Rugged individualism. Way back long ago when I listened to Rush Limbaugh … yes, I was a Conservative (Big C) once, damn my eyes … I would hear that phrase quite regularly. Rush likes to think of himself that way. Rugged, and an individual. Doing things his way. Ruggedly.
It’s funny, but I tend to think of Rush as the big guy who arrogantly blows cigar smoke in your face, and shoves his way to the head of every line. But shame on me, that’s certainly not a very nice thing to express, and of course, it’s a totally different subject.
Anyway, folks who use “rugged individualist” usually mean it as a compliment, not a pejorative, and they mean somebody who worked hard, doing things their own way, building something out of nothing.
Here’s the problem: Unless you’re God, (and I mean the “big G” God, not one of those scrawny demigods), you just can’t pull off the ex nihilo routine. Creating something always requires something or someone else, no matter how ruggedly individualistic you might be. Teddy Roosevelt (Bully!) comprehended that. He understood that the Village works best when the Villagers work for and with each other, building upon each other’s creative enterprise.
It’s trendy among some groups these days to think of fortunes and businesses built without the involvement of … how shall I say? … the Village, but true, self-subsistence cannot be attained in any but the most primitive environments. Even then, it’s rather hard to imagine someone long surviving after being dropped into Le Forest Primeval, buck-ass naked, with no “Fabriqué dans Le Village” tools or anything.
I’m just sayin’.
