The reality is that Americans are deeply influenced by our culture of self-reliance and individualism whether they know it or not. It is not un-American to reject collectivist policy as Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has charged, but it is quintessentially American to proudly and loudly reject such policy.
In recent years it seems that many US Americans have been suffering from an identity crisis. They have forgotten, or were never aware of, the values and beliefs that make us who we are. There is even a sense of shame that we have, by our creativity and labor, prospered more than others in the world. Influenced by the media and guided by power-seeking politicians they have typically looked back to Europe for ideas for public policy.
Although the first immigrants, arriving over four hundred years ago, to what is now the USA were European, they were of a different sort than the current collectivist European – they were entrepreneurs. Arriving later were those persecuted because of their religion. What they had in common was a desire for freedom to prosper over others and believe differently than others left behind in Europe. They were unashamed individualists and their values and beliefs have influenced American culture more than anything else. Immigrants continue to pour into the USA, legally and illegally, still seeking the same freedom to prosper and escape persecution.
Americans don’t need to look to Europe for a national identity nor for cultural values. We have a culture based on self-reliance and individualism that has helped us to become the greatest nation in history. We have rejected European values through much sacrifice of lives in several wars. Efforts to inflict public policy on us based on collectivist European values will eventually run into the roadblock provided by American Individualism. The recent rising up of Americans in town hall meetings against the government takeover of the health care industry is a case in point.
What we need is the freedom to exercise our individualism constrained only by objective morals to protect us from each other, and covenants to protect us from our government. We need to follow the moral guidance of Judeo-Christian values embodied in the Ten Commandments of the Christian Bible and Jewish Torah. And, we need to abide by the first ten amendments to our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, that were ratified to protect us from the tyranny of government.
© Vigilute 2009
Vigilute
Vigilute 
August 21, 2009
Quintessentially American
Posted by Hugh under politics | Tags: commentary, culture, essays, individualism, politics |Leave a Comment
In recent years it seems that many US Americans have been suffering from an identity crisis. They have forgotten, or were never aware of, the values and beliefs that make us who we are. There is even a sense of shame that we have, by our creativity and labor, prospered more than others in the world. Influenced by the media and guided by power-seeking politicians they have typically looked back to Europe for ideas for public policy.
Although the first immigrants, arriving over four hundred years ago, to what is now the USA were European, they were of a different sort than the current collectivist European – they were entrepreneurs. Arriving later were those persecuted because of their religion. What they had in common was a desire for freedom to prosper over others and believe differently than others left behind in Europe. They were unashamed individualists and their values and beliefs have influenced American culture more than anything else. Immigrants continue to pour into the USA, legally and illegally, still seeking the same freedom to prosper and escape persecution.
Americans don’t need to look to Europe for a national identity nor for cultural values. We have a culture based on self-reliance and individualism that has helped us to become the greatest nation in history. We have rejected European values through much sacrifice of lives in several wars. Efforts to inflict public policy on us based on collectivist European values will eventually run into the roadblock provided by American Individualism. The recent rising up of Americans in town hall meetings against the government takeover of the health care industry is a case in point.
What we need is the freedom to exercise our individualism constrained only by objective morals to protect us from each other, and covenants to protect us from our government. We need to follow the moral guidance of Judeo-Christian values embodied in the Ten Commandments of the Christian Bible and Jewish Torah. And, we need to abide by the first ten amendments to our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, that were ratified to protect us from the tyranny of government.
© Vigilute 2009