Let Us Alone!
Ayn Rand was invited to write a weekly column for the LA Times. Here, she reads three of the articles (listening audio 30 min tot) "Leave Us Alone" "The Cold Civil War" and "The Man Haters." These articles are very prescient today
"The statists’ epistemological method consists of endless debates about single, concrete, out-of-context, range-of-the-moment issues, never allowing them to be integrated into a sum, never referring to basic principles or ultimate consequences—and thus inducing a state of intellectual disintegration in their followers. The purpose of that verbal fog is to conceal the evasion of two fundamentals: (a) that production and prosperity are the product of men’s intelligence, and (b) that government power is the power of coercion by physical force." ~ Ayn Rand in 'Let Us Alone!'
"The statists’ epistemological method consists of endless debates about single, concrete, out-of-context, range-of-the-moment issues, never allowing them to be integrated into a sum, never referring to basic principles or ultimate consequences—and thus inducing a state of intellectual disintegration in their followers. The purpose of that verbal fog is to conceal the evasion of two fundamentals: (a) that production and prosperity are the product of men’s intelligence, and (b) that government power is the power of coercion by physical force." ~ Ayn Rand in 'Let Us Alone!'
+1
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” —House of Commons, 22 October 1945.
As always a most impressive piece of reasoning and command of the English language.
Thank's
O.A.
That's bad enough, but here is the really sad thing: concrete pitches win out over conceptual arguments with a vast majority of the public nearly every time.
I'd like ask fellow Gulchers if they observe the same phenomena. If so, why is that? Does a poor educational system reduce students' thinking to processing mere perceptions? Has the human brain not evolved sufficiently yet? Why do abstractions seem to fall on deaf ears and appeals to concretes inspire mass demonstrations and movements?
I know this paints a bleak picture. Any rays of sunshine out there? Any ideas to combat it?
More money for X = Required to improve X
X has a problem = The government must act to fix X
X is unfair = The government must act to make X fair
etc, etc
So many items argued leverage this simple fallacies, but appeal to the subconscious mind, like a baby crying. It is so difficult to bring the argument home from facts and to a logical examination of the consequences that it never happens, particularly in the sound bite present.
I propose at least a partial solution in requiring 1) as a hypothesis in a social experiment, all laws to have an intended outcome, 2) all laws have a renewal time frame, such that they must be consciously renewed because they still have value. These two items will avoid excessive legislation on the books, and require significant action for the government to maintain itself. In addition they will serve to document each social experiment, as well as the intention of the law. For example, if welfare will reduce poverty, then it will have to be measured against this result, and the cost can be compared to the outcome. Presently, no such objective review of outcomes is available.
Its as if I understand now the interconnection between all the crazy things that are popular today. The public schools, the call for increasing government spending and power, the takeover of medical care, the appeal of Hillary , etc. For some reason, what seems like a cascading desire on the part of the populace into letting the government take over is now in focus. Its socialism taking over in all areas.
I think that there isnt much that I can do to stand in the way of socialism. It just has to play itself out all over the world. Its everywhere in all countries now, including the USA. The world has to collapse, as in AS, and socialism has to defeat itself from the inside, as did individualism.. Ayn Rand was right in that the system has to collapse, but wrong that it could be stopped before it collapsed. That is why the book AS failed in its basic mission.
I wont live long enough to see the total collapse, fortunately. The plan now is to ride it out as in Alongside Night (book and movie), and Living free in an unfree world (book by Harry Browne).
I think I have changed my mind that it will make any meaningful difference whether Hillary or Trump gets elected this fall..
This means to me that the Venezuela scenario is coming to the USA (actually as predicted in AS)