Individual vs. Community or Country

I feel that I need to preface my opinions with the admission that I have never made a study of politics or of sociology and consequently am not entirely sure how my purely abstract ideas would work out in practical situations. It is quite possible that to model a community on these ideas would be to dissolve society as we know it. That being said, it is my opinion that the role of the individual in a community is, first, to do no harm to one’s neighbors. More specifically, the individual, regardless of their station in life, should avoid a parasitic existence. Additionally, if the individual is simply trying to keep his/her self financially “afloat” they should not live in a manner that pulls other struggling individuals down with them (ex. stealing). If, on the other hand, and individual has the good fortune to be wealthy or at least economically stable, it is in their best interest to assist the less fortunate. Their investment in their community and the people in it will make the entire community a better place. I am certainly not proposing a system of equal division of wealth; however, I believe it behooves the wealthy individual to support the well-being of the community as a means of looking after their own interests.


On the level of a country, the ideas that work in a small community can no longer effectively govern the behavior of so many people. For this reason I believe the US (as a collective people) has entrusted to a government (as civil servant) the regulation and protection of the individual’s rights and freedoms. Though couched in more specific language, the US has a general rule that an individual may enjoy his/her liberty up to the extent that they interfere/encroach on another individual’s freedoms. We also maintain checks on our own government to ensure that it does not abuse the power trusted to it. The pendulum still swings, though, between investing the government with additional power over the individual and removing that power back to the masses. In addition, the individual is required by the government to support in some way the functioning of society as a whole (namely through taxes). The balance between individual and greater society is fickle and subject to external influences, prevailing opinions, economic prosperity etc.