Americans and Individualism Essay -- essays research papers

The United States of America is the land of the free, the land ofopportunity, the wealthiest country in the world, a country that half themodern world is modeled after. Its President is referred to as the "Leaderof the free world". Thousands of people come to this country every year,learning about the country in hopes of becoming citizens. William Hudson inhis book American country in Peril talks about the seven biggestchallenges to this democratic nation.Individualism can be seen as a gift or a curse, depending on the context inwhich it occurs. Because modern society finds it important that people thinkindependently, decide autonomously and take personal initiatives, theconcept of individualization has acquired a positive connotation. However, individualization is also linked with the tendency to crawfish out from social lifeand turn in towards oneself. Alexis de Tocqueville described individualismas the cool and considered attitude which drives people to withdraw into asmall, enclosed world consisting of their family and a few select friends,leaving the rest of society to its bear devices.The most obvious problem stemming from the process of individualism is of asocio-economic nature and concerns the problem of solidarity. If the linkbetween the community and the individual becomes less strong, to what extentwill an individual experience social problems, in which he or she is notimmediately implicated, as his or her problems? To what extent are people inan individualistic society prepared to consider the problems of others astheir own? This is a crucial question for society since it places thelegitimacy of many social institutions and political structures in question.Whoever accepts that individualism is a fact will consider political life tobe an incessant clash of interests on the part of people who are only in itfor the sake of personal power or an attach in personal fortune. Whilethey may be fine, responsible people in private life, in thei r attitude togovernment they are like infants, concerned only in themselves and whatthey consume, howling for more, and not concerned at all about the moralityof using government as a middleman to forcibly take what they desire fromtheir fellow-citizens. Whereas those people who reject individualism andaccept that the point of an election is to choose representatives whom thevo... ... Congress, with the States, can amend theConstitution. Individualism breeds fragmentation and brings aboutdisconnectivity and this is in complete contradiction with the connectedgovernmental system in the United States where the governmental divisionsare always checking each other.On one hand, democracys project is unrealizable, because it is contrary tonature. On the other, it is impossible to stop shortly of this democracy andgo back to aristocracy. This is because democratic equality also conforms tonature. It follows that we can only moderate democracy we cannot stop shortof democracy, because it fulfils nature. We cannot attain the end of thismovement, for it would mean subjecting nature completely and dehumanizingman. Escaping democracy is not an option. We can never possibly makedemocracy completely "real", and we must(prenominal) not try. We can and must moderatedemocracy, limit it, sober down its hostility to nature, all the whilebenefiting from its conformity to nature. To moderate democracy so as itconforms with human nature, to limit it insofar as it is contrary to it,such is the sovereign art on which depend the prosperity and morality of ademocracy.