Rugged Individualism & Health Care Reform

Many of the opponents of health care reform are often referred to as rugged individualists. Just what is a rugged individualist? Rugged individualism is characterized by the belief that most individuals can succeed on their own and that government help for people should be minimal. Rugged individualism may have been appropriate when our government was struggling to define itself but in today’s society, rugged individualism is a myth!

The complex and diverse society that we live in by default dictates that in order to survive we must be dependent on one another. Anyone that thinks he can go it alone is in denial. The affluent may feel a certain amount of independence from government but when push comes to shove as in our Great Recession, it is the affluent that look to government to protect their wealth ( they call it bailout). Does anyone really think that this country could have developed into a superpower without laws banning child labor, laws protecting a worker’s rights, laws protecting us from monopolistic corporations, laws protecting us from the spread of disease, laws making it possible for all to live the American Dream regardless of color, ethnic origin or wealth.

There are no rugged individualists. There are greedy, selfish individuals hiding behind a Madison Avenue type slogan. So called rugged individualism gave us the Crash of 1929, the Great Depression and yes, the Iraq War.

( Remember the Marlboro Man - he did a lot for lung cancer and skyrocketing health care costs.)

Rugged individualists would have us subscribe to one law only - maybe two. The law of the jungle and the law of the NRA. I prefer to live in a civilized society where we help one another with the help of government.