First Principles is a series of three debates on the moral underpinnings of today's politics co-sponsored by Demos, The Ayn Rand Institute and It's A Free Country. Part one explored the role of government, and part two discussed freedom; part 3 featured Washington Post political columnist Ezra Klein (here represented by Demos' David Callahan) and BB&TChairman John Allison, debated:

Capitalism: Is it Moral? Listen to the Debate!

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/its-free-country/2011/apr/24/debating-first-principles-capitalism-moral/

http://ia600403.us.archive.org/15/items/FirstPrinciples-Government_WhatIsItsProperRole_/firstprinciplesgovernment.mp3

Yaron Brook gives a rousing speech at the Tea Party Patriots American Policy Summit 2011 on 2/25/2011. His speech focuses on the idea that freedom lies in stresses a single, fundamental principle, the principle of individual rights, rather than vague terms such as fiscal responsibility (can be done through taxation) or limited government (can suggest democracy rather than a republic). An engaging speech which ended in an 1800 person standing ovation, the only one that night.
http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/politics/6315-video-yaron-brook-speech-at-the-tea-party-patriots-american-policy-summit.html

More:
http://www.aynrand.org

The common theme of the signs [at a Teaparty protest rally] was individual rights versus collectivism, an advocacy of limited government held to the restrictions placed on it by the Constitution. One of the signs in the photo essay sums up the message of the tea party rally: "It's the Liberty, Stupid."

The fact that the tea party had such a clear philosophical message, and that the bogus racism smear so thoroughly evades this message, says a lot about the intellectual confidence of the tea party movement—versus the lack of philosophical confidence on the left. The tea partiers are very happy to have a philosophical debate on the most basic political issues. The left, by contrast, wants to change the subject with personal, ad hominem attacks—which indicates that they are not confident that they can win the debate if it stays on the question of the size and role of government. -- Robert Tracinski

*Ayn Rand

For danske læsere se også Staten "informerer".

Why do Americans have no unique holiday to celebrate the creators, inventors, and entrepreneurs who have made all of this wealth possible — the men of the mind?

The answer lies in the dominant intellectual view of the nature of work. Most of today’s intellectuals, influenced by several generations of Marxist political philosophy, still believe that wealth is created by sheer physical toil. But the high standard of living we enjoy today is not due to our musculature and physical stamina. Many animals have been much stronger. We owe our relative affluence not to muscle power, but to brain power.

http://www.uskulture.com/OE_Labor_Day.htm

"One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary."
—Ayn Rand, 1975 --- These words were written more than 30 years ago, but they apply exactly to today’s financial crisis. Today’s problems are the result of a government-controlled financial and housing system that rewarded irrational behavior and punished responsible behavior. Yet they are being blamed on “the free market” — with more controls offered as the solution...

Read more here:

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=arc_financial_crisis

Given that our government was behind the wheel, influencing every aspect of the mortgage crisis, it is absurd to call today's situation the result of insufficient regulation.-- We do not need more regulation or economic "steering"--laws or bureaucrats dictating to financiers and investors the kind of innovation they may or may not engage in. If that were the solution to economic problems, then Hugo Chavez would preside over the world's healthiest economy in Venezuela. What we need to do is remove the government's power to coerce, bribe, reward and bail out irrational decisions. The unfree market has failed. It's time for a truly free market. Yaron Brook.

America's cities and towns will soon fill with parades, fireworks, and barbecues, in celebration of the Fourth of July, the 232nd birthday of America. But one hopes that the speeches will contain fewer bromides and more attention to exactly what is being celebrated. The Fourth of July is Independence Day, but America's leaders and intellectuals have been trying to move us further and further away from the meaning of Independence Day, away from the philosophy that created this country... - Read more in - Put the "Independence" Back in Independence Day by Michael Berliner , or watch the speech on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWv5VZWlwRQ

Siden den islamiske revolution i 1979 har iranske magthavere ført krig via stedfortræder mod USA men også mod den vestlige verden i bredere forstand. Elan Journo fra the Ayn Rand Institute forklarer under overskriften The Road to 9/11: How America's Selfless Policies Unleashed the Jihadists i en videooptagelse fra september i år, hvordan skiftende amerikanske regeringer har givet efter, og ført appeasementpolitik med den konsekvens, at islamisterne herunder ikke mindst dem i Iran har turdet gå videre i deres målsætninger om at udbrede islamisk revolution til resten af verden.

