I've heard too many times that Socialism isn't in the Constitution. But it begins "We the People".
It doesn't begin "Me the Individual, in order to form a more perfect union..." Now, just who would you form a Union with?
It doesn't begin "We servants of the State"....
And thats the three types of nations: The nations were the individual serves the State, the non-nation where its everyone for themselves, and...
.... the socialist nation, where we band together for our common good.
Nations where the individual serves the King, der Feurher, Fearless Leader; those have been common in history. We just left an administration where the Unitary Executive had all power, and the individual had none. No matter what the theology of such a government it all comes down to the power of one person over everyone else.
Anarchy has never caught on as a government style. But the modern libertarian movement comes close. Drown government in a bathtub. Its my money. Show some Personal Responsibility, like Me.
And that leaves us with the Socialist idea of government. Ever notice that our current system of National Defense is totally Socialist? Everybody pays in, and we provide National Defense For All. We've tried, as a nation, the local solutions to National Defense. Militias made sense when the threat was an Indian attack on your village. We've tried, as a nation, the capitalist solution to National Defense. Private, for - profit ships of war were chartered up through the war of 1812. Ever wonder why civil war regiments were often referred to by their leader's name?
[Personally, I live in Ohio, and Al Quaeda isn't coming here. I see no reason I should have to pay for the National Defense of people who want to live in New York City, or Washington D.C. Those places clearly have Pre-Existing National Defense Conditions. But our socialistic system of national defense won't let me profit from the personal responsibility I am showing by not living in an Al Quaeda target area. Total Socialism. ]
So where does that leave us as a nation? Are we in this for each other, or only for ourselves? And where is the boundary between legitimate personal responsibility and things that should be provided for all by the nation?