I consider the individual to be sovereign (under God, who is listened to within). And a sovereign individual can delegate some of his/her powers to a local group/community. And the local community can delegate some of its powers to a regional body. And so on. But delegated powers must be defined and very limited. Otherwise an appeal for "free stuff" will eventually win in any democratic election process because of the nature of the beast. Corruption becomes inevitble and sooner or later the society will collapse and the process begins over again.

"Live free or die"