The Public Good

In America, the "public good" is defined by country's mission statement, the preamble to the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,           establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The preamble uses the collective voice, "We the People", "a more perfect Union", "the common defense", "ourselves and our posterity".   The preamble does not state that the constitution is for the benefit of Individuals, but rather for "We", "Union", "common", "ourselves", "our posterity".  Thus as far as individuals are concerned, the rights of one citizen apply equally to all citizens.  The preamble describes the quest for a social equilibrium wherein the assertion of a right by an individual does not diminish the same right of another individual.

The remainder of the Constitution, its articles and amendments are the way, the rules and procedures, by which the "more perfect Union" are to be achieved.  

 

The basic struggle for people in the United States has been to attain full person-hood and thus be considered among "We the People".

Not until the Fifteenth Amendment is the individual citizen's right to vote recognized.