Individual Liberties vs. Collective Good

I think that as citizens of the United States we all have a certain responsibility to everyone around us. And while I totally uphold the need for individual liberties, we don't live in an anarchical state. Not to get too much into the idea of the "social contract" but as citizens we are suppose to abide by the laws, vote, pay taxes and so on. The government in return is suppose to protect our liberties. But beyond all this I think there is benefits in the collective good. As citizen of the United States we pay taxes, a lot of which go to public education, welfare and other programs that benefit people who are less fortunate than all of us. And I think that as members of a state we have this responsibility to everybody else. It should be our duty to not only, abide by the rules, but also help those that are less fortunate than we are. And I think that through this, and through the "common good" we are in return benefiting ourselves. I mean I obviously I wouldn't take it as far as communism, but thinking in a democratic sense we have a duty to help our fellow American.

To take it a step further I think there is something to the common good of everyone, in the entire world. Especially in the Untied States where we enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world. And we (myself included) continue to live a life of excess with computers and fast food and video games. While there are people around the world without food or shelter. And I am not saying we have the obligation to go broke ourselves, but I think that as members of the human race we owe something back to the world we live in. There are so many global issues, AIDS, global warming, etc. that affect us all and there is going to have to be some sort of global effort to solve them. But maybe that's just the liberal in my speaking.