1/ I've been thinking a little about American rugged individualism vs. collectivism, how polarized we are these days and if there is a causal piece there related to deep seated American values/culture and if so, what has changed in the recent past to cause what we're seeing today

2/ This morning's working theory.... American heroes of the storied past (50's and 60's) were rugged individuals but they were individuals willing to give it all for their communities. Think Superman or John Wayne riding out to battle evil alone but in service of community

3/ American rugged individualism was a sort of decentralized collectivism. You can't tell me what to do BUT I and all the rest of us are hard wired (+have unofficial institutions like Church pressuring us) to sacrifice for one another. It was actually rugged American collectivism

4/ Flash forward to today and the modern heroes are Trump, a man famous for being a greedy philanderer who quite literally puts his own name on everything and stiffs his workers or Jake Paul who streams videos about himself and loots malls during the George Floyd protests

5/ In short the heroes are now individuals who, while maybe entertaining, are clearly out for themselves and no other. We used to actually have Rugged American Collectivists but now we have Rugged American Individuals and the second really sucks.

How do we go back?