The 'Common Good' or Every Man for Himself?

How do you feel about the “common good?”
Democrats seem to be uniting on it as the way to describe their stand on social and economic issues, such as health care, tax policies, the environment.
Of course no one exactly agrees what it means. In general, it means a vision of “broader opportunity and equality,” John D. McKinnon writes in the Wall Street Journal.
That would be in contrast to Republican pro-business, free-market views and to what some perceive as increased selfishness on the part of Americans.
A 2006 poll by the Center for American Progress, a liberal group, found that 68 percent of Americans agreed that “the government should be committed to the common good and put the public’s interest above the privileges of the few.”
Tied to Roman Catholic social teaching, the “common good” is said to have strong appeal for Catholic voters.
Among Democratic presidential candidates who have used the phrase lately: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson.
Here’s the problem, If policies favor the common good, Sen. Clinton acknowledged, that may require “people giving up a little bit of their own turf...”
What does the common good mean to you? Do you believe in it as a policy, and would you, or others, be willing to “give up a little bit” to achieve it? Or are we in fact a bunch of selfish louts?