The Myth of the "Rugged Individual" in the USA

Politics in the USA are being dominated by people who like to think of themselves as "Rugged Individuals".  These people have the impression that they are somehow self-sufficient and don't need society in general or the government in particular to impose on them or tell them how to live their lives.  The last thing they would ever admit is that human civilization is akin to a beehive because they prefer to look at themselves as a lone wolf, master of their domain, self-sufficient, free thinking, and reliant on no one else. 

I see this in people who think that living far away from big cities frees them from reliance on civilization and lends them some sort of special status as an independent sovereign because they live on a dirt road 20 miles from the interstate.

I see this in people who fly politically offensive flags or adorn their vehicles with politically charged bumper stickers. They have the impression that their anti-social politics gives them some sort of tough guy persona and aura when they drive down the road or stroll through a crowd.

I'm here to pour some ice water on the 99.999% of the fools who think for some reason that they are rugged individuals instead of just another soft body stooge with an even softer brain.

Do they rely on the energy grid for electricity or natural gas?  Do they have vehicles that need gasoline or diesel fuel?  Do they need to buy food or can they grow their own food or hunt animals on their own land?  Do they make their own weapons, including firearms and ammunition?  Do they rely on any medical prescriptions for their health or mobility?  Do they rely on a municipality to provide clean drinking water and a sewerage system?  Do they drive on public roads?  Do they need air conditioning to survive a sweltering climate?  Do they need our system of law and order to protect them, their homestead and possessions. 

In most every single case, the people who like to think of themselves as independent are actually completely or mostly dependent on the "system" they like to pretend they don't need.  They are typically physically weak and flabby, ill-educated in history and current events, willfully ignorant, greedy, incapable of self sufficiency, incapable of self defense other than to brandish a weapon, and un-religious except for the part where they claim in public to believe in a God so powerful it created the entire universe, but so frail that it needs people to defend them in a courtroom.   

I suppose there might actually be a few true rugged individuals in the USA.  The other millions who think they belong to the elite club are just run of the mill common folk with no special survival skills or abilities who absolutely need the privileges and comforts of modern life but hate to admit it.  The toughest thing they'll ever do is skip a meal.  

This is important because the preamble to US Constitution makes it clear that the law of the land in the USA is meant to serve us a group of people, not as individuals.  When a person parses 235 year old wording in the Constitution to determine what their rights are today as an individual, they should first read the preamble to reacquaint them to why the document was written in the first place.        

  We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.