The Tyranny of Our Social Nature
Time to evolve.
“But what can you do when you have to deal with people?”
—Dr. Rober Stadler, “Atlas Shrugged”
This is a subject I have begun touching on, and to which I will return at much greater length. But I would like to get the ball rolling today, at least a little bit. First, some background…
Collectivism vs. community
Collectivism—the philosophical/ideological/political principle that holds the group (rather than the individual) to be the fundamental locus of moral concern and analysis—is a big problem. Treating the individual as a sub-unit of the collective, who must subordinate his rights to the collective, is the source of untold horror throughout history.
Collectivism is the organizing principle of the left. Setting aside the modern left’s lip-service towards a kind of libertine individualism, the left’s rhetoric, ideology, and actions are all based on the group: the proletariat, the working class, the nation, the volk, the race, the oppressed, the state. Putatively working on behalf of the “interests” of these groups, the left eliminated a nine-digit number of individual human persons in the 20th century alone. Collectivism served as their justification for getting rid of these “enemies” of “the group.”
Collectivism—a kind of “togetherness” that is imposed by force—must be contrasted with voluntary community, in which togetherness is chosen. The latter is a strength and a joy. The former is a monstrosity. Unfortunately, our nature as an ultra-social species (one of the most social on the planet) causes people to confuse the two. And I am becoming convinced that this confusion lies at the heart of our problems.
Recognizing the truth of our nature
First, we must acknowledge some basic human facts:
The individual is not an island alone.
Each of us is born into a family, which is almost invariably a part of a community.
We are social by nature.
We do not want to be alone. Indeed—it drives us batty if we are alone (just ask feral children or people in solitary confinement).
Life is much easier when working and living with other people.
Our social nature is a strength.
Yet our nature so easily becomes toxic
All of this is true. All of this is good. But then all of this ends up being used to justify not voluntary community, but forced collectivism.
Man is not an island becomes
THE INDIVIDUAL HAS NO IDENTITY OUTSIDE THE GROUP.
We want and need to be with others becomes
THE INDIVIDUAL MUST SUBORDINATE HIS RIGHTS TO THE GROUP
Life is harder when one is alone becomes
YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE.
We are social by nature becomes
ALL DECISIONS MUST BE COLLECTIVE DECISIONS.
When I point out the pathologies of government, the response will often end up being some variant of, “But Chris, we have to find ways to live together.” It sounds so nice, but it always seems to go wrong:
We have to find ways to live together, so I will now force you to live how I think you should live. No, you’re not allowed to say no. No, you’re not allowed to leave. What do you mean you don’t consent to that? You’re not allowed to refuse.
After all…we have to find ways to live together.
This is written into the left’s basic operating system, but the political right has been guilty of it as well, to varying degrees at different times throughout history. And even beyond the partisan, most people in general tend to assume that, one way or another, decisions must be collective. The fact that there is no such thing as “we, the people”—no single mind, goal, desire, choice, or best interest—just gets lost in the shuffle of our social nature. The notion that “we have to live together” always seems to end up turning into a phenomenon whereby we are trying to force each other to live in certain ways. Whereby we are trying to control and corral one another.
All we really need in order to live together are two basic rules:
The initiation of coercive force is forbidden in human interactions.
All transactions must be voluntary.
All the rest of it—majority rule, communism, public school, forced religion, and every other way that we’re trying to force each other to make certain choices, live in certain ways, and do certain things—is just our social nature gone toxic.
We need to recognize this and evolve.
This is exceptional, Chris, thank you. The term 'we the prople' is one of those loose terms that, as you say, doesn't exist in reality. Just as a company cannot be a person nor a political party represented by everyone hence the problem with the term 'democracy'. I have been guilty of using 'we the people' without thinking about it properly, and it's always good to be awakened to such things.
Community, however, is a reality when people come together with love and respect for their home-ground and members within it. The dictionary has diluted this word over time to completely extract the essence of what it is to be part of a community and this, I think, is where the problem lies. As we have become so estranged, our dependency on government has increased - I believe, entirely by design.
Joining together to help each other locally is the way forward and your work is going a long way to help with that. I have more to learn about your thesis and look forward to this new journey.