The
most profoundly revolutionary achievement of the United States of America was the subordination of society to moral law.
The
principle of man’s individual rights represented the extension
of morality into the social system — as a limitation on the
power of the state, as man’s protection against the brute force
of the collective, as the subordination of might to right. The United States
was the first moral society in history.
All
previous systems had regarded man as a sacrificial means to the ends
of others, and society as an end in itself. The United States
regarded man as an end in himself, and society as a means to the
peaceful, orderly, voluntary coexistence of individuals. All previous
systems had held that man’s life belongs to society, that society can
dispose of him in any way it pleases, and that any freedom he enjoys is
his only by favor, by the permission of society, which may be revoked at any
time. The United States held that man’s life is his by right (which means: by
moral principle and by his nature), that a right is the property of an
individual, that society as such has no rights, and that the only moral
purpose of a government is the protection of individual rights.
The
concept of a “right” pertains only to action —
specifically, to freedom of action. It means freedom from physical
compulsion, coercion or interference by other men.
The
Declaration of Independence stated that men “are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights.” Whether one believes that man is the product
of a Creator or of nature, the issue of man’s origin does not alter the fact
that he is an entity of a specific kind — a rational being — that he
cannot function successfully under coercion, and that rights are a necessary
condition of his particular mode of survival.
The
Declaration of Independence laid down the principle that “to
secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.”
This provided the only valid justification of a government and
defined its only proper purpose: to protect man’s rights by
protecting him from physical violence.
Thus
the government’s function was changed from the role of ruler to
the role of servant. The government was set to protect man from
criminals — and the Constitution was written to protect man
from the government. The Bill of Rights was not directed against
private citizens, but against the government — as an explicit
declaration that individual rights supersede any public or social
power.
”
— Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness
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