research paper

This is John Galt speaking

"’So you think that money is the root of all evil?’ said Francisco d'Anconia...’Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them.’.... ‘Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?’”. (“shrugged”, 364)

As children we are all told that we must share our toys and our things, that we must not be selfish but do things to help people. This idea of fairness and equality eventually takes hold and we use it as a guide line on how we should live our lives, always working for the greater good, putting society before the individual. As good in theory as this sound, does it make our society any better? Has our society placed a moral standard on its self that cannot actually be fulfilled? Is our society unintentionally putting its self in harms way by following this unreachable moral obligation? 20th century philosopher, Ayn Rand believes so strongly that this way of looking at life is indeed being very self destructive that she developed her own philosophy to show us an alternative. This philosophy is called Objectivism, it was made famous by Ayn Rands 1070 page novel entitled Atlas Shrugged. Her philosophy centers around the idea that you should always put yourself ahead of society. That working for the greater good does not work. If this philosophy of Objectivism was adopted by politicians and the U.S. government, it would slow down or stop the current economic down turn.

According to Ayn Rand there are four basic building blocks to the philosophy of Objectivism: “1. Objective reality

2. Reason

3. Self interest
4. Capitalism” (Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”)
The idea of objective reality can be explained simply as: “Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears” (Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”). This can be defined even more simply to say that wishing wont make it real. In her essay “Introduction to Objectivism” Ayn Rand defines “Reason” as: “man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival”(Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”), or “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too”(Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”). She then defines the concept of self interest as: “every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake” (Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”). The last building block, “Capitalism”, is the most abstract one of the four, but in short it is defined as: “The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders”(Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”). Essentially this means that every man is equal and the only way to get things is “by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit”(Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”). Out of these four building blocks the idea of self interest is the most controversial. This idea is the most controversial because we live and grow up into a society where every one is expected to give to the greater good. Rand does not agree with this social norm and thinks that a man must live for himself, “The pursuit of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.”(Rand, “Introducing Objectivism”). Man must be able to look out for himself and have his best interests in mind at all times.
Now you ask: Could the Objectivist idea of self interest help our economy? The simple and short answer is yes. If American civilians and politicians integrated this philosophy into their lives then our country would no longer be in debt.

“She [Rand] believed morality’s purpose isn’t to command you to sacrifice your interests for the sake of others but rather to teach you the rational values and virtues happiness in fact requires. The deepest cause of today’s financial crisis is our distance from this ideal... The government overrides this pursuit to achieve the “public interest.”... It sponsors entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which somehow will bring home ownership into every one's reach. It promises to bail out financial institutions that supposedly carry “systemic risk” for everyone.” (Ghate)

By not giving the American society an entirely free market we are dooming ourselves to failure. For Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac to exist and make it possible for every one be able to buy a house (“about us”) then it puts a strain on the rest of the economy. If people followed the ideal of self interest more then these two Government-Sponsored Enterprises would not exist and therefore it would relieve the unnecessary cost off the shoulders of hard working Americans.

When looking at the beginning of the current economic crisis people like to point fingers for who is to blame, one of the most common recipients of this finger pointing is Allen Greenspan. As a younger man Greenspan was good friends with Ayn Rand: “Yes. Alan Greenspan was quite close to Ayn Rand in the 1960s and 1970s” (Sheridan). But as he grew older his views started drifting away from hers (“Allen Greenspan”). Due to his relationship with Ayn Rand Allen Greenspan has become “the worlds most famous Objectivist”; because of this many people think that Objectivism is what caused the current economic crises. But what people do not understand is that:

“From pretty early on, Greenspan was a part of economic policies that I don't think Ayn Rand would have approved of. Yes, he wanted less regulation, but he never talked about rolling back regulation. He never talked about significantly meaningful ways to cut spending, cut taxes” (Sheridan).

In relation to self interest taxes are the worst thing that can happen, they take money from you to give to other people and things. Since he never wanted to talk about cutting taxes, and only wanted to talk about “less regulation”, is why he cannot be seen as a true Objectivist. When people say that the our current economy was caused by the no government controlled free market, and use Allen Greenspan as an example then they should look deeper and see that he in fact was not following Objectivist ideals.

Since the economy fell in 2007 many people have accused the greed of CEO’s and corporations to leading to the current economic recession. In order to fight against the believed “enemy” people have started moving towards much more liberal points of view. On the extreme end of this trend are the people who would like to see the U.S become a socialist country. Socialism is commonly defined as: “[a philosophy] that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole” (Socialism). Essentially socialism is the exact opposite of Objectivism because in socialism you have to work for nothing but the “good of the whole”, but in Objectivism you work for your own self interest. The reason that Objectivism would work as a tool to help the current economic troubles of the United States and Socialism wouldn't is because of governmental power. In order for socialism to work “the local government bodies would take over local industries, and the national authorities would manage those of national size and scope” (LeRossignol). This governmental take over of the industries is done in order to make sure that all is fair. This leads to giving the government complete, or absolute, power of the economy and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Socialism was the basis for Leninism which was the type of Communism that was used by the USSR (“The Foundations”). Although this political and economic system worked for them for 74 years it did eventually fail showing us that even if it sounds like an effective solution once put into practice it does not work.

One of the biggest problems people have with Objectivism is Rands out right promotion of selfishness. People do not traditionally like this idea because they think that if it happens then the meaning of selfishness will change: “the ethical theory has become useless: it can not be used to determine whether a given action is right or wrong, because "selfish" will just mean "promotes whatever is good" - we don't any longer have a standard of what is good” (Huemer). If selfishness becomes a “good” thing then Mr. Huemer argues that people will only use it to justify getting what they want; and that historically selfishness has been seen as a very bad thing so to change this would eliminate one of the most simple ways to tell “right” from “wrong”. But what Mr. Huemer does not understand is that these moral codes that everyone lives by have become out dated. For a modern society we need a modern code of ethics and this includes seeing selfishness as an acceptable thing as supposed to being terrible sin.

“when a man, a business corporation or an entire society is approaching bankruptcy, there are two course that those involved can follow:... [they can] act on a frantic, blind, range-of-the-moment...not daring to look ahead.... or they can... check the premises, discover their hidden assets and start rebuilding” (“For the new”, 10). In order for America to transition from being in the first category to being in the second we must all take the first step, seeing the absolute need for our politicians and our selves to to become Objectivists. Our country has become socially and economically bankrupt, we are living by a code of ethics and morals that no longer fit our society and our government is carrying a $13,798,567,150,500 debt (“U.S National”). The only way that we will be able to slow down or possibly even stop this moral and economic slide into depression is to understand self interest and adapt this philosophy into thier every day lives.

Works Cited

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Ghate, Onkar, and Christina Patterson. "The Economy Needs Ayn Rand - BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. Web. 01 Dec. 2010. .

Huemer, Michael. "Why I'm Not an Objectivist." N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. .

LeRossignol, James E. What Is Socialism? New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1921. Print. Goolge Books

Rand, Ayn. "Introducing Objectivism." Ayn Rand Institute. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.

Rand, Ayn. For the New Intellectual: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: Signet, 1996. Print.

Sheridan, Barrett. "Can Ayn Rand Survive the Economic Crisis? - Newsweek." Newsweek - National News, World News, Business, Health, Technology, Entertainment, and More - Newsweek. Web. 01 Dec. 2010. .

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