America and Individualism

America’s Cult of the Individual:
Rugged Individualism

Throughout History, the one truly distinguishing aspect of the American people has been the utterly ingrained aspect of individuality. From an early age, American children are told they can be anything they want. They can be the center of attention; they can change the world that they can do anything they wish to. In the past this has always been seen as a positive, as an asset to child raising in America. This is not so much a cause of anything, but more so a symptom of a much greater problem. America’s Hyper focus on individuality is the cause for many modern day woes, including the economy as well as the stagnation in the education industry.

Children in America are told that they are incredible. They are told they are special, better than the rest, and that the world is theirs for the taking. This is not, in fact, beneficial. There can be no state of existence where everyone is the best. One is the best, because everyone else is worse than they. In a state where everyone is constantly trying to outdo each other, very little real progress is made. People in America get so caught up in trying to outdo each other, no matter what it may be in, that they lose sight of any real goal they may have.

Percentiles and bell curves exist for a reason. There will always be a best, just as there will always be a worst. Humans as a race define things bilaterally. There can be no light, without the existence of dark, no soft without hard, no good without bad. If people have no opposite to define something against, it is outside of perception. So therefore people cannot all be the best at something, there will always be a relative group of others who are worse than they.

When focused (or in this case, hyper focused) only on one’s self there is no room left for others, or even society. Others become deductibles or expendables; insignificant in the face of one’s own wants. This kind of selfishness also causes impulsivity and shortsightedness. Take, for example, all of the outsourcing taking place in today’s economy. Americans want cheaper goods, and care not for where they come from, as long as they are cheap. Therefore, by buying cheaper goods, American citizens enable large companies to outsource to smaller and cheaper countries for labor, preventing many Americans today from holding stable jobs. Because people in third world countries do not believe themselves to be too good to do manual labor, they will work for much cheaper than minimum wage in America.

It is because these goods are cheaper that people continue to purchase them, increasingly when money is scarce and jobs are hard to find. People think only of the immediate effect something will have on them, and therefore rob themselves of improving their conditions. The poor in America now work for a minimum wage of approximately $7.00/hour. When outsourcing, a company can get cents to the hour, increasing the profit margin significantly, Allowing them to lower prices at the retail level to further increase profit by increasing the availability of the product. In America, because are all potential presidents, astronauts, and business CEO’s the people are too good to work for low pay, too good to not have great benefits, a good retirement plan, and of course good dental.
It is not just the fault of those in poverty, though. Even more at fault are the large corporations that are outsourcing the jobs. Anything to increase the profit margin is how these businesses operate. As long as they get rich they care not how many people they drive into poverty, how many lives they destroy or even lives they claim, as long as they come out financially sound. Why provide jobs and benefits to people in America when one can increase profit by outsourcing to a third world country? That is the question all of these companies ask, that is the question that the answer always seems to elude.

There is indeed an answer to that question, though, and it is a very simple one at that. If a corporation out sources jobs, they will indeed increase their profit margin. The increase may even be of astronomical sums, in some cases. The only problem is that outsourcing jobs causes loss in the long run. If jobs are unavailable in the long run, then the unemployed will not have the money to spend on frivolous purchases at first, and then later even necessities. It does not matter how cheap a product is, if nobody has the money to begin with. Only by fairly employing American citizens can a corporation produce a stable profit.

Everyone in America is in favor of capitalism, even the poor, unable to see that though %50 of the people may have a high standard of living, %50 will also have a low standard of living. In most cases, the resources are allocated in a very disproportionate way, as the rich continue to get richer, and the poor continue to get poorer. In America, money is power. Those in power (the rich) wish to stay in power (for the majority). Power is necessary for change, and why would the rich risk losing the power they already have? It is impossible (again, in most cases) for the poor to change things because they lack the funds (or power) to do so.

