A mantra of the
political right is self-reliance. Common
sayings associated with this include “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day,
teach him to fish and feed him always,” and “the smaller and weaker the government
the better.” The focus is from beginning
to end on self-reliance. It reminds me of
the three-year-old child who petulantly refuses help from a parent insisting “I
want to do it!” We don’t want or need
help from anyone—we are self-reliant.
But a moment’s reflection indicates how myopic and immature this view is—and
how to the contrary the high degree to which we are always and inseparably connected.
Virtually nothing about our circumstances
points to self-reliance as the modus operandi of our lives. From the electricity and other utilities we
consume daily in our homes; to the refrigerators, washing machines and other appliances that enrich our lives; to the services
we receive sourced within a wide spectrum of skilled providers from doctors to
mechanics; from the roads and bridges we travel over, to the houses we live in,
to the well-stocked stores we shop in, to the vitality of our governance—none of
these are the result of our sole achievement or self-reliance, but to the
contrary testify to our vulnerability and perpetual need for others. They indicate the degree to which we are part
of a tightly knit social nexus with larger interests that can only be characterized
as familial in nature. Self-reliance is a
myth whose raison d'être arises from selfishness and a fictionalized, romanticized
view of reality.
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