The Meaning and Reality of Individual Sovereignty

Why has the idea of individual sovereignty been granted such primacy of place in free Western societies Why were the men who formulated the Declaration of Independence willing to declare We hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness and further to insist That to secure these rights Governments are instituted among Men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed Why as well are ideas of individual sovereignty which have proved so successful in guaranteeing freedom and prosperity in the West and increasingly around the world under attack by those on the left and the right who offer collective identity as an alternative