Individualism has been a defining and admirable American trait throughout this nation's history on a vast, varied continent. But so has its opposite: communitarianism, collectivism — a focus on the common good, even if that means curbing some individuals' liberty.
The two impulses aren't mutually exclusive; they coexist, if in tension. In some periods, one impulse is more prominent than the other. When President Herbert Hoover's reliance on what he called Americans' "rugged individualism" proved woefully inadequate to the Great Depression, the nation turned to Franklin D. Roosevelt for the greatest burst of collective action ever to that point — the creation of a federal safety net that endured and expanded.
Our political parties have come to reflect the dichotomy. Republicans typically emphasize don't-tread-on-me, small-government individualism, Democrats favor a ready governmental hand-up for the common good.
