I would say that I am indeed a transcendentalist because I agree with the idea that society, organized religion, and political parties generally just end up corrupting people. When people follow all of these organized institutions I feel they stop thinking for themselves and being "self-reliant." It's easy to just follow along with what a leader says but it's harder to come up with your own ideas. Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed this excellently when he stated, "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, --that is genius."
I also agree that being independent is crucial and that you can't be self-reliant if you're constantly conforming to society. Emerson talked about the evils of society in his essay Self-Reliance and he stated, "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members." I agree with Emerson when he talked about society, because I also feel that society is constantly telling people how to change themselves to fit in with everyone else. I can't see how constantly worrying about what to change about yourself will ever bring you happiness or self-relience.
