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People are herd animals. Americans can be individuals with rights in the herd and as individuals can join together or not through the free association protection guaranteed them in the constitution to keep government in check. Both as individuals or as a group. The individual can be a grain of sand and a part of the beach at the same time. Its about freedom of choice.
Not so sure I agree -herd animals stick together, all the time.
I think we're social animals - we like to be around each other, but we also like privacy.
The whole point of America is that it's every man for himself. The reason our ancestors traveled here was to get rich and be free. They did not immigrate here to work for "good of society." You can immigrate to Cuba if that's your goal. Personally, I am business for myself. The whole reason why human civilization advanced is because people wanted to advance their own self-interest. Think about it: some caveman invented a spear because he wanted to eat mammoths.
That has real negatives when taken too far in a large society.
Yes, you want people to have positive incentives aligned with their self interest, but you do also want to have something called social capital. A dog-eat-dog world where it's everyone for themselves is a pretty brutal place to be, and there is no reason we have to be so extreme about it.
It's not so much every man for himself as it is every person being free from the will of the collective and having choice in their life.
The old way is that the majority, or a ruler that the majority likes, imposes their will on society. The idea that everyone should be left to live their lives as they see fit, as long as they aren't doing harm, was the new and radical idea. Many believe we need to go back to the old ways of a ruling elite planning society, because they want more control over what other people decide to do with their lives.
Individualism isn't just about dog eat dog, and collectivism isn't just about working together. People will work together either way. The real divide is over letting people choose how they work together, or having a central power impose their plan on us for our own good, supposedly.
That has real negatives when taken too far in a large society.
Yes, you want people to have positive incentives aligned with their self interest, but you do also want to have something called social capital. A dog-eat-dog world where it's everyone for themselves is a pretty brutal place to be, and there is no reason we have to be so extreme about it.
I’d take it further and say cooperation is a more natural state of humans than competition.
It's not so much every man for himself as it is every person being free from the will of the collective and having choice in their life.
The old way is that the majority, or a ruler that the majority likes, imposes their will on society. The idea that everyone should be left to live their lives as they see fit, as long as they aren't doing harm, was the new and radical idea. Many believe we need to go back to the old ways of a ruling elite planning society, because they want more control over what other people decide to do with their lives.
Individualism isn't just about dog eat dog, and collectivism isn't just about working together. People will work together either way. The real divide is over letting people choose how they work together, or having a central power impose their plan on us for our own good, supposedly.
best post here right on
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