 A closely related fear concerns the potential of group rights to rival and override the rights of individuals (e.g. Buchanan 1994; Caste 1992; Graff 1994; Isaac 1992; Macdonald 1989, 126–7; Tamir 1999, 161; Tesón 1998, 132–137). One of the strongest motivations for ascribing rights to individual persons is to provide them with safeguards. Individuals as individuals are vulnerable to those who wield power in all of its many forms and to the might of numbers. When we give rights to individuals, we provide them with moral shields that protect them from the excesses of power, including excesses of collective power. But, if we ascribe rights to groups, we may discover that their rights override the rights of individuals, so that rights lose their potency as safeguards for individuals. When the rights of a mighty group come up against those of a mere individual, Goliath rather than David may more frequently emerge as the victor.