We are living in a bipolar world. Collectivist push for an environmental policy. The individual pushes for protection of personal property - your backyard. Collectivist push for healthcare policy.The individual pushes for protection of the body - your wellbeing. The examples go on. But we are in a cultural battlefield that pits the wants of the collective verses the "wants" of the individual.
The collective gives us the ridiculous gift of "corporate personhood," which brings a clear example of what collectivism offers - the false promise that groups can have clearly defined wants, and needs, exclusive of the desires of the individual. Oh, wait. I mean in place of the desires of the individual.
I love Star Trek, but Spock's quote, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - or the one." begs the question: Can a group feel, and need, and think?
It is easy to think in terms of sweeping problems and solutions. THE SURVIVAL OF THE SPECIES DEPENDS ON IT. But our existence is based on the individual, individual choices, individual rights. And when we abdicate responsibility of every problem - even the ones that could benefit from "collective" action - the the government hammer treats every perceived problem as a nail. Rights get violated, and problems multiply.
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