Holder Post ONE

Conservatism’s Second Principle addresses the importance of upholding the freedom of each individual citizen.

The Principle of Individual Freedom

Rights are conferred by God upon every man individually.  The rights in general of all men spring from the absolute sanctity of the rights of each individual man.  The personal rights of every citizen must be held inviolable or the freedom of the culture to which he belongs will fall.

All men are created equal in terms of the rights conferred upon them, but no two men are alike.  Each man has unique gifts and abilities that he may use, or ignore, according to his own free will.

Men are social creatures, but they are not a collective like bees or termites, and they were never intended to live in a hive-mind collective society like insects.  Hive insects are programmed, whether genetically or chemically, to carry out a certain function for the good of the hive, and to perform that task unto death, if necessary.  Individual men were never meant to be compelled in this fashion.  A man is created to always have voluntary freedom of will to choose the course of his life and actions according to his own individual conscience.

Conservatives believe that every man has rights that are given to him by God, and that these rights are therefore inalienable.  We believe that among these are the right to life, the right to freedom, the right of every man to keep the livelihood produced by his work, the right own private property, and the right to pursue happiness.  We assert that our government was instituted to secure these rights, as our Declaration of Independence states.  So then, it is one of the primary duties of American government to uphold the rights of every individual citizen, and to enforce those rights;  certainly never to encroach on them.

The belief that holds that the rights of each man must be recognized individually can be called Individualism.  The best way to illustrate the importance of individual rights is to contrast them with their counterpart:  Collectivism.

Collectivism is the idea that people are not to be treated as individuals, but as members of a greater society, whose common needs are deemed greater than the individual man’s personal needs.  As a result of this belief, each man is expected to work for the greater good, donating his earnings to society as a whole.  Here are some common expressions of Collectivism:

• “From each according to his abilities.  To each according to his needs.”
• “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”
• “Another Collectivist quote goes here.”

 It is instructive to examine these Collectivist beliefs, one at a time, and see how they contrast with Individualism.

“From each according to his abilities.  To each according to his needs.”  Collectivists believe that each man should donate his efforts toward the greater good of society based on his ability to produce things, and then he will be given an allowance of money, goods, and services based on his need for those things.  For those of you who are thinking that this sounds like a marvelous idea, you should know that this is a famous quote by Karl Marx, one of the fathers of Soviet Communism.  This is a defining statement of Communism.

Collectivists believe that we are a stronger society when each man submits his work and his earnings to the cause of the greater good.  Each man becomes a servant of society in general.  Individualists believe that we are a stronger society when each man is self-sufficient, and uses his individual gifts in the way he believes is most constructive and profitable for himself, and for his family.