CITIZENS, IT'S DOWN TO YOU

摘要

Americans are, by nature, self-reliant. They've always been that way, and most would prefer to stay that way. But there are limits. "Yes, we are rugged individualists," President Barack Obama told a joint session of Congress last week in his Big Jobs Speech. "But there's always been another thread running throughout our history-a belief that we're all connected, and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation." OK, fair enough. But what happens when the government that is supposed to bring people together instead helps to drive them apart? Or simply ceases to function in any reasonable fashion? That is what we've seen in the last few months, and the problem is only likely to grow worse in the months to come. As that happens, rugged individualists may have to grow more rugged than ever before.