I love this argument. I would also add that the individual is sovereign. Meaning, in the US at least, our view of the origin of government is that government is granted its powers by the people. A government cannot inherit a right that it’s citizens don’t possess. Therefore if governments have a right to free speech, bear arms, etc.. so must it’s citizens. Other western democracies do not trace the origin of government power to the people... The UK and the larger British Empire for example trace the origin back to God as manifest in the monarchy. The modern German and French welfare states trace their origins to the state — a nameless collective organized to benefit its citizen’s welfare (with any rights conveyed to citizens a matter of convenience rather than a source of power). Yes I might be expressing a rather neo-con / superior attitude but if you simply equate the origin of individual rights in programming terms - In the US, individual rights are the global variable from which everything originates. The French and German versions are essentially undeclared variables and the UK inherits it’s rights externally from a black box. Now you tell me, from a programming point of view, which is preferred?
