Here Comes My Twenty-First Book

When I was much younger, I was not sure I could write something as long as a book. I wanted to, but felt like this was a daunting task.  It must have been because only two of the many people I advised on how to do so followed through.  Now—amazingly—I find I have just published my twenty-first book.

Social Individualism: A Bold Blueprint for Our Futuremay be my most ambitious work to date.  Now available at Amazon.com as a paperback for $10.00 and an eBook for 5.00, it combines many of my previous ideas.  Together these add up to a new way of understanding our current social impasse.

In any event, it has become increasingly difficult for conservatives to publish. The mainstream publishers have virtually decided to withdraw from doing so, except for authors who are so well known that their books sell themselves.  For the rest of us, Amazon.com has been a God sent.

For those of my readers who are wondering how I have been able to publish so many books recently, it is not because I am a super fast writer.   Rather it is because I have updated manuscripts that were languishing in the proverbial drawer.

Thus, my individualism book took shape over the course of several years.  It did so because it required me to change my point of view. I too was caught the cultural war no one is winning.  With liberals and conservatives no longer able to hold a civil conversation, my own discomfort was palpable.  

Moreover, I realized this calamitous situation was destined to continue unless we found an off-ramp.  Actually, I believe I have.  Instead of framing our differences in Marxist terms, we must reconceptualize why we are distraught.  Although we need to decide who should control the means of production, another question has to come first.

Identity politics is currently tearing our society apart.  E pluribus unum has turned into a “my tribe deserves more consideration than your tribe” free-for-all.  Because we, an oppressed people, are discriminated against, fairness demands that our clan obtain a larger share of the social pie.

This has had a deleterious effect on social cohesion.  As Abraham Lincoln argued, a house divided against itself cannot stand. We therefore urgently need to find a means of maintaining unity in a nation of over three hundred million strangers.

The historic ways of preserving solidarity are losing their potency.  Neither the government, nor the free market, nor the Church, has overcome the centrifugal forces pushing us apart.  A new method of encouraging cooperation is consequently essential.

Paradoxically I believe it can be found in social individualism.  Although this sounds like an oxymoron, it is not.  If we become the kind of people who are able to collaborate with one another, then we may not need an external adhesive to do this.

If we are to be saved—and nowadays many Americans are looking to be saved—we must do this for ourselves.  We need to be personally motivated to operate within the social and personal constraints that go with being human.  Not utopian dreams, but hard facts, ought to govern our conduct.

In short, we must be principled realists, emotionally mature individuals, and professionalized decision makers.  Together these factors will enable us to be ourselves within a world in which others are allowed to be themselves.  This way we can compete and cooperate for our personal and collective gains.

If we are committed to moral principles that reduce interpersonal conflict, we can be comfortable operating within a world of strangers.   Honesty, personal responsibility, fairness (defined as the same rules for everyone), liberty, and family values, if realistically implemented, can achieve this.

Meanwhile, emotional maturity can diminish the number of mistakes we make.  Because intense emotions, such as anger and fear, drive everything else from our heads, these have to be controlled.  If not, the self-discipline essential to choosing wisely is impossible.

As for professionalism, unless we are self-motivated experts in what we do, others cannot depend on us to accomplish tasks essential for their well-being. Both on the job and in our families, we must perform our roles sensitively and competently.

  Individualism must not mean separatism.  We are social animals.  Left to our own devices, we want to associate with others of our kind. The question is how?  And the answer is that each of us must be our best social selves.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

Kennesaw State University