Individualism

The individual as a political and social entity has not been well defined. In preparation for the writing of this article, I researched the existence of political parties and movements based on individualism. Most of the sources didn’t really express a true form of individualism but rather an animus towards government or “discrimination”. Just because someone opposes government intrusion into the lives of citizens does not mean the person is advocating individualism. As a matter of fact, many of the organizations were advocating collectivism of individuals or even collectivist social justice; which is definitely not individualism. The charge of discrimination is fairly subjective, since in reality humans discriminate (or “decide for or against”) for many reasons that may have nothing to do with bigotry or racism or any nefarious motive. Further, many of the organizations seem to be dormant or defunct.

DEFINING INDIVIDUALISM

Individualism in summary is as close as you can get to anarchy without the chaos and lawlessness. Individualism in politics means the rights of the individual are protected not only from government intrusion but also from the mob rule imposition called “democracy”. Individualism does not seek equality of groups of people but rather the equality of the individual person from the groups.
A true expression of individualism will not seek to form groups, especially based on skin color, lingual commonality, or any real or perceived marginalism. An individual doesn’t concern self with any person’s identifiers before their personhood. All laws should be adopted that protect the individual from collectives; be the group manifested as governments or citizens. Think of eminent domain rights for example. This is the reason that the founders of America designed a republic rather than a democracy. A republic is supposed to hold the individual citizen and the rule or law equally applied above all else. A democracy may well be rule by majority, which is not what the founders of America wanted.

WE THE PEOPLE

Individualists are only part of a collective in so far as all people are part of the same collective. So when documents such as the American Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or Bill of Rights speak of “people” or “common good”, that collective is inclusive of all lawful citizens of the United States, as individuals, not as oppressed and privileged groups or classes. Think of how politicians always speak of the “middle class” as opposed to the “rich” or “impoverished”. Class warfare is anti-American let alone anti-individualist.
The individual should resist all efforts to organize as any other collective than a collective of individuals. Becoming a social justice group or political party that advocates on the behalf of one group over another is antithetical to individualism. If ever a true political party was formed to promote individualism, its main function should be for its eventual demise as a party.
The individualist should not support; special rights, quotas, social justice, or laws for groups of people. All rights, justice and laws of lawful citizens are applied equally. Tax brackets are an example of collectivist abuse against individuals. A collective deciding to impose penalty on one person over another is abusive and humanly erroneous.

END GOAL

The goal of individualist ideology is the equal intrinsic worth and expression of every person. However, it is acknowledged that equality of expression and intrinsic worth as a person does not preclude that one individual’s ambition, talents, experiences, or abilities may demonstrate a more apt opportunity of success in life or other endeavors. That is, individualism does not pretend that all people are the same, but merely that all people are to be treated the same when it comes to law and justice.
Further, it is acknowledged that not only is it natural for humans to form into collectives to advance their goals, it is expected. That does not preclude the need and desire for individualism in law and justice. The end goal of individualism is the advancement of humanity as a collective but on the basis of personhood of the individual.
Individualism is consistent with mere human existence in that it transcends all collectivism; be those organizations tribes, governments, religions, or any other contrived collective. Individualism does not seek to destroy those collectives but merely to put the personhood as paramount.