Think about your personal freedoms: life, liberty, property, economic independence, self-reliance, your sovereignty...to mention a few. Now, give some thought to whether government is serving your best interest by overtly and consistently demonstrating its fervor to uphold these so-called "unalienable" rights. Is it adhering to its constitutional duties as a body politic by willing to sacrifice everything to ensure no violation of your rights?
The individual is the primary engine that both creates and drives all aspects of our civil society. If you accept this basic precept, then it logically follows that any policy decision that has been borne by government must always give first importance to the individual, not to a "collective" group, and certainly never to government. In his book "The Liberal Mind," Dr. Rossiter states: "The only legitimate function of government is to foster the lives of citizens by protecting their rights as individuals, not as members of a class or group; no collective cause should be allowed to override those rights." He contends that the "individual, and not a group or collective, must be regarded as the ultimate political unit...and since any rule of government prescribes what individuals must do or not do...it is [then] the individual that must be the primary subject and object of policy decisions, whether they are made in economic, social or political realms. Without this emphasis, the individual may be denied his most fundamental right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Without these rights he may become, as one writer put it, 'absorbed into the masses.'"
If we accept Dr. Rossiter's argument, then should we deduce that we are at a dangerous place that is counter-intuitive to the basic principles of the charter politicians swear to uphold, our Constitution? Or are politicians now knowingly violating the basic rights of man by putting citizens in convenient "collectivized" compartments?
You be the judge. Is your government serving you, an individual, or are you serving your government as part of a collective group?
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I think the framers of our political system are turning in their collective graves. One lesson from Arlen Specter's switch of parties is that representative democracy has been replaced by a professional political class. I do give him credit for being honest, "The people I represent will not re-select me to represent them, therefore, since I want to stay in office, I'll find a different group." The creation of a professional political class marks self interest (re-election)trumping service and stewardship.
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