Excerpt: Character

On Character: 
These abilities contribute to what is commonly called character, which term also implies dispositions to behave with honesty, integrity, responsibility, self-direction and dependability in interactions with others.  Among other things, persons with good character typically keep promises and honor contracts, respect the sovereignty of other persons and their ownership of property, and in so far as possible, take responsibility for themselves by providing for their own needs and the needs of those to whom they have assumed some voluntary obligation.  Persons with character do not make legally enforceable claims on the time, effort or material assets of other persons.  They do not feel entitled to be subsidized by persons with whom they have no prior personal relationship or contractual duty. 

More specifically, the usurpation of fundamental economic, social and political functions by the collectivist state alters the climate of individual development in the society, frustrates the achievement of adult competence, and leads to increasing numbers of citizens who choose to remain pathologically dependent on the state, childlike in their submission to its authority, and stunted in their character development.  Under the modern liberal agenda, the people fail to develop normal capacities for adult autonomy, self-reliance and local community responsibility that are the necessary foundations for both individual happiness and social order.

A given individual's personality and character, as noted throughout this work, are reflected in his enduring patterns of thinking, emoting, behaving and relating.  Comparable patterns describe a given society's overall "personality" or character:  its dominant rules for living and modes of relating expressed in laws, traditions and customs; its political principles and modes of government; its morals, ethics and religions.  A society's character is reflected in whether its people are governed by justice and the rule of law grounded in individual liberty rights or by a socialist state's entitlement to the lives and labors of its citizens.