Re: I don't expect a statist sexist and homophobe.

No one said that self-reliance has to be absolute in order to be significant.

Very true. No one living in a modern society can be said to be entirely self-reliant, in the sense of being able to do everything they need for themself.

However, this does not mean that a person cannot provide, in either monetary terms or in the amount of labor they contribute, for their own upkeep. In fact, on average each laborer contributes more than enough for their own upkeep, as (a) most people are provided for, (b) the standard of living continues to rise and is much higher than necessary for basic upkeep, and (c) collectively we have set aside quite a lot of value for future use. In this sense, most laborers are self-reliant and many are much more than self-reliant.

In addition to this, we might consider a people's attitude towards the world, and whether their first impulse is to take care of things for themselves or to go crying for help. Whereas trade is a mutually beneficial activity entered into freely by both sides, this could still be considered self-reliance, and this would put most people in the world into the self-reliant camp, but even then Americans are more likely to do small bits of labor for themselves rather than outsource it to another party. Some nationalities are quite impressed by the American tendency to do basic repairs on a car or around the home, for example, rather than to call in a professional.

So, there are differing degrees of self-reliance, and virtually none of them are absolute - but it is still meaningful.