In the past, it was not only possible but mandatory for an individual in civil society to act privately in voluntary cooperation with others based solely upon their own peaceful choices. This was known as: FREEDOM. Freedom defines an absence - something which is not there. Lord Acton stated this clearly: “Freedom is where government is NOT”. Freedom always starts inside the individual’s private property line where government needs a warrant to even enter. A nation based on private property has many areas owned by private individuals where freedom reigns. This is the REAL “civil society”.
Today, people are much more interested in being known as “good” than as being “free”. To be known as a “free” person is comparable to being called a ‘loose cannon’. And if you are very good - you are in government.
I think government began taking over the power to define what and who is good in the early 1970’s. It began with the helmet law for motorcyclists. It was good for you to wear a helmet, the government said so. And government’s power to dispense goodness grew and grew. Then grew the idea the all good people would want the same things, and be alike, of course. So freedom is definately out. People who act freely (when possible) are called eccentric - which is derogatory today.
I have always believed that the basis of the definition came from the Bible. If you kept the 10 commandments you were a ‘good’ person. But today churches are dying. People no longer need to leave home Sunday mornings to be known as ‘good’. Nearly all churches now run ‘modern’ services. It’s an effort to find one with traditional services that actually talk about God. In the '90’s the Universities defined away ‘evil’. There was no such thing as evil, there were only sick people who needed help. Still, the number of prisons, or prisons per population keeps growing
The power to defne “good” is a tremendous power that we have given up.