Beware the "Common Good"

Democrats have a new theme they will be hyping in an attempt to frame their political agenda for the upcoming elections as well as the Presidential race in 2008. The new theme is the "common good". This theme is meant to attack what the democrats call the "radical individualism" that the Republican party has been pushing over the last six years. So what exactly does this "common good" theme entail? Well, the details are a little fuzzy folks. John Halpin, senior fellow at the center for American progress and one of the framers of this new theme says it's a "core value that we think organizes the entire political agenda for progressives." Halpin goes on to explain that "With the rise of materialism, greed, and corruption in American society, people want a return to a better sense of community_sort of a shared sacrifice, a return to the ethic of service and duty." Like I said, the details are fuzzy, but so far what I'm hearing sounds an awful lot like a thinly veiled attempt to sell America once again on big government.

This highlights one of the principal differences between democrats and republicans, individualism vs. collectivism. Halpin is right in that republicans stress individualism over the "common good". Republicans see society as a collection of individuals whose freedoms, as outlined in the Bill of Rights, are to be preserved even over the wishes of the majority. Republicans have the optimistic view that through the exercise of such freedom, every man and woman is entitled to make something of themselves. It is the struggle and triumphs of the individuals in American society that make America the nation it is. As Ayn Rand once wrote, "America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to "the common good", but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes."

The freedom of the individual to pursue his own course in life is not without its consequences. This individualism is seen as the root cause for the "materialism, greed, and corruption in American society" that Halpin highlights. The concept of the "common good" has always been at the heart of democratic ideology. When they talk about a "return to a sense of community, a shared sacrifice, and the ethics of service and duty" within the framework of the "common good", they mean at the expense of the individual. So who decides what the "common good" is?

The answer is the government. Democrats believe that the government can give people this sense of community. Through taxation and redistribution of wealth in this country, they will give us a sense of "shared sacrifice". They will instill by force the ethics of duty and service by replacing your sense of personal responsibility with a responsibility for the community. This assault on the individual has been waging for years. The lawyers in America have all but absolved us of personal responsibility, teaching us that no matter what we do, there is always someone else to blame. The democrats have led the crusade to save us from ourselves by attempting to ban things that are detrimental to the "common good" such as cigarettes a decade ago and trans fats today. They think that a large centralized government can create justice, sacrifice, and civic virtue by destroying the value of the individual.

I too believe in the ideals of sacrifice, service, and duty that Mr.. Halpin talked about. But all three of these ideals are at their core, personal. The very nature of sacrifice is that one must make the conscious decision to forgo something of value to achieve something greater. Without the willingness of the offer, there can be no sacrifice. The same applies to duty and service. The government cannot force these upon a person, it is up to us as individuals to come to terms with them on our own time. I do not ask for my government to solve all of my problems, nor would I like it to. It is through the fires of adversity that our character is forged, not the mandates of our government. Without the freedom to grow as individuals, the society forcibly dedicated to the "common good" would be hollow.

When the talk about the "common good" makes its way into the upcoming elections, make sure the "common good" being sold to you isn't at the expense of your personal freedom.