There are many reasons why our democracy, and democracy around the world, is in peril, but one specific aspect that is close to uniquely applicable to the United States: our worship of individualism. There a several aspects of predominant US views of individualism. These include the “lone frontiersman,” the cowboy myth, “rags to riches” Alger stories, “government as the problem,” anti-socialism, etc.
Response:
We succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together, which I call civic teamwork. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. We need schools, roads, police and fire departments. We have an obligation to support via taxes the institutions that do all that for us and continue to give us the ability to make live and prosper.
But it’s more than taxes. It’s also regulation, which is how We the People expect our government to protect us from excesses and abuses, from adulterated medication to wage theft and child labor exploitation, to discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, etc.