I'm getting real tired with the extreme individualism.

[Rhyfelwyr]

According to a lot of people this apparently is the definition of liberty:

1. Freedom from shame
2. Freedom from social pressures
3. Freedom from the consequences of your actions.

And that is why I think the current right-wing in the US is so ass-backwards. They idolize extreme individualism without realizing that every single application of it taken to its logical conclusion is anarchy. They want government to be something that government by definition cannot.

I don't think your definition of this new extreme individualism matches up with your idea that the American Right is the worst expression of it - it certainly doesn't seem to want a freedom from shame, social pressure, or from the consequences of your actions.

I guess they would just say that such pressures should come from society, rather than the government, since the potential for abuse by the government is too strong.

If you like Rousseau's Social Contract, you should be in full agreement with them. Remember, he said that in a representative democracy, the government ceases to be a pure expression of the 'general will', and becomes an independent will in its own right. When this happens, the relationship between the government and the general will continues to deteriorate until you are left with a tyrannical government completely opposed to the general will.

Indeed, the pessimistic and suspicious outlook of the American Right on the government is entirely in-keeping with the idea of the Social Contract.

EDIT: And didn't this forum used to have a policy of no swearing?