What the poor do not understand is that even if a social revolution does take place, as long as America is a capitalist society there will always be a large gap between the rich and the poor. Capitalism motives people to get as rich as possible, any way they can. And if there are the rich, those who are not rich will be considered the poor. The majority of people will fall in between the two extremes, and be classified as the “middle class.” The rich must try to make as much a profit as possible, wheeling and dealing to pay their workers as littler as they can and to sell their goods to the most people they can. The middle class tries to achieve the status of upper class, pushing itself down in its blind thirst for power. Every so often there is an upheaval, as the upper class stretches itself out too thin, and the middle class temporarily unites to usurp its power. The upper class then becomes the middle class, and vice versa.

The only class that does not change in these struggles is ironically also the largest. The lower class can do nothing but struggle to survive, rarely being able to save up enough resources for a minute percentage to ascend to middle or upper class living. Yet it is the poor that believe most highly in the irrevocable justice of capitalism, and the evils of socialized government. It is the laborers that run this country, as the expendable gasoline causing this political machine to go. Yet it is the lower class that is most taken advantage of, because they cannot muster the power (funds) to change anything, as they must expend all they earn just to survive.

One major industry that takes advantage of its customers in exchange for profit is the healthcare industry. As there is privatized heath insurance in America, these companies responsible for the people’s medical care are out not to save lives, but to save money. Health insurance representatives are rewarded for every person they deny care, and many lives have been lost because these companies care so well for their CEO’s, that they lose site of their customers, the lifeblood of such companies. They are run by the rich, and consume the poor.

One more reason for the sorry state of today’s economy is education. More so, the problem is over education. It has become the standard for Americans to go to college, more so than any other time in the countries history. In order to be successful in life, you must go to school, get good grades, and get a college degree. Or so it is alleged. With the over saturation of college-educated people in America today, there are no menial laborers. People believe they are too good for minimum wage, and employers are loath to hire anyone over-qualified for a job, because higher pay is expected. All countries need a work force to function, and America is no different.

With the climbing state of affairs considering education in America, one must achieve higher and higher degrees to be guaranteed a job. Even doctors have low job security in this economy, having achieved an M.D. one of the most difficult and expensive degrees to attain.

With the climbing price of college, the work force diminishes even further. As people come out of school with potentially hundreds of thousand of dollars in debt, they are unable to find a job. Unable to find a job, these college educated people are unable to pay their loans, and many must eventually declare bankruptcy. All of a sudden, people are out of their money, and credit scores are beyond the pale. So one is left with a college-educated bum, who feels he is too good to work a minimum wage job. This is, obviously, not beneficial to the economy.

Although diversification of the classes is inevitable concerning capitalism, it does not have to be anywhere as extreme as conditions find it today. Capitalism can be quite beneficial, but it has to be regulated. Without regulation, capitalism morphs societies into pseudo-feudalistic enterprises. With the rich controlling the middle class, controlling the poor. If regulations were in place to prevent the appalling rape of the lower class by the upper class, capitalism could help provide a better quality of life to all in America.

It is the utter disregard to society and humanity that causes these phenomena to occur. People are born in boxes, go to a box for a home, learn square fact about square ideas, and drive boxes to work after we graduate into the world. People have lost sight of every and anyone else, submitted to the greed and selfishness within us all. But there must again be a sense of community instilled within today’s youth. For without that the sorry state of the economy today is doomed to repeat itself. People must again learn to work for the good of the community, instead of just for themselves, and the rest will come naturally. Profit must be second to customer, as all businesses truly depend on their customers.

There is hope for America today, but who knows about tomorrow? Conditions continue to worsen and those in power take further advantage for profit, not realizing that their gains can only be temporary. As the economy is pushed further and further to the brink, the rich get richer and richer. What they do not realize is that once they push the economy over the brink, their countless billions of dollars will become nothing more than useless scraps of paper. Without an economy to give it value, the dollar counts for nothing, save maybe for kindling. America is in a dire place right now, but a brighter future is still possible. America’s sense of rugged individualism must suffer though, and change lest it drag the country down with it. The focus must shift now from “I” to “We” and people must work towards a better tomorrow not just for themselves, but also for America as a whole.