NO SUCH THING AS "RUGGED INDIVIDUAL"

From the Daily Kos, a missive on Federal plans to not allow the jobless back into the projects in New Orleans:

Only "Best Residents" to be Allowed in NOLA Public Housing

But the definition of "desirables" in Jackson's is disturbing: Those who paid rent on time, those who held a job and those who worked. By those lights, tens of thousands of Michigan workers went in one day from some of the state's "best residents" to "undesirables," not based on their own behavior, but on the ruthless realities spawned by globalization. Our value as citizens and residents under this categorization is based solely on the economics of big business, as corporations do their periodic employee bloodletting to bolster the bottom line.

Talk about not being in control of your own fate. Talk about reinforcing the absolute worthlessness of showing up for work on time, doing your job, playing by the rules.

It seems to me that any discussion about dealing with the effects of downsizing and restructuring needs to begin with the premise that human beings are more than their job. Ignoring other aspects of a person - contributions as community volunteer, parent, neighbor - is not only going to breed sterility, it's ultimately going to create an undercurrent of populist resentment that may well come back to bite the masters in the ass as this country struggles with a shifting economy.

Click here for the rest.

Yeah, this business about the NOLA projects is total bullshit--everyone, except for maybe convicted violent criminals, should be allowed back. But the commentary on the issue, which is what caught my eye, stabs a knife right through a traditional American belief, that a responsible and hard working American ought to be able to make it on his own. It amazes me that people still believe such lunacy so strongly. I could understand if there was some sort of residual clinging to such a concept; after all, it's a very pro-work idea, which isn't such a bad thing. But in this day and age of corporate dominance, where individuals have no personal economic clout or power whatsoever, believing that there is no such thing as a social and economic context is like believing in Santa Claus. That is, people can't make it on their own. Everybody must have help, whether it's from well-to-do family and position, or from the government. Long gone are the days when a citizen could head west, get free land, and establish a farm for self-subsistence and maybe a little profit. We sure do love those old Little House books, but that reality exists no more. Today, people have very little control over their own economic reality. If your job is outsourced, too bad, go find another. But what do you do if the only jobs available are at Wal-Mart for minimum wage and no benefits? You can't raise a family on that, and you can't start planting wheat or corn on private property, even if competing with giant agri-business was even feasible. We all live in a socio-economic context; we may very well be individual people, but we do not control our individual circumstances in the way that many Americans believe is possible. Nine times out of ten, if you're poor, you have almost no control over that fact at all.

Now when the hell is this country going to grow up and stop believing in Santa Claus?

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