John R. Houk
© October 7, 2018
In my twenties (early 1980s) I became enlightened
that the Democratic Party had moved to a political place that placed its moral
make-up and stealth support of Socialist principles were antithetic to the
Founding Fathers’ vision of a Constitutional Republic.
And so, I abandoned supporting the political party my family
insured was the way of thinking that saved America from the poverty of the
Great Depression (circa
1929 through the 1930s decade). My Grandparents and mother lived
through that devastating economic period in America. (I have since learned
that Franklin Roosevelt’s policies may not have been as saving as my
Grandparents and Parents were led to believe. But that is another story.)
As a former Dem I didn’t exactly embrace Ronald Reagan in
the 1980 voting cycle. I fell for the line that Reagan was such a Hawk, he
would push the nuke buttons ushering in WWIII. And I was so disenchanted with
President Carter, there was no way I would vote for him. In 1980 I went Third
Party. I voted for Ed Clark of the
Libertarian Party.
In those days Ayn Rand writings were very influential among
Libertarians thus that was my introduction into Randian Philosophy. I was
addicted to all things Ayn Rand.
By 1980 I had been a Christian for two years. In case you
didn’t know it, Christian Morality and Randian ethics influencing moral
thinking do
not line up well. You can guess the longer I have been a Christian,
the more I gravitated away from an extreme affinity to Randian Objectivism
Philosophy. And yet I still like Rand’s economic principles.
As such you should be aware Rand was a staunch Capitalist
and very combative against Socialism and Communism. Ayn Rand was born into
Czarist Russia in 1905. She endured the travesty of the Bolshevik (Communist)
Revolution. She managed to complete her education and find a way to get out of
the USSR in 1925 one year of graduating from a college in St. Petersburg (then
Petrograd – later Leningrad then back to St. Petersburg). Rand passed away
in America 3/6/1982. (Ayn Rand Lexicon bio)
I stumbled onto a lecture provided by Ayn Rand herself on
Capitalism:
Posted by Ayn Rand
Institute
Published on Sep 28, 2018
This 1967 lecture is Ayn Rand’s
flagship talk on capitalism. In it she explains in depth what capitalism is,
why it is often misunderstood and why it is the only social system consonant
with man’s nature. She discusses the philosophical and ethical roots of
capitalism, and contrasts them with the moral-philosophic doctrines that lead
to rule by force. She then discusses progress under capitalism and how it is
fundamentally different from the so-called progress of a statist society. Along
the way, Rand takes up such questions as:
• What is the essence of man’s nature?
• What is the fundamental basis
for the concept of individual rights?
• How is capitalism consonant with
man’s nature? Why are other social systems not consonant with it?
• Why is serving “the common good”
not a sound principle for governing a free society?
• What are the different
perspectives on “the good,” and how do they inform people’s views on what
constitutes a proper social system?
• What has been the ethical basis
of all tyrannies in history?
• Who prospers on a free market?
• How does a free market unleash
man’s creative abilities?
• What is so often misunderstood
about progress under capitalism?
This talk is excerpted from Rand’s
substantially longer and more comprehensive essay of the same name. Students
interested in mastering Rand’s views on capitalism are encouraged to study the
full essay, available here, in addition to enjoying this course.
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JRH 10/7/18
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