"...There are many who find the burdens, the anxiety, and the isolation of an individual existence unbearable. His is particularly true when the opportunities for self-advancement are relatively meager, and one's individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for. Such persons sooner or later turn their backs on an individual existence and strive to acquire a sense of worth and a purpose by an identification with a holy cause, a leader, or a movement. The faith and pride they derive from such an identification serve them as substitutes for the unattainable self-confidence and self-respect.
This is why America is so very important; it recognizes and protects the right and ability of the individual to distinguish himself or herself as unique. That’s called freedom. It is not the proper function of government to provide to individuals an identity. One important role of government is to ensure that no person or group is allowed to suppress the rights of individuals to define their own unique identity. Both radical Islam and those who follow the ‘religion of liberalism’ have the same goal, the homogenization of society into a mass of followers who all drink the same Kool-Aid. At the top, as always, is a smaller group of people who have ‘distinguished’ themselves as the leaders of this homogeneous mass. There’s always a grandiose narcissist involved somewhere.