Do we see here the consequences of an extreme individualistic culture?
A man who has obtained the position of president because voters are infatuated with his egoism, simple-mindedness, and sub-par reasoning skills. A man, who to no surprise, then abuses the power of the position of president, much in the same way he did when he abused his position of fame (“grab them by the pussy”). Abuses with the sole scope to gratify his ego and at the expense of everyone else, including tens of thousands of lives: “who cares? they are suckers and losers! they know that everyone who comes close to me must be tested, but I tell them at my rallies that it’s a hoax and they shouldn’t wear masks, and they cheer! I give them what they want! They love me. That’s not my fault. Suckers. Losers.”. Then you have people, like Woodward,as you correctly point out, who have information that could save lives, but sit on it for their own benefit. They too play the game of ‘what’s in it for me?’.
The corporate mantra of profit-maximisation has overtaken the sense of social cohesion.
It used to be “ask not what others can do for me, but what can I do for others” (free after JFK). In the Trump-era, the reverse is true.
Yes American capitalism has created a boom in personal wealth. But as is the case with success, when you push it too far, it tends to destroy the very fabric that created it, examples abound: over-population, de-forestation, fossil fuels, meat industry, drugs, consumption,…
As a species we were able to survive and multiply thanks to our social structures. Without the trust in reciprocity the young warriors would not defend their village with the old and the sick. They did so because the knew that one day they will be old and sick, and they trusted the village and its future young warriors to care for them then too.
Individualism is a great asset as long as it doesn’t override the social coherence.
It looks like the rubberband between US extreme capitalism and social reality is about to snap. The current US socio-political absurdity is a result of centuries of power-creep into the American political system. Democrats appear keen to put that good old system back on the rails. A system that gave us a president whose biggest supporters are: bikies, religious fanatics, conspiracy fanatics, white supremacists, far-right militants and psychopathic wealth accumulators.
Yet most Americans are decent and altruistic people. This means that the system is rigged to favour the few who see life as a game to be played by the haves with the lives of the have-nots.
As Trump would say: playing a game with the lives of ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’.
We can only hope that if Democrats win both houses of Congress, Biden surprises us with a miracle: that he delegates to Harris the reform of the Constitution and of the political system. A reform with the objective to maximize people’s potential through access to health, education. How else can a nation prosper, if not with a healthy and educated population?
