Dr. Hatcher likewise examines various humanistic ideologies. Communism and other collectivist ideologies were doomed to fail, he suggests, because they hold that the only possible source of individual value is what may be attributed by society, rather than the intrinsic value that stems from the God-created soul. Since the only source of self worth in a collectivist society is, by definition, the value attributed to the individual by society, the individual soon realizes, whatever the rhetoric, that his or her value is determined by his or her position in the status hierarchy. Hence the tendency to seek dominance over others, which causes great unhappiness and inherent instability. The ideology of individualism in the West is also flawed, Dr. Hatcher believes.
Individualism is the supervaluation of the special.
In a society where all accept the individualistic notion of value, we can avoid the self-perception of worthlessness only by demonstrating special ability in some way. This is done primarily through competition, i.e. by constantly striving to outperform others and thereby to demonstrate our superior ability in a given area of endeavor. One problem is that sometimes the optimal strategy for winning a competition is sabotage or corruption - and, without authentic morality, there is in the end no ethical reason to abstain from such behavior. There is much more to this book than outlined here. Dr. Hatcher spends considerable time looking at how his theory of authentic morality applies to questions regarding the pursuit of power and the creation of justice.