The Magna Carta and English common law freed the individual from the sovereign or state. Renaissance humanism reintroduced the classical emphasis on man as an individual. The Renaissance and the Reformation freed the individual from subordination of his interests to those of any kind of group. Every advance, beginning with the Greeks and Romans, sought individual responsibility over control by groups, tribes, or clans. Individual responsibility has been the foundation of human achievement throughout Western civilization. The curriculum in American colleges reflected that ideal for our leadership elite until the end of the nineteenth century. That ethic needs to be reinstated.Īt the American founding, informed by Western civilization, particularly the philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment, the ideal individual was a cultural type with an independent intellect and intrinsic common sense, grounded by an innate moral sense, and living by moral principles and habits- exercising adult personal responsibility.
Until the mid-twentieth century, Americans were served by the ethic of individual responsibility, to determine well-being through personal effort-the means to reciprocity. The Millennial Generation-8- to 29-year olds, born between 19-are more likely than any age group previously surveyed to believe that “it is the responsibility of government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves” and that “government has a role in individual achievement of the American Dream.” America faces the rigors of economic hard times with the state increasingly unable to fulfill created expectations and false promises, requiring individuals to provide more of their own future prosperity.