American Individualism

author, Steven Carlino

Has government caused the death of American individualism? In this country we have a caring government which wants to help its citizens. But government has an fascinating duality. The caring side of government which exists to help the ordinary citizen also interferes with peoples’ day to day lives. On one side government is charitable and on the other side government is controlling. When Alexis DeTocqueville came to America from France he already saw a country in which its individuals, "quit their state of dependence long enough to choose their masters and then fall back into it." (DeTocqueville, pg. 693) Through examination of America’s current health care system and economic inequalities, it will be shown how individualism has changed. I will also critique what past political theorist would think about American society today. Individuals have always been dependent upon government, just as DeTocqueville witnessed in the 18th century.

Is a man who risks his freedom to help others a criminal? In our society Alfredo Martinez- Garcia is a criminal. Martinez-Garcia has been dispensing AZT, a drug that slows the effects of the disease Human Immune Deficiency syndrome (HIV), to infected persons who can not afford the expensive drugs. This man also dispensed the drugs morphine and codeine to the same individuals to relieve the painful effects of HIV and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The state of Florida prosecuted Martinez-Garcia because selling or giving out prescribed drugs without being a doctor or a pharmacist is illegal in the state. Martinez-Garcia receives the drugs free of charge from the families of dead patients and the doctors of dead patients. After receiving the drugs Martinez-Garcia, who himself is HIV positive, gives them to individuals with the disease without a charge. Martinez-Garcia was found guilty of a felony offense and sent to the Florida State Penitentary.

Right now, Henry David Thoreau is smiling in his grave. Martinez-Garcia claimed in his trial that he is following a higher law and helping his fellow man. He stated that he broke the law to combat the AIDS crises. When asked by the prosecutor why he knowingly broke the law, Martinez-Garcia said, "I just want to prove that I am a responsible citizen." (Court TV, episode Trial TV) Thoreau would be pleased to see such moral citizens existing in society.

To examine the political theories of Alexis DeTocqueville and Henry David Thoreau we can draw parallels between their thoughts and ideals to modern social problems. One crisis that is beginning to tear at the fiber of American society is health care. While many other advanced nations have universal health care coverage for all of its citizens, the United States still lags far behind. Three years ago President Clinton’s initiative to reshape health care in this country failed miserably. It failed in favor of a severely outdated and inefficient system of health maintenance organization (HMO) and medical insurance through employers.

This present system brings in money hand over fist for these large medical organizations while the citizens that they work for are being hurt. Not only have medical and medicine bills gone through the roof, but Americans have lost control over this multi-billion dollar industry. Individuals often can not choose their own doctors. There are also millions of homeless and unemployed who do not even qualify or can not obtain medical attention and help. Should we not take care of individuals who have fallen on hard times or can not help themselves? How would DeTocqueville and Thoreau view this problem?

DeTocqueville was a child of the French Aristocracy and came to the United States to examine the new found democracy. What DeTocqueville found in this country amazed him, but at the same time it also frightened him. He believed in the concept of natural rights and thought that the ideals of life, liberty and property were more fundamental than society itself. DeTocqueville witnessed that Americans were firm believers in political, legal, and social equality. He also believed that society existed to serve the individual. (DeTocqueville, pg 18)

DeTocqueville would be sickened to view our present health care system that exists today. He would suggest that people should help other people through the doctrine of self-interest. Is it not in the self-interest of us all to have a healthy society? Look at the AIDS epidemic for an example. Would it not serve the best self-interest of the majority to help AIDS patients instead of letting their conditions become worse? DeTocqueville would believe that we have given up on our civic duty to help others. DeTocqueville, who was a firm believer in sharing and combining resources to make individuals stronger, would not agree with the present system.

The majority formed our present day government. The majority did not create the medical bureaucracy that exists today, government did not create it either. But it was the government that did not regulate or control the industry. This is an industry grounded in money where the rich get richer and the poor get sick and die, with no one to care for them. Only individuals such as Alfredo Martinez-Garcia will care for the poor who are sick and dying. To DeTocqueville, Martinez-Garcia is the model for an individual in the world of the majority. A man who saw self-interest in using his resources and means to resources to help those who can not help themselves.

DeTocqueville saw democracy as a combination of equality and individualism. Therefore our medical system is the farthest thing from being a democratic institution. It is an industry that is not lead by the majority, it is lead by an elite few who do not view equality as worthy moral goal. According to DeTocqueville, these individuals have failed to see the shared duty of civic life. Then again it is the government that was created to do these things. It was created to see through the goals of equality and the welfare of its citizens. As government grew, individuals stepped away from their previous civic affairs. As Americans retreated from being individuals and became egoist they forgot about equality and fairness, they forgot to take care of those who could not take care of themselves.

