Let’s hear it for capitalismby Tim Peck | Mountain Xpress | 01/14/2009
I applaud Western Carolina University for their wisdom in accepting the very generous donation from BB&T, a successful financial institution that practices what it preaches ["
Capitalism on Campus"]. And I applaud BB&T for [requesting] as a condition of their generosity that WCU include Ayn Rand’s remarkable novel
Atlas Shrugged in their required reading list and teach the substance of her political philosophy of capitalism in their business school. Capitalism is superior among all systems of social organization.
Capitalism says that you have the right to live your life freely, to contract with others without interference, to form associations of your own choosing, to engage in commerce and trade with others for mutual profit, and to travel wherever your heart desires – so long as you do not injure anyone else's right to do the same.
Capitalism says that you have a right to own property and to use and dispose of that property as you see fit, in both private and business spheres – so long as you do not injure anyone else's right to do the same.
Capitalism says that you are the captain of your own destiny and that you are permitted by right to seek and sustain life-supporting values – so long as you do not injure anyone else's right to do the same.
Capitalism says that governments are established to protect your inalienable rights through a secular constitution, adherence to a rule of law, enforcements through police and courts, and a vigorous national defense. And furthermore, that there should be a strict wall of separation between economy and state.
Unregulated laissez-faire free-market Capitalism is the political-economic social system of freedom and is the only system that recognizes, respects and actively seeks to protect our rights and minds from predation, force, and fraud, from whatever source, whether it be our neighbor, hostile nations, or our own government. This country needs and deserves Capitalism now more than ever and I am hopeful that this can be achieved in our own lifetimes – and for the first time.
There is, and has long been, a preponderance of instruction in colleges and universities across our country teaching, and even promoting, the pernicious principles and practices of Socialism, Marxism, and other various statist hybrids, including our own political-economic system of Interventionism.
It is well past time for grant-making foundations to offer and for our educational institutions to expose our young adults to some measure of intellectual diversity in an academic setting, however slight (as indeed this is), as a gesture of respect for their capacity for independent thought and rational judgment, which supposedly have been inculcated in them throughout the course of their formal education.
RELATEDCapitalism on campus, WCU follows profitable trendby Nelda Holder | Mountain Xpress | 12/23/2008
Capitalism on Campusby Tim Peck | Et in Arcadia ego | 12/23/2008 - 12/30/2008
Capitalism on campusby Tom Sullivan | Mountain Xpress |1/7/2008
Ayn Rand—still a bad ideaby Tom Coppola | Mountain Xpress | 1/7/2008
What’s ethical about egoism?by Thad Eckard | Mountain Xpress | 1/7/2008
Capitalism and the Moral High GroundCraig Biddle | Objective Standard | Winter 2008
Concretizes the selfishness-enabling nature of capitalism and shows why this feature makes it the only moral social system on earth.Atlas Shrugged: From Fiction to Fact in 52 YearsBy Stephen Moore | WSJ | Jan 9, 2009
Many of us who know Rand's work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that "Atlas Shrugged" parodied in 1957, when this 1,000-page novel was first published and became an instant hit.American Academia and the Survival of Marxist IdeasDarío Fernández-Morera | 1996
Political Correctness — The Revenge of Marxismby Baron Bodissey | June 14, 2006
"President-elect Obama has ready announced plans for a large public works program, in hopes of creating millions of jobs and stimulating the economy. It appears reasonable to presume that investments in green technology, education and infrastructure could lead to increased productivity, which will in turn stimulate economic growth. . . He may want to review lessons learned from another great American steward: FDR."
