9/11

On the anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, I remember that the United States of America stands for one thing above all else:

FREEDOM.

Why businessmen require freedom of conscience

At his new blog, Individual Rights and Government Wrongs, Brian Phillips has posted yet another dazzling analysis of the wide-ranging impact of government intervention in the economy. This time his focus is on taxi services. While I urge you to read the entire piece, I do want to note that I was struck by a passage which illustrates Ayn Rand's famous assertion that state and economics should be separate "in the same way and for the same reasons" as the separation of church and state.

The issue is "freedom of conscience" - something often cited by those who claim to uphold church/state separation. Why is freedom of conscience required to run a business? Brian cites this example:

Claims of “market failure” are founded on an arbitrary assertion of how the market should operate. And when the market fails to meet this arbitrary standard, it has “failed.” This is no different than running massive computer models of the NFL season and declaring that, if the Cleveland Browns do not win the Super Bowl, we have an “NFL failure.” Individuals have free will, and we often make decisions that the so-called experts don’t believe we should. The experts said that Henry Ford should not pay his workers twice the industry average. The experts were wrong. His turnover plummeted, his efficiency rose, and his profits soared. And, he cut his prices by nearly sixty percent.

Because Ford was free to act on his own judgment, he could prove the practicality of his ideas. He was free to demonstrate the truth that he saw before others saw it. What would have happened to America’s automobile industry if Henry Ford had been prohibited from acting as he thought best? And how much better might the taxi industry be if entrepreneurs and businessmen could act on their judgment, rather than follow the dictates of politicians and bureaucrats?

Any regulation which restricts a businessman's freedom to act on his own judgement interferes with his freedom of conscience, and should be rejected on that basis.

Objectivist Round Up

Welcome to the September 1st, 2011 edition of the Objectivist Round Up!

As this is Labor Day weekend, I thought this well-known quote from Ayn Rand would be apropos:

"The issue is not between pro-business controls and pro-labor controls, but between controls and freedom. . . . Government control of the economy, no matter in whose behalf, has been the source of all the evils in our industrial history--and the solution is laissez-faire capitalism, i.e., the abolition of any and all forms of government intervention in production and trade, the separation of State and Economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of Church and State."

- Notes on the History of American Free Enterprise (from "Capitalism: The Unkown Ideal")

I've been using this quote for years on my other website, The Oklahoma Capitalist.

Here's the Round Up!

William N. Green presents Blowing Hard, posted at Proudly Selfish, saying, "a conversation with a friend regarding wind power".

Rational Jenn presents Insanely Great, posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "My tribute to Steve Jobs, a true hero".

Rational Jenn presents Time Travel Tuesday: Mythbusting Positive Discipline posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "This week's Time Travel Tuesday is a post that tackles some misconceptions about non-punitive discipline."

C.W. presents Volatility, posted at Krazy Economy, saying, "Does volatility seem to be getting wilder? It will get worse. Fear and many uncertainties fuel it, including the failure of government solutions. Guess what the solution is."

Ryan Krause presents What Steve Jobs Did Well, posted at The Money Speech.

Roberto Sarrionandia presents The Harm of Conspiracy Movements posted at Roberto Sarrionandia, saying, "The harmful narratives in the conspiracy theory movements".

John Drake presents Division of time management tools posted at Try Reason!, saying, "I have given up hope of finding that one tool that will solve all of my time and organizational issues. It is time to divide and conquer."

Santiago and Kelly Valenzuela present Why Open Immigration is Moral posted at Mother of Exiles, saying, "If you haven't already seen it, check out Diana Hsieh's excellent video about open immigration. And be sure to check out her fun, live webcast every Sunday morning where she answers questions submitted by listeners. You can also participate in a live chat during the show."

Santiago and Kelly Valenzuela present Immigration Tension in the Deep South - An Excellent Guardian Article posted at Mother of Exiles, saying, "My brief comments on an excellent Guardian article about state-level immigration laws and the tension they are creating in the southern US, reminiscent of the Jim Crow era."

Paul Hsieh presents Thank You, Steve Jobs posted at NoodleFood, saying, "My short tribute to Steve Jobs was published in American Thinker."

Paul Hsieh presents Self-Defense in the UK posted at NoodleFood, saying, "How bad are gun laws in Great Britain? This is a follow-up post to one of Diana's webcast topics."

(Editor's note: Paul is currently recovering from a hip fracture he sustained on Monday. Get well soon, Paul!)

David C. Lewis presents Lowering Your Insurance Premiums By Buying Insurance To Cover Catastrophies posted at A Revolution In Financial Planning, saying, "I discuss solutions for lowering insurance premiums, even as government intervention into the insurance industry strengthens."

Atul Kapur presents Hazare’s “Solution” does Not Solve Anything posted at Wit Lab, saying, "I explain why the reforms being proposed in India by the anti-corruption protesters (led by activist Anna Hazare) do nothing to address the root cause of corruption, but merely add more bureaucrats with arbitrary powers."

Jason Stotts presents Range Report posted at Erosophia, saying, "A range report from my most recent trip to the shooting range."

Ari Armstrong presents Ayn Rand As Atheist: Skepticamp Talk posted at Free Colorado, saying, ""Ayn Rand As Atheist" is a 20-minute talk I delivered Aug. 27 at Skepticamp in Colorado Springs."

J. Brian Phillips presents Where is the fire? posted at IndividualRightsGovernmentWrongs.com, saying, "Many Americans believe that government must provide certain services, such as fire protection and emergency medical care, because private businesses can't or won't. The truth is, private companies are providing these services more efficiently than government."

David Masten presents The Case for Objective Morality posted at Blazing Truth, saying, "A look at the claim made in Sam Harris' "The Moral Landscape": that science can determine moral values. Presenting the case for objective morality with conscious well-being as its standard. Is it in line with Objectivist principles? I think so!"

Edward Cline presents Our Post 9/11 World: A Ten-Year Retrospective posted at The Rule of Reason, saying, "Here is my fictional recounting of post-9-11 history as it might and ought to have been."

That's it for this edition! Submit your blog article for the next edition of the Objectivist Round Up using our carnival submission form. EGO will be hosting next week!

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.