Ayn RandAyn Rand, [Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum] (1905-1982) Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter

Ayn Rand Quote

“Any group or “collective,” large or small, is only a number of individuals. A group can have no rights other than the rights of its individual members. In a free society, the “rights” of any group are derived from the rights of its members through their voluntary individual choice and contractual agreement, and are merely the application of these individual rights to a specific undertaking... A group, as such, has no rights.”

Ayn RandAyn Rand
~ Ayn Rand

Collectivized Rights

Ratings and Comments


J Carlton, Calgary

10 stars! And each of us as individuals must be responsible for upholding individual rights..."everyone's" individual rights.

Mike, Norwalk

ABSOLUTELY ! ! ! From where does a group (a pair of neighbors to an entire nation) draw authority to do that which an individual sovereign can not do? From what source is the lawful nexus or a substantive operation of law transferred to authorize an illegal act? Usurpation based on an ill conceived demented tyranny is a start to the answer. If a representative is acting outside the scope of the sovereign's lawful limitations, who is the representative in fact then representing? If it is illegal for the individual to act, how does it make it legal to place 2 or more illegal acts together? The locally established foreign military (police) are a great example. By multiple Supreme Court decisions, police have no liability, responsibility or association to 'We The People'. Their only responsibility and job description is to do the government's bidding and protect government property.

E Archer, NYC

A group has no more rights than the individuals comprising it. The same is true of government -- government has no more power than the People themselves. In fact, all the power government has been granted by the People, not the other way around. Groupthink is a collectivist brain disease aimed at turning us all into beasts of burden.

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