Trying to understand the rise of Trump, David Brooks points to our culture's "individualistic/autonomy mindset" - as if that were a bad thing. Actually, "rugged individualism", whether opportunistically celebrated by the right - or the by the left, should not be understood as being antithetical to any "community/membership mindset" In fact, as conservatives rightly point out, the opposite is more true. Individualism, as in some relative degree of "self-sufficiency", is absolutely necessary for affiliation between equals. And there lies the rub!
