On C-SPAN’s Washington Journal yesterday, Representative Jim McDermott (D., Wash.) responded to a caller by saying that, without a more collectivist mentality, the U.S. could come to resemble scenes from Les Misérables.

Embedded video

“Now we’re in a very difficult period right now because we have a lot of people who suddenly think it’s all about ‘me,’” he said. “And it isn’t about ‘me.’ It’s about ‘we.’” McDermott continued: “If we don’t take care of one another and we say everybody’s on their own, then it will simply fall apart as a society, become a mob scene as it was in Paris. If you go see Les Misérables, you can see what the country can become if you don’t have equity in the society.”