I would like to thank The Dartmouth for allowing me to unveil this opening edition of my "Capitalist Column," a column devoted to presenting the capitalist view of current events, in their editorial section. I have chosen The D as the written forum for my views with the knowledge that I will not be able to write for any other campus publications. I accept these terms, because The D, in return, has made me an offer I cannot refuse: the opportunity to be published on the grounds of merit -- not seniority -- and the opportunity to reach a well-sized readership. In a word, The D has offered me justice.
If The D lives up to its word, this column will be around for a while. Therefore, I will use this first issue to make my Declaration of Principles, as well as to state my purpose.
I hold these truths to be self-evident: that the one true reality -- this world -- exists. That man is competent to know the facts of this reality, but that he can only gain this knowledge through the use of his reasoning mind -- by thinking. That each man's life is an end in itself, and that the pursuit of his own happiness -- not service to others -- is man's highest moral purpose in life. That in order to pursue his own happiness in life, man cannot rely on an automatic guide to action -- instinct -- but must consciously choose what values he will pursue and how he will obtain them. That, if he is to live his life for his own sake, man must be free to act on his own judgement -- not forced to act against it -- and to keep and use what he produces with his mind.
That man is therefore endowed, not by his Creator, but by his very nature, with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness, and that he retains these rights as long as he respects them in others. That governments are instituted among men to protect these rights, by banning the initiation of force in all human relationships and by requiring that men deal with one another as traders, giving value for value. That for this, its only moral purpose, a government rightly consists of a military to protect men from outside force, a police force to protect men from criminals, and a court system, to settle disputes between men according to an objective code of law. That laissez-faire capitalism, which accomplishes this, is thus the only moral form of government. And that, lastly, the citizens under any other type of government have the moral right to rise up against it and to declare their independence -- not just from tyranny, but from each other.
This is why I am a capitalist.
You'll remember that Thomas Jefferson wrote a similar, albeit flawed, Declaration over two centuries ago. However, Jefferson said nothing original -- all of his ideas came from the Enlightenment -- he just said it very well. I, in turn, derived all of my ideas for this declaration from Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism. Like Jefferson, I would rather be right than original (Objectivism itself borrows, in large part, from Aristotle). However, Jefferson was able to get the message out while the ideas of the Enlightenment -- reason, rights, reality -- were still fresh in people's minds.
In today's putrid cultural atmosphere, however, such a message would be laughed at or ignored entirely. Witness the irrationality of the President and of the people who still support him. Witness the same President drafting high school students into community serfdom, just as Lyndon Johnson drafted them into Vietnam, both of them extolling the "joy of serving." Witness the jangling welfare state this nation has become, with our leaders proposing new regulations to bandage the problems caused by old regulations (social security comes to mind). In the words of a well- known reporter named Helen, "It's all going down the drain!"
Not if I can help it. The cultural, intellectual and political trends I have described are so blatantly bull, that one wonders why no one has challenged them. I'll tell you why. Do you remember that fairy tale, "The Emperor's New Clothes"? In that story, two swindlers, posing as tailors, tricked an emperor into thinking they had made him some incredibly beautiful clothes. These clothes were so beautiful, they said, that only the virtuous could see them. So the emperor walked out in front of his people, butt-naked, thinking he was wearing these new clothes. And the people all saw that he was naked, but each person thought that only he could not see the clothes and did not want to confess his "lack of virtue" to others, so he proclaimed that he saw them all the more loudly. Eventually, a little boy pointed to the emperor and said, "But he's wearing no clothes!" (I think "The President's New Intern" would make a great sequel.)
I am that little boy who has no reason to feel guilt or to doubt his ability to know reality. I am that student who will point to any would-be Kant, Hegel or Marx, and say, "But he's making no sense!" And I am that man who will be blown away in freedom before he rots away in chains; who knows he can "live free or die" or just simply die.
If you would join me in the fight to reverse today's intellectual trends, in this struggle for students' minds, do so with the knowledge that you will be up against the entire educational establishment, with its nearly limitless resources. However, you will have one major advantage: while they are appealing to a man's guilt and self-doubt, you will be appealing to his ability to tell the difference between Spam and prime rib (you'll offer him the prime rib). They have the faculty -- you have reality.
