John Locke and Ethical Individualism

The Center for Human Equality in Oregon champions Ethical Individualism, the philosophy articulated by our founder Russell McAlmond. This approach affirms the inherent equal dignity and unique value of every human being as an individual, rejecting all forms of group judgmentalism and collective hierarchies.

Ethical Individualism insists that rights belong to persons, not to classes, races, ethnicities, or other identity groups. It draws deeply from the American founding and finds powerful expression in the writings of John Locke, whose ideas profoundly shaped the United States’ commitment to life, liberty, and property. By examining Locke’s philosophy, we see how it underpins Ethical Individualism and why preserving the rights of the smallest minority—the unique individual—remains essential to human flourishing.

In his Second Treatise of Government (1689), John Locke described a state of nature in which individuals are born free and equal, endowed by nature and their Creator with inalienable rights. Locke wrote: “Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

He grounded property rights in self-ownership: “Every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his.” Through mixing labor with the resources of the earth, individuals justly acquire property, which serves as the material foundation for personal independence and flourishing. These ideas directly influenced America’s founding documents.

Thomas Jefferson, drawing from Locke, proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The substitution of “pursuit of Happiness” for “Property” reflected an emphasis on the broader human capacity for self-improvement and fulfillment, but the Lockean foundation remained intact: government exists to secure individual rights, deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed.

The founders rejected European systems of hereditary classes, estates, and group privileges, establishing instead a republic where rights inhere in the individual. Locke’s philosophy aligns seamlessly with Ethical Individualism. Both recognize the individual as the fundamental unit of moral and political concern. Locke’s view of self-ownership and natural rights rejects the notion that some groups possess superior claims by birth or status.

Ethical Individualism extends this by insisting that we treat every person according to their unique character and actions, never reducing them to representatives of a collective identity. The smallest minority in America is not defined by race, class, or any demographic category, but by the irreducible uniqueness of each individual human being. Protecting this minority—safeguarding personal liberty, conscience, and property—creates the conditions for genuine human flourishing: innovation, voluntary cooperation, moral responsibility, and personal achievement.

The success of the American experiment demonstrates this truth.

By eliminating the class warfare inherent in Old World hierarchies—where nobles, clergy, and commoners held unequal rights—the founders unleashed the potential of free individuals. No longer were people born into fixed stations with predetermined privileges or burdens. Instead, the equal protection of natural rights allowed talent, effort, and character to determine outcomes. Immigrants and natives alike could rise through industry and ingenuity.

This radical individualism produced unprecedented prosperity, mobility, and freedom, making the United States a beacon for human aspiration worldwide.

Any regression from the liberty of the individual back toward group rights and revived classes threatens to destroy this human relational formula. When government or culture begins assigning rights, privileges, or liabilities based on group identity—whether racial preferences, collective guilt, or class-based redistribution—it reintroduces the very hierarchies the founders dismantled.

Such policies erode personal responsibility, foster resentment and division, and undermine the voluntary cooperation that drives prosperity.

Locke warned against arbitrary power that violates natural rights; Ethical Individualism similarly cautions that treating individuals as avatars of groups violates human equality and invites tyranny, whether soft or overt. Locke understood that true human flourishing requires secure individual rights within a framework of law and morality.

Ethical Individualism, as promoted by the Center for Human Equality, revives and applies this wisdom to contemporary challenges. We affirm that America’s greatness lies not in elevating any group above others, but in defending the equal moral worth and unique potential of every person.

By recommitting to Lockean principles—life, liberty, and property (or its pursuit)—we reject class warfare and identity tribalism. We embrace instead a society where individuals relate as equals, free to pursue their happiness without coercive group classifications.

The path forward for Oregon and the nation is clear: recommit to the rights of the unique individual. Only by upholding Ethical Individualism can we preserve the conditions that made America the most prosperous and free nation in history. Let us honor Locke’s legacy and the founders’ vision by ensuring that every policy, every cultural norm, and every personal interaction recognizes the equal dignity and irreplaceable uniqueness of every human soul.

This is the essence of human equality and the surest foundation for continued human flourishing.