justice for his people, that is, fair play instead of poverty and brutality.  Jesus taught equal access to God and equal access to God’s creation.  And, shocking as it seems, there are people in the strangest places who are beginning to critique our present attitude. 

Lloyd Blankfein was quoted in the Huffington Post as saying, “This country does a great job of creating wealth, but not a great job of distributing it.”  Blankfein is the CEO of Goldman Sachs, a firm that I consider a predatory business that has caused considerable suffering among us because of greed and mismanagement. 

In spite of these “blips” of morality, like Blankfein’s, we have no sense of community.  We hate each other. Americans are on a rampage with guns and money. 

So tax me.  It doesn’t all go where I want it to go, but a lot of it goes to help people manage their retirement – people who do not have the capacity to do that otherwise, myself included.  Some of it goes to level the playing field with health care.  What we had before, “pay or die” healthcare is a shame and an injustice. 

And pat me on the back when I choose to serve when called, even though it takes a chunk of time out of my life.  When people do this the whole community is lifted up. 

And tell the world that we’re not just a bunch of individuals, we’re a nation with a bond.  And our religions, they bring a higher power into the mix.