I'm not saying these last 40 years haven't had merit. The recession of 1982 probably was probably the symbol that put the nail in the collective view to problem solving. When Reagan turned that recession around i think the country started to believe individuals could solve these problems over government. You listen to people who were in the work force and they remember the change. My father references that in shaping his political views and he's not the only person I've heard say that. It was an important milestone and shortly after we saw the rise of me generation which evolved into personal liberty movement. And an emphasis on individual expression and thinking in our schools. And this is how we viewed problem solving required. But it also shaped us in what problems we wanted to solve because if we had a problem that didn't lend itself to this approach we didn't solve it. Questioned if it was even a problem (global warming fits this as others).

I think these are two strategies you can take. One isn't more dominant than the other. But each has their place along with pros and cons, and you have to use both over time . It just depends on the problems you face which strategy you should employ.