Today a citizen feels less responsibility to humankind, and is more inclined to protect their private interests than ever before. Particularly in America, where capitalism allows citizens the "freedom- to dehumanize their neighbor as just another competitive interest. People see their fellow citizens today as aggressive and selfish, as they should, thanks to America's long history of a capitalistic culture.
For humans to survive they must maintain an equal level of competitiveness to make themselves eligible for the "goodies-. This practice started long ago when Social Darwinism and Capitalism joined their greedy hands and created a breeding ground for the vilification of our treasured "inalienable rights-. These supposed rights, found in the Constitution have paved the way for economic, political, and social capitalism to set the standard of living in American society today. This is an assessment of the rights of the citizenry through history and an examination of how rationalized self-interest has culminated into the complicated mix of our present situation.
When guaranteed individual rights are over-emphasized in society it makes them more important than society's well-being as a whole. The citizens will no longer have a strong allegiance to the state, or its progress. Strong and blind individualism will then breed citizens who are only loyal to their private interests. It is an unavoidable situation "as seen with the citizens of the present day. America should be renamed Land of the Cave Dwellers, not for their barbaric social practices or apathy towards humankind, but that of the Platonic Cave, where most self-serving citizens live today. .
The "inalienable rights- of man were originally authored by 17th century economist, John Locke; these rights included the "right to life, liberty, and property- (Rosembaum, pg. 675). When the founding fathers partially plagiarized his work they were careful to change the last guarantee to the "pursuit of happiness-.