Individual vs. Group Focus

The Neal Boortz Commencement Speech: This supposed commencement speech by Neal Boortz is incendiary as hell, but I appreciated for articulating a point that I find very true: the difference between a focus on the group and a focus on the individual.

Liberals feel that their favored groups, have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives (and Libertarians, myself among them I might add) think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses.

In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now a focus on the individual.

Now, unlike Boortz, I’m not totally convinced that group focus is necessarily all bad. Sometimes, thinking about the group over the individual is a good thing.

However, good or bad, I find very few people discussing this fundamental difference in American politics.