Who has individual sovereignty, and what is its source?

Question

Who has individual sovereignty, and what is its source?

Answer 1

Wow, Clive--good answer. And good question. When I bring up "individual sovereignty," people often answer that no such thing exists.

Locke and Hobbes and others developed the idea of government being run by the consent of the governed, which they called "common sovereignty."

From this, America's Founders deduced that no individual could give to the common sovereignty the right to act in his name for defence and justice unless he himself had the sovereignty to give away. Therefore, every individual has sovereignty--naturally, as given by his nature as a rational creature--to act on his own behalf, or to give up that right to the common sovereignty.

Answer 2

We all have sovereignty and the source is within ourselves. We give ourselves permission to be.

Answer 3

We all have or should have individual sovereignty ( self-ownership). It is a natural and moral right of each person to be exclusively in control of his or her own body and life. We should have the right to do as we choose so long as it does not impinge upon those same rights of others, and this should be without the interference of Governments. As individuals we are then empowered to give the Government certain rights to govern and restrict our individual choices.