Is the individual supreme?

Does the government work for us, or do we work for the government?

What is your answer? If you say the government serves the people then you are an individualist. If we work for the government, you are a collectivist. You believe the government is supreme.

But that is not the case.

The individual human spirit is what drives society. In fact, there is no society. There is only a collection of individuals. Individualism is what makes society. There isn’t a forest, there are only collections of trees. It is a fallacy to see it the other way around.

“What power can an individual have to change the world? We must have a collective effort to achieve common goals.” is what they will argue. No doubt great things have been done by collective effort, but must it be forced? Great private initiatives as of late have shown that there might be no need for forcible wealth distribution for things like space exploration because there is an incentive for private individuals to invest in it. 

And so it is true, that in order to reach the branch, we must sometimes stand on each others shoulders. But isn’t there an agreement beforehand we will share the fruits of our labor? Yes. And that is the essence of private contract law. Human animals are social animals. They may band together to achieve common goals, but they should be free to act individually for their own safety and well being. Forced integration will always be wrong.

So is the individual supreme in your estimation? Why or why not? Leave your comments below.