“For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias,” noted President Barack Obama in his inaugural address.

Internally and externally, internationally and domestically, our idealization of individuality and self-sufficiency is stifling the quality of life in the United States.

Perhaps the most important issue that has suffered from our culture of individuality is public transportation. The traditional American Dream, as lived by the quintessential nuclear family, includes two cars and a two-car garage: the evident appeal of this lifestyle being that anyone can  use his or her car to drive anywhere in the country at will, given enough time and gas money.

This absolute commitment to individual time frames has contributed significantly to the glacial speed by which the public transportation system in the United States has struggled to advance. Why wait 15 minutes for the bus when I could drive to my destination right now? Why take a train when I could drive myself in two hours or less? 

But when we travel together, we emit fewer pollutants into the atmosphere, and the onward march of global warming slows. There has to be a trade-off on behalf of individual convenience in order to benefit the good of the collective — global warming benefits no one but air-conditioning manufacturers.

Another way in which our individualistic culture expedites the process of climate change pertains to this vision houses in which two-car garages reside. According to The Atlantic Cities, the average single-family home in a suburban setting consumes almost triple the amount of energy when compared to the typical single-family home in an urban, multi-family housing unit. A single-family home in an urban setting uses only slightly more than 60 percent of the energy expended in a single-family suburban home. 

This vision of independence from the rest of society is intricately intertwined with what we imagine it means to have “made it” in America. Most aspire to a giant mansion in the suburbs with multiple luxury motor vehicles — not to a nice downtown apartment with a fast bicycle. This is the height of individual autonomy.

But it’s not just individuals. Even as groups, Americans want freedom from requirements and the necessity to rely on the collective. This has been demonstrated clearly by the recent attempts by multiple states to nullify national gun control laws. These states are reneging on a basic principle of governance in the United States — when issues in one state affect issues in another, decisions need to occur at the national level. This is a case in which states wanting to exercise their individuality when making a collective decision could pose positive, more productive results with respect to the overall advancement of our nation.

“We have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias,” declared Obama.

If we do away with our idealization of individuality and self-sufficiency, we can hope to make wiser decisions for the advancement of our country. In light of the recent move to propose military action in Syria, we cannot make an appropriate call without the joint, unified effort of not only the U.S. government, but the entire nation. The American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by living, driving, acting, governing or fighting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of the imperialist British with wooden swords and cap guns. 

If you wish to engage in a collective dialogue in service of your individualistic freedoms, email Rohith at [email protected].