Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Ayn Rand Center

Take a look at this opening to a recent editorial in the most prestigious American newspaper. It epitomizes how far this country has strayed from its founding principles. From a recent New York Times article about the government’s commandeering of Chrysler entitled “So Far So Good”:

Less than three weeks after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection, it looks as if the Obama administration will pull off its goal of completing the carmaker’s restructuring by June, allowing it to emerge as a smaller, more viable contender in the global auto market.

Its goal? Observe how casually the Times — and, indeed, its readership — accepts the idea of the government having goals for private companies, to be imposed (and funded, as in the case of Chrysler) by force. This is exactly the opposite of what the government should be doing. For the uninitiated, here is the purpose of government as explained in a much-neglected document entitled the Declaration of Independence — a declaration of men who had studied and lived under governments that made individuals subservient to government goals. After explaining that every individual has “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” it explains the purpose of government: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men….” To elaborate and apply to today’s situation: Government exists to secure our rights. It is not our master, with goals of its own, but our servant, protecting our rights so that we can pursue our own goals — be it to start a car company and run it how we choose, to trade with the best car companies we can find, to buy the sort of automobile we judge best, not an Obamobile, and to keep our money instead of having it funneled to failed businesses.

In this era of self-righteous “change,” in which we are repeating time-failed policies of collectivism and central planning, we would do well to study the history and philosophy of America’s unique form of government — and understand why the government’s only valid goal is to protect individual rights. There’s no better place to start than “Man’s Rights” by Ayn Rand (in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal).