War's monopoly on America's social identity

The April 17, 2010 NY Times article "Detroit seeks exit from doom highway" reveals a great deal about America and its denial of its own social existence. The article is another bit of American kitsch that sugar-coats an obviously dreary situation. But the cultural problem that underlies the article is the assumption that social problems do not require social solutions--only individual ones. The article reports that there are individuals, some "celebrities" and others "ordinary" (notice the reinforcement of class here) who are doing great things like growing vegetables and restoring ghettos to try and bring Detroit out of its apparent state of collapse. The article ends with the author, N. Genzlinger, predictably giving the state of Detroit a typically sappy, American twist: even though Detroit may be doomed, it's "inspiring" to see individuals doing something to make things better. May I ask what is "inspiring" about a city doomed to fail? Again, the social--city--is ignored and the individual--"I (and the reader) find this inspiring" is all that matters. An entire city can go to shit but as long as the indivdual reading about it finds inspiration, all is well. The plight of Detroit reminds me of post-Katrina New Orleans, and the typical American response that society, e.g. the government, had no responsibility to do anything about it. But the reality is that America does have a social identity and an awareness that as a nation we act collectively, socially, not just as individuals. Slogans like "Country First" (from the McCain-Palin campaign), "Freedom Isn't Free" (Persian Gulf War), and "The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts" (pro sports cliche) can't exist in a society that does not have a social awareness. The problem is not the lack of social awareness but the sad reality that fighting wars has a monopoly on that social awareness and the social identity it fosters. There are no social solutions to social problems of poverty, health care, education, racism, or urban decay--but there is when it comes to terrorism and crime: war. The answer: war on terror and war on drugs. Leave it to "individuals" to deal with the doom of American cities.