  Thomas - I agree with you absolutely that individualism is absolutely great and that America is truly a country of immense opportunities. But I think too many people in this country tend to look up to their heros who dared to be individuals, yet simply stay satisfied and happy that someone else represents them so well and that they can get by, by simply idolizing these heroes. Maybe its not right to say this, but there are too many people that look like blind, brainless cattle that has to be guided and taken care of. Not just in our school, or just in America, but everywhere I have been. I work as a teller and see many people come in during the day, but there are only a few faces that I recognize when they come back, becuase these faces have something special about them, like a special radiating energy of being different. Yet, I believe in a "friendly individualism," where people are not simply egoistic and competing, but where they help others and modivate people around them to develope their own individuality.
Rob - I think American culture as a whole seems to tend to idealize and make everything seem heroic. I just think that there are way too many controversies in American history and literature: Jefferson, freedom and slaves; WWII, Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima & Nagasaki; Freedom, civil rights and gay marriages; the only thing that seems to go hand in hand is Bush and his idiotism (no offence to anyone). 
