The personal "commandment" that each person should take full authority and responsibility of his or her being. Without question, it involves more than the modern perceptions of democratic government and capitalism for it also makes demands upon both to provide each individual with certain basics of education, the rule of law, security of person, health, public services, etc.

To be “captain of your own ship” calls for a partnership between individual and government, with government guaranteeing both independence and opportunity for the individual in exchange for loyalty and tax payments.

The concept is developed as fundamental to “self-empowerment” in several books by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke and Joe H. Slate.