Homo sapiens, that means us, is what’s known as an ultrasocial species. That means we’re so cooperative that groups of hundreds, even thousands of us, can distribute tasks, share rewards, have common goals and tolerate each other’s proximity in abundance. We’re the only ultrasocial species whose groups operate more on reciprocity than kin relationships.
If we were the creatures Ayn Rand’s disciples think we are, we would live like bears, who have no civilization to speak of, no language in which to speak of it, and never will.
Which is why the current incarnations of plutocracy, patriarchy and all other ’screw you, I’ve got mine’ politics are, in the deepest sense, antisocial. They’re anti-civilization. What betrays the reciprocity of the social compact betrays the most useful trait of our species, the one arguably most responsible for our success. The people who hold these views are free riders, parasites, if you will, on the public good of basic human nature.
The fact that love, friendship, neighborliness and simple courtesy have survived the free riders’ defections only proves how strong these impulses are. If government holds that corporations are people but pregnant women aren’t, when theft is celebrated and work is punished, when debt trumps humanity, when the economic contracts that really matter are intentionally too complex to understand, let alone follow, these are direct attacks on most of the people, most of the time.
Our greatest good is the presence and well-being of other humans. Maybe in a spiritual sense, but definitely in a hardwired, biological sense. Consider that a person in jail can literally go mad from a lack of contact in solitary confinement, in ways that prisoners in contact with inmates or guards who are torturing them will not.
Humans just need each other.
Not only isn’t there anything wrong with that, it’s the only basis for policy that can stand the test of time. Just in case anyone still gives as much of a damn about building civilizations as blowing them up.