Fra og med Carter-tiden i 1970'erne har islamister dermed følt sig stadigt mere sikre på, at kunne slippe godt fra angreb på de vestlige retssamfund, hvilket kulminerede i angrebet på New York i 2001 - men også i form af de offentligt fremsatte dusører på forfattere, som ytrede sig ufordelagtigt om den religiøse ideologi, der bruges til at fastholde magten i blandt andet Iran. Bundlinien er med andre ord, at man ikke har forsvaret sig, og i praksis som følge af eftergivenhed har ofret amerikansk frihed og amerikanske soldater til fordel for mere ufrihed og udbredelsen af teokrati og religiøst motiveret undertrykkelse.

Se foredraget - The Road to 9/11: How America's Selfless Policies Unleashed the Jihadists (kræver registrering som er gratis). Se også Om krigens årsager og hvordan krigen vindes .

Dr. Peikoff's forthcoming book, The DIM Hypothesis, identifies three different modes of integration, i.e., of interrelating concretes, such as individual percepts, facts, choices, etc. As Dr. Peikoff explains: "My thesis is that the dominant trends in every key area can be defined by their leaders' policy toward integration. They are against it (Disintegration, D); they are for it, if it conforms to reality (Integration, I); they are for it, if it conforms to a superior reality (Misintegration, M)." The book demonstrates the power of these three modes in shaping Western culture and history.

Læs mere hos the Ayn Rand Bookstore under overskriften: The DIM Hypothesis (2007 version) (CD)

Udgangspunktet for Peikoffs integrerende arbejde bygger [...] på det aristoteliske/objektivistiske verdensbillede. Dette verdensbillede handler meget simplificeret om, at abstraktioner kun er gyldige, hvis de kan tilbageføres til noget virkeligt og identificérbart, det vil sige: abstraktioner, koncepter og tankesystemer skal i sidste instans kunne refere tilbage til noget konkret.

Læs mere i Leonard Peikoffs DIM-hypotese .

De fleste bekymrer sig måske ikke over dette i det daglige, men forudsætningen for, at man kan opfinde en bil, og bidrage konstruktivt til videreudvikling og innovation indenfor området er, [...] at man accepterer et univers, der er meningsfuldt, og dermed præget af, at der er årsager og virkninger. - Man kan også kalde dette for accepten af en objektiv virkelighed, hvor man anerkender at vores omgivelser er uafhængig af vores bevidsthed. I et sådant univers kan intentioner (eller "social indignation") dermed ikke erstatte fornuft. - Og fornuften i denne sammenhæng er således en beskæftigelse, der er virkelighedsorienteret og fokuseret, og hvor man skridt for skridt nærmer sig løsningen af en opgave eller et problem ved at forholde sig til opgaven på virkelighedens præmisser.

Læs mere i D-I-M illustreret ved hjælp af bilproduktion.

Joshua Zader har skrevet en anmeldelse af Andrew Bernsteins "The Capitalist Manifesto", som tidligere er blevet omtalt og lovprist her på bloggen. Navnlig konservative i Danmark bør læse bogen. Zader formulerer årsagen til netop dette således: The book's message to conservatives comes through loud and clear: If you want to defend capitalism — if you wish to promote the system of freedom and wealth — then learn to be consistent. Check your premises. Debatten om konsistens og præmisser handler så blandt andet om, hvorvidt det kapitalistiske system i sin kerne baserer sig på nyttebetragtninger eller på moralske værdier; og hvis det sidste - i så fald hvilke.

Her citerer Zader Andrew Bernstein for følgende: Too often, freedom's supporters have limited themselves to responses that demonstrate capitalism's unparalleled ability to increase men's prosperity. While true and important, such defenses miss the essence of the criticism. It is as if a great dialogue regarding the most momentous issues held across a span of centuries has been conducted at cross purposes. The critics argue on moral grounds; the supporters on economic grounds. - The critics, wedded to a moral code of self-sacrifice, are oblivious to capitalism's practical success. The supporters, equally wedded to such a code, are morally disarmed against the onslaught of their antagonists — and are reduced to the citation of empirical facts and figures. The supporters, unable to break free of the conventional creed urging selflessness, have too often regarded capitalism's inherent pursuit of self-interest as a guilty secret, akin to an unsavory skeleton in the family closet. It's time to come out of the closet. [egen fremhævelse]

Med andre ord: Kapitalisme bygger præcis på egeninteresse. Deri har kritikerne ret. Men det er netop fordi kapitalisme baserer sig på den oplyste egeninteresse, at kapitalisme er det moralske økonomiske system. Læs mere i The Capitalist Manifesto anmeldt af Joshua Zader.

Bogen på Amazon: