The myth of the independent American man is wreaking havoc

We’re all seeing just how powerful the myth of the independent American man is, and how deep it runs in the culture. Because when the mythic independence of the American man is threatened, watch out.

Every country is defined by its origin story and America’s is all about getting out from under the boot-heal of the British, escaping the tyranny of kings and the church. George Washington was a strong, tall man who employed a heady mix of espionage, trickery, guerilla tactics and bold military moves to win the Revolutionary War and the country’s independence. General Washington accepted the role of being the first president with humility and then rode off into the sunset. He was the embodiment of independence.

Ridin’ fences

The next avatar of the American man-myth was the lone cowboy taming the wild frontier, out ridin’ fences while the wife keeps the homestead running. He’s an independent fella who doesn’t need nobody for nothin’ and will fight anyone that means to take it away. If it’s called for he’ll ride into town and run out that ruthless cattle baron so the good folks could have the life they deserved, and then he’ll ride into the sunset to make things right somewhere else. Of course the gun was the iconic symbol of the cowboy’s independence.

Unfortunately the myth required men to prove their worth by having others dependent on them. This started at home with the wife but also extended to owning slaves and later the imposition of Jim Crow. The independent man is most disturbed by the idea of being dependent on a woman or a person of color, and that definition extends to a woman or person of color holding a position of authority. That’s intolerable to him.

The American myth of the independent man has been a star player in the political arena all along, usually on the right-wing side of things. He turns up opposing Social Security and government health care and just about any kind of government subsidy for those in need. The independent American man has no need for any of that, he can take care of his family just fine. He doesn’t have to depend on others for anything and neither should anyone else. Government help for families is an insult to manliness.

The  independent man goes wherever he wants, does whatever he wants and says whatever he wants, wherever and whenever he wants. It’s Jon Hamm’s character in “Mad Men” out ridin’ figurative fences with a martini, checkin’ out the livestock. Ronald Reagan was the very model of independence – tall, strong and handsome with Midwest substance and Western style, the happy cowboy.

Wrestling alligators

But over the last 50 years or so men and women in America have grown ever closer to a state of equality in the workplace and at home and it’s only going to get more balanced as more jobs no longer require upper body strength.
It’s no surprise that popular culture is reacting with reality TV shows about super-macho jobs like crabbing on the Bering Sea, driving big trucks over ice roads, mining for gold or wrestling alligators onto the boat after shooting them in the head. Or living independently in the wilds of Alaska. It seems millions of young men who tap computer keys for a paycheck are vicariously living out their macho dreams on the TV screen.
Among the more admirable cultural responses to diminishing male dominance is the undying franchise Jackass, which in 2000 kicked off the new century by demonstrating why it’s so important not to allow young white men to continue controlling the world. Happily it turns out that Johnny and the fellas don’t want to do any such thing, preferring the kind of elation that comes only from being punched in the gut unexpectedly by a giant inflated fist while waiting to pick up an order at a food truck. Evolution marches on.

The bloody mess of American culture

Today women are not only out ridin’ fences, they’re asking men to be collaborative in the marriage. Men are asked to please not go wherever they want and do whatever they want and when we’re out in public, please don’t say whatever you want.
If American culture wasn’t such a bloody mess right now it might be entertaining to observe the independent American male archetypal response to this trend of being less independent, struggling towards some sort of uncharted equal-ness. Instead we’re witnessing the violent death throes of the American myth, including a truly terrifying effort to drag the rest of the country back to the Wild West but with modern weapons.
Along the way the American male inherited a boatload of mythic baggage from the George Washington patriarchal model that tied the independence of men to the confining of women in bonds of wedlock that made them dependent. The current irrational turn in controlling women’s reproductive rights is another symptom of the death throes of the American myth.
As the equality of genders approaches, the mythically independent man is unwilling to give up the entitlement of going wherever he wants, doing whatever he wants and telling other people to do whatever he wants. The national media never understood that Donald Trump’s popularity was based on his modeling of the myth – he went wherever he wanted down an escalator, did whatever he wanted like run for freakin’ president and said whatever he wanted about Mexicans, and women, and judges, and the disabled, and John McCain, etctera etctera.
The more outrageous the statement or tweet the more he proved to his fans that he could say whatever he wanted. Like a real man, he went to whatever luxury clothing store he wanted and sexually abused whoever he wanted, plus he did what he wanted with porn stars, confined them in silence with money, and said whatever he wanted to his buddies afterward.

Opening the lid on the id

But then Trump uttered the words “not guilty” in a New York City court in April 2023. That’s one place he didn’t want to be. And as 21st century social norms inevitably close in on the former president there will be more place he’ll have to go that he doesn’t want to be. His lawyers, of course, are terrified of what he’s going to say in these places because he likes to say whatever he wants, wherever he wants. Fox News recently learned you can’t always say whatever you want unless you want to cough up $787.5 million for the privilege.
A Freudian would say Trump opened the lid on the id using Twitter as the can opener. Out came the myth of the independent American man, now rudely tossed around by a global economy that leaves entire industries in flux. He’s bristling with resentment. The inequality of wealth is so stark that most people feel their lives and dreams are limited and compromised by a tyranny of the rich. How many people feel truly independent? The ground is fertile for anger.
They say the first step is recognizing the problem and it looks like America has a big one. A whole lot of people want very much to travel back in time to a country that still celebrates the myth of the independent American man while dragging everyone else along with them. Pulling in the direction of the future are a whole lot of people hoping the country lives up to its promise of equality and equal opportunity. The two groups are looking in totally different directions.
The question is, who will be riding off into the sunset?

(Ben H. Gagnon is an award-winning journalist and author of Church of Birds: An Eco-History of Myth and Religion, released April 1, 2023 by John Hunt Publishing. Order here or at other booksellers. More information can be found at this website, which links to a pair of YouTube videos written by the author and produced by JHP. This column is dedicated to my late mother Mona Harrington, a feminist long before it was fashionable.)