Someone who has a hard-on for existing conditions imagines we live in the best of all possible worlds. For them attributing success to the individual is a natural urge. It verifies their bubble of reality.
Personally I am happy not to suffer from this delusion. Thinking everyone could become a billionaire if they just worked hard enough, and are talented is not a delusion adults should have. The ghost of math haunts me every time i try and take on a typical American delusion. Reality must obey algebra.
QuoteIndividualism taken in broadest terms has consisted mainly of a rejection of the state and impatience with restraints upon economic activity. It has not tended to set the autonomous individual in rebellion against his social group. American individualism is mostly just about wanting the government to stay out of the economy, not about meeting everyone's individual needs. Or wanting everyone to achieve a sense of self-actualization or valuing individual autonomy or anything like that.