Friday, November 03, 2006

Courage and Moral Rectitude Lacking

I popped over and read the comment thread that Billy Beck links to in his post Comment Abroad.

In the thread, which is a discussion of voting Democratic for the purpose of creating political gridlock, with an Objectivist slant, there are a number of references to Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged.

The references to this tome center around what it will take to effect change in the political hell we currently reside.  Will the change be effected by the agonizingly slow creep of Objectivist friendly educators into the education systems, mass civil disobedience, or by the political process?

Though I think that Objectivist friendly educators in the education system would be beneficial, the fruits of this would not be seen for generations to come, and that may very well be too late.

Mass civil disobedience simply will not happen.  Too many individuals desire to reside in the palm of the state.

Participating in the political process is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul and a freedom pipe dream.

At the risk of sounding naïve, I’ll reference Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and state the following.

The main protagonists in this tome are all titans of various industries who make the conscious decision to withhold their sanction from the state.  Some of the protagonists arrive at this decision rather quickly, others need to be beaten down time, and time again, prior to arriving at this decision.  Are there any titans of industry, today, anywhere in the world, who have this type of courage and moral rectitude?  Are there any titans of industry who even contemplate, even vaguely, withdrawing their sanction of the state?  I would say not.

Titans of industry, today, are more apt to ask for additional state interference to protect their markets from competitors, at the expense of the state’s lamprey grip on the fruits of their production, rather than advocating freedom from the state.

Until such time that this world we live in sees men and/or women, leaders, of the character type portrayed by Francisco d’Anconia, Ragnar Danneskjöld, or Elias Wyatt, individuals who destroyed the entities, the businesses, which the state voraciously feeds on, and who assiduously decline to contribute to the coffers of professional jobholders and jobseekers, the decline into socialism will continue.

Posted by John Venlet on 11/03 at 08:10 AM
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