In his writings DeTocqueville posed the question, "[b]ut in abandoning our ancestors’ social state and throwing their institutions, ideas, and mores pell-mell behind us, what have we put in their place?" (DeTocqueville, pg. 15) I would say that we have put in place a society that does not care about the individual anymore. Our present democracy has become a capitalist playground where individuals worry more about the financial bottom-line rather than helping others and saving lives.

According to De Tocqueville, Alfredo Martinez-Garcia’s actions do not make him a virtuous man, but his actions shape him into an orderly, temperate, moderate, careful, and self-controlled citizen. I believe this is all Martinez-Garcia strives for; as he said in his trial he just wants to be a responsible citizen.

I believe that DeTocqueville’s writings lay out a good foundation from which to understand Democracy in America. To me democracy is a political experiment, which we still are testing today. DeTocqueville’s writings on self-interence and the ominipotence of the majority are sincerely profound. He argues self-interest in a manner that it is difficult to refute. I wish everyone had the civic minded resposiblity of Alexis DeTocqueville. Problems in this country would probably dwindle if people were honor bound and shared their resources to make each other stronger. (DeTocqueville, pg. 526) Tied into the Martinez-Garcia debate is the idea of the despotism democratic nations have to fear. DeTocqueville predicted that if the government provides services that individuals used to provide for themselves, those citizens would walkaway from their civic affairs. (DeTocqueville, pg. 692) This is exactly the case in our current medical system. Individauls gave up their voice and let the government control the medical system. In turn our neglect to our civic duty casuses problems that our to difficult to cure.

While watching the trial of Alfredo Martinez-Garcia, I began to wonder why so many unjust laws exist. I have never understood why so much injustice exists in our medical system. Why should dying people be forced to suffer just because of an outdated system of medical care and coverage? Martinez-Garcia is a man who understands the system. He is a man who knew that the remedy would be worse than the evil that already prevails. He also understood that the dying HIV infected patients could not wait for reform. He was their only hope, the only one that could stop their pain and suffering, and to Martinez-Garcia his moral obligation and conscience to help those in need took precedence over any law. As Thoreau claims, adapting ways which the state has set out to remedy the evil takes too much time and a man’s life will be gone. This is why Martinez-Garcia took matters into his own hands.

I have always respected Henry David Thoreau. Ever since I first came in contact with his writings as a fifteen year old high school student. How can you not respect a person who stands up for what they believe, even to the point of being held in jail? I found it hard not to respect an individual who believed that he could be the moral epicenter of society. Thoreau believed that each individual could be lead in life by their conscience. Alfredo Martinez-Garcia is an individual who leads his life by his conscience.

The world would be a very different place if we all lead our life by our conscience. How can we sleep at night if we know that there are people out there starving or sleeping in the cold? Somehow our majority society has turned the cold shoulder on those that we should be helping.

Martinez-Garcia does not wish to quarrel or argue with the government or the state of Florida. All he wishes to do is to be a moral and conscience person and continue to help those that our government and the majority neglect to take care of. Thoreau and Martinez-Garcia both believe that the government has set up obstacles that get in the way of a society that might do better if left alone.

Can we turn to our government for answers to tough questions and problems of society? Thoreau and Martinez-Garcia each believe that our legislators do not have the talent or genius to solve our problems. Therefore these men, prided on individualism, take their respective problems into their own hands to solve. According to Thoreau, the majority and the government are "not armed with superior wit or honesty but with superior physical strength...[t]hey only can force me who obey a higher law than I." (Thoreau, pg. 240) Why then does the majority take individuality out of our hands? If we can solve our own problems better than the government why can’t we be let alone to do so? If Martinez-Garcia has a better solution to help HIV infected patients than the government, shouldn’t they leave him alone to help for the common good?

Thoreau beleived that the government set obstacles in the way of citizens. (Thoreau, pg. 232) I believe his view to be true. It is well known that government bureacracy and red tape frusterates many people’s lives. Thoreau beleives individuals are better prepared to deal with their own problems than the government. Thoreau questions our legislators and administrators, and he is right to question their genuis or talent to solve our problems. (Thoreau, pg. 245) I agree with his views, sometimes I wish the government would let us solve or own problems, rather than intervening and telling people how to live their lives.

The government does not allow men like Martinez-Garcia to help society even if they have better solution, then they do because of a multitude of inefficient laws set to keep society in line and in control of the government. Maybe Thoreau was right when he said, "[t]hat government is best which governs least." (Thoreau, pg. 231) Thoreau poses a good question when he asks, "[i]s a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government?" (Thoreau, pg. 245) Yes, a democracy is the best possible government, but it should govern less and let us solve our own problems. If given a chance I believe that we can institute a better health care system and help those in need. Once the state recognizes the individual as a higher and independent power, maybe we can solve our debilitating social problems.