Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government by Yaron Brook and Don Watkins
In regards to this regulatory-entitlement state, mixed economy that we live in, this book is a great source, in how to put an end to it. Basically they argue that nothing less than laissez-faire capitalism will do. Nothing less than that fully moral, fully practical political economic social system.
My review of this book will be done in more than just one post.
I want to begin with discussing the very last chapter in this book first, Chapter Fourteen, titled “Stopping the Growth of the State” as it is a chapter of most significance to me. I want to trim the branches of government down to size, cut off all the excess growth, finding moral/practical ways to do it. So let me begin:
America was founded upon the basis of an idea: an individual’s right to live his own life, for his own sake, to pursue his own happiness. But when the Founding Fathers conceived this idea, inalienable rights, there was a contradiction in the very founding of it, as explained in the book:
“Although the Founders recognized man’s political right to pursue his own happiness, they could not defend man’s
moral right to pursue his own happiness.”
“Altruism was the hole in the dike: It allowed a trickle of government intervention into the Founders’ system from the start, and unless the hole was patched— unless altruism was jettisoned completely and laissez-faire [capitalism] introduced— it was inevitable that the trickle would become a torrent. The defenders of capitalism did not jettison altruism. Instead, in a pattern that persists to this day, they attempted to paper over the contradiction— first by trying to mix altruism and selfishness, then by trying to mix capitalism with state intervention. Altruism does not demand total self-sacrifice, they said. You can pursue your interests— a little. You can enjoy life— a little. You can make money— a little. Just make sure you’re not too healthy, too happy, or too successful— make sure you put the welfare of others above your own part of the time. “
This type of “mixed morality [of self-interest/selfishness mixed with altruism] leads inexorably to demands for a mixed economy.” The result is more and more government interference, intrusion, expansion into the economy, the government grows BIG: hence our regulatory-entitlement state that we live in today.
“If there is to be a real movement to stop the growth of the state, it will be one shaped by the ideas of Ayn Rand. Only Rand’s morality of rational selfishness can resolve the contradiction at the root of the founding and provide the idealism, the consistency, and the intellectual clarity necessary to end Big Government.”
“This is the Free Market Revolution. It is a revolution in the way we think about capitalism. It involves completely reconceiving what a free market is, how people function and succeed in one, and how to morally evaluate the capitalist way of life. It’s a revolution in the way we think about self-interest, the profit motive, the profit system.”
“America’s regulatory-entitlement state did not come into existence overnight, and it cannot be ended overnight. Our goal should not be to extinguish Big Government tomorrow. But there can be no viable short-term solutions without a long-term program. It’s time to define that program. Our long-term program must be to establish a limited government based on the principle of individual rights, with its economic concomitant, a fully free market.”
They provide some steps that need to be taken in regards to such a program in the book, but succinctly put, it comes down to:
The total separation of state and economics. Congress shall pass no law abridging the freedom of production and trade.
Nearing the end of the chapter and book, is what I refer to as a call to action:
“Capitalism works. It creates material prosperity and the freedom to make the most of your life. […] We must come to understand what capitalism is, why it is practical, and why it is profoundly moral.”
“The first step to changing this country’s direction, then, is to educate yourself. Learn the case for capitalism. Learn its history, its economics, its philosophic foundation. Read the great economists. Read the Founding Fathers. Above all else, read Ayn Rand.”
“When you know your case, then make it: Speak out, in whatever way and on whatever scale is open to you. Tell people what capitalism is. Tell them how it works (and has worked). Tell them why capitalism is
good.”
As an aside, the two books that are the best that I have ever read in regards to what capitalism , would be
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand, and Andrew Bernstein’s excellent work,
The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic,Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire: Andrew Bernstein: 9780761832218: Amazon.com: Books
“In 1776, when the Founding Fathers declared their independence from Britain, they were committing themselves to what many thought was an impossible goal: fighting and defeating the mightiest military power on earth. Nevertheless, they believed in their cause, in a nation based on individual rights, and so they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to that cause.”
“The Founding Fathers were willing to put everything on the line.
We are willing to put everything on the line.
We hope you are, too.”
In my next post, I will zoom out and will focus on a general overview on the other previous chapters in the book, and then zoom in particularly on the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Healthcare Crisis.
BTW, here is Don Watkins being interviewed in regards to this book:
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/conscience-realist/2012/sep/17/asking-don-watkins-can-ayn-rands-ideas-really-end-/
: