One Millionth Free Ayn Rand Novel Distributed for 2007

TalkObjectivism would like to congratulate the Ayn Rand Institute on its achievements throughout 2007 including its recent distribution of its one millionth free copy of an Ayn Rand novel to schools this year.

Here is what ARI President Yaron Brook had to say:

[T]he Institute has reached yet another important milestone for our Free Books to Teachers program.

Within a very few weeks, ARI will ship—to a high school somewhere in America—the one millionth free copy of an Ayn Rand novel to an educator for use in his classroom.

As I mentioned last year, with regard to the continued growth of the books program, this is not only a significant milestone in and of itself—but more important, it bodes extraordinarily well for the future success of all of our other educational and academic programs.

If you would like to request free novels for your class, please look here.

US Federal Law: Let in the dogs, or else!

I love dogs, as many do, but they have their place, and it’s not at the dinner table. According to this article, however, it is in violation of the federal law for a disabled individual accompanied by a guide-dog to be refused service at restaurants.

Laws such as these can be very harmful to businesses. Restaurants can lose many customers in order to accommodate just one of these individuals. There are many people who are allergic to animals and some who just don’t want animals around while they’re eating.

The main issue here, however, is individual rights. It’s unfortunate if someone is disabled, but what gives them the right to impose their problems on others? Nothing. Just like anyone else, it is their responsibility to deal with their own problems. Otherwise, they can rely on the charity of others.

Once again, the government is going beyond its sole purpose of protecting rights and, instead, violating them.

Sacrifice for Strangers?

The Ayn Rand Institute came out with another op-ed about the war, The Real Disgrace: Washington’s Battlefield “Ethics”. It talks about a report that was recently released by the Pentagon that says troops would not report “unethical” behavior by fellow troops. The author of this op-ed explains why he takes the side of the troops.

The author says it’s the Washington’s Rules of Engagement that are crippling our troops and pushing them to use this “unethical” behavior. He also explains how Bush is sacrificing our troops for the freedom of others, and is not really fighting our enemy (Iran). When the author brought up that Washington and Bush view this as a compassionate war, I was reminded of an essay by Rand.

The essay is called Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World. She focuses on how the idea of altruism is destroying our way of life. She mentions that both the liberals and conservatives fall victim to this train of thought. Bush was quoted saying, “sacrifice for the liberty of strangers”. How messed up is that! Our military was formed to protect this country and our way of life, NOT the country and way of life of others! Here is proof that the idea of altruism has found its way into the military, a place where it should not be.

Yes, our troops risk their lives, but they do it in defense of their values. And that is moral. To force them to sacrifice themselves for others is immoral. We need to understand the difference and protect our troops from this altruism so they can protect themselves and the American way of life.

Here Comes the Health Care Debate

On Business Week’s website they have a section called the Debate Room. It’s a place where they bring up a hot topic and find two experts to write essays, one for each side of the issue. The topic this month was Universal Health Care, and they featured Onkar Ghate of ARI.

“Universal Health Care: No Sick Joke
Small businesses—and large—have trouble attracting the best job candidates because of the high price of health care. Entrepreneurship demands nationalized medical insurance. Pro or con?” – businessweek.com

The two essays are very interesting, but it’s even more interesting to read the comments and see who supports each side. It seems that people are split on the issue, but more doctors agree with Onkar. They feel that the government is creating an unfair market. One even gave the example of cosmetic surgery where the prices are cheaper because of the lack of government regulations. This allows for the free market and competition to keep the pricing and quality in check.

With the current state of health care I don’t believe there is a quick fix. Also, socializing health care is not the answer. Just look at how bad the government handles education, Medicare, social security, and welfare. Do you want the government to handle your heath care too? Looking at their track record with other social programs, I don’t think it would be a good idea. The only thing that could help the current situation is limiting government interference, not creating more.

Rachel Carson’s Environmental Dogma

I am a little late to post this but one of my local new papers, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, published one of ARI’s op-eds. It was about Rachel Carson, the mother of environmentalism, who attended what is now Chatham University (located in Pittsburgh).

“On May 27, environmentalists will celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Rachel Carson, the founding mother of their movement.” – Read the full article here.

The editorial is called Rachel Carson’s Genocide and focuses on DDT and malaria in Africa. It also talks about how Carson used misinformation to get her movement started. If you do a search on Google you will find better articles on the information she used and how she manipulated it. It reminds me of how people are now doing the same thing on the global-warming issue (on both sides).

I am always embarrassed when Pittsburgh honors this woman; we even have a bridge named after her. How could the city be so proud of someone who is responsible for the death of millions of people?

Her movement is strong and can not be persuaded with reason, so I just hope we can keep them in check. Read the op-ed and let me know what you think about it.