The captains of commerce have ridden the Ayn Rand Express to great fortunes. Upon her sturdy shoulders have they staked their righteous claim to free market majesty. Freed from government oversight, they could troll the waters of a laissez-faire marketplace pursuing their own self-interest—what Ms. Rand calls man’s highest moral purpose—and amass evermore wealth for themselves and a little “trickle-down” for everyone else.
Alas, Ayn shrugged.
These same rugged individualists, who Ms. Rand idealized in her objectivist philosophy, have now come running to us, the American taxpayer, for salvation. Truly, it seems, no man is an island, even a master of the universe.
The root problem is that implicit in Rand’s call for unbridled freedom is an assumption that all people will act with integrity and honesty. Adam Smith, who hailed the invisible hand of the marketplace, went even further than Rand by promoting as an end society’s greater interest.
Yet, time and again, we are confronted with a reality that is far different. Some people lack integrity and will cheat. To be sure the bad apples are a small minority, but that is all it takes. Often the rest have to break the rules in order to stay competitive thus causing a true race to the bottom. Beyond that the temptation of easy money spreads where an “everybody’s doing it” mentality sets in.
And as we are finding out now, like a previous generation did after the crash of 1929, the less the oversight the more the propensity for runaway greed. Self-regulation is a complete myth, promulgated by those who abuse their freedom to unduly enrich themselves.
Our public policy should therefore mirror what has made America great: individual freedom combined with social responsibility. We, through our government, have the absolute duty to properly regulate commerce. Such oversight protects not only the consumer but also the honest businessperson, from the predations of the less scrupulous.
Part of our social responsibility is a properly funded government that does as the pre-amble to the Constitution demands, that is, to “promote the general Welfare.” Now more than ever must we pull together, and bear each other’s burdens. We do this a million different ways individually and in important, even life-saving, ways through the united strength of our government.
In the end the disciples of Ayn Rand were crushed by the error of her premise. Talented, hard working industrialists do not and cannot succeed in a vacuum. It takes an intricate network of many different people, with many different abilities, doing many different jobs to create an environment for genius to flourish.
Ayn shrugged. But united, we’ll stand.
Richard F. Dawahare 10.20.08
