People are free to make decisions based solely on their principles. He preaches personal independence of thought and action and encourages his readers to be true to their own natures rather than worry about the reactions of others. On personal levels, these are great pieces of advice. On grander scales, however, it would be disastrous if not impossible to base a society solely on such principles. Indeed, liberty and culture are important, but they must, however, come after eating.
Simple hunger can drive good women to prostitution and honest men to thievery.
Only after eating can men concentrate on higher ideals like liberty. A group of people entirely living up to Emerson's principles would also have a hard time living together. Yet even between equals, if two interacting people don't please each other in some way, they will soon separate entirely. Without some tolerance and interaction among people who don't like each other, society would quickly split into factions. The United States of America would become the Geographically Clustered Conglomeration of Cults.