Here’s an excellent piece by Stephen Bourque.

When Republicans pursue the policies of a bloated, paternalistic state, as they have for decades, their failures are blamed on freedom. When Republicans expand the federal regulatory grip with ever-increasing rules and restrictions, the inevitable failures are blamed absurdly on “deregulation” and the “free” market. Republicans have outspent Democrats for almost half a century; they dealt the killing blow to the gold standard, imposed price controls, meddled ceaselessly with the monetary system, and expanded the welfare state. It is primarily Republicans who have ushered religion into government affairs and legislation. Republicans are behind compulsory health insurance, corporate bailouts, TARP, funding of religious groups, and the prescription drug bill. Republicans have prosecuted a weak and sacrificial war, putting our fathers and sons in harm’s way not to crush an enemy but to hand out food. With Republicans like this, who needs Democrats?

His sentiments express precisely why the Republican party is no more an ally of freedom and individualism than the Democrats. In fact, they are in many ways more threatening because they operate under a facade of “freedom” and portray themselves as proponents of Capitalism. When their statist policies fail, the ideals they profess to champion are then held accountable by the left.

For decades, Republicans and Democrats alike have been the active enemies of freedom. Thanks to the Republicans alone, freedom has taken the blame.

Until a political movement based on the fundamentals of Capitalism emerges, America can only deviate amongst varying degrees of economic destruction on a path bound for dictatorship.

• For a market to be prosperous, both consumers and producers need to be free to act in their best interest. Our current market enables substantial freedom for consumers, but not for producers. Government imposed regulations, controls and mandates have substantially driven up operating costs for producers - increases which are passed directly to consumers. Most Americans sense the freedom they have as consumers, but are ignorant of how, and to what detrimental extent, government regulation and intervention stifles producers. Failure to consider the producer aspect leads them (along the encouragement of statists pining for power) to incorrectly blame the “free market” as faulty and inadequate. They are right to advise doing something, but wrong in the something they condone (increased government intervention). The solution is to free the other essential realm in the market - the producers.
  
  Consumptive Freedom + Productive Freedom = Prosperity
  Consumptive Freedom + Production Regulation = Escalating Costs/Declining Value
  Consumptive Regulation + Production Regulation = Market Stagnation

• Americans have tolerated (and confessedly bought into) the welfare state out of altruistic default. We’ve dealt with more and more wealth being confiscated in countless new ways to fund seemingly endless streams of income redistribution. We can only hope that enough people will sense that this collectivist endeavor is a different beast altogether. Socializing medicine differs in that it moves beyond simply confiscating money through taxation to buy other people’s widgets - it effectively (in time) stifles and stagnates the entire widget market for everyone.
• Until recently, I never imagined a day would come where I’m actually considering which of my physician friends would function as my “Black Market Doctor”.
• The only way a private business gains any kind of immunity to economic forces is through some form of government influence impinging upon it. Without such influence, businesses (regardless of size) are subject to consumer choice. They may have immense capital assets and infrastructure, but they still have to keep the customer happy or in time they’ll go bankrupt. This is the key difference between economic and political power - only the latter, the power of government, can be legally forceful. The only way insurance companies, the most commonly demonized player in this scenario, obtain any power to operate in a manner which may appear to be immune to market forces is as a result of some government distortion of economics. The demand for medical expertise, usually through insurance coverage, is so high that any lack of efficiency or uncompetitive offerings would present an opportunity for other players in the market to seize the chance for expanding their market share. However, if some unnatural force prevents new players from entering the market, or prevents existing competitors from acting upon the opportunity, then the market goes unchecked and prices may rise while quality of service declines. This should sound very familiar.
• Insurance companies are typically condemned for the amount of profit they earn, but this can only be an issue in a mixed-economy, i.e., an unfree market. A producer can increase profits by either raising the market price of their goods to consumers, or lowering their costs of production through efficiency - the high-price method, or the low-cost method. In a free market, competition urges producers to compete on the latter, because competing on high prices would be contrary to the law of supply and demand. This competitive dynamic leads to lower prices, because any savings from the low-cost method can be used to gain a competitive advantage and are transferred directly to consumers. But, when that competitive dynamic is retarded or eliminated by barriers to market entry, or oppressive regulations that stifle competitive pressure, prices tend to trend upwards. This escalating trend that appears immune to supply/demand is what grants certain businesses the facade of power - political power. The only way insurance providers, or any business in any market for that matter, can obtain political power on consumers is when equipped with government assistance.
• When prices in a given market escalate at a higher rate than inflation without a comparable increase in value to the consumer, some force is distorting the economics. That force could be a natural one, e.g., a shortage in some vital resource (labor, materials, etc.), or an unnatural one - which, in a mixed-economy, is most often government intervention in some form or manner.

This July 4th brings unprecedented significance. It’s not that I’ve taken the American essence for granted, but that only in recent years have I formed a sense for how far we’ve strayed from our roots – and how few realize it. The fourth is the holiday for those who love life and freedom and I’ve never granted it proper acknowledgment, appropriate consideration or adequate participation.

All cliché’s aside, today’s America is a fading remnant of its splendorous infancy. We’re marching full-throttle into the stagnant misery associated with every collectivist nation throughout history, and we mostly just bicker about the trivial details along the way.

No longer does America stand for the individual – but the collective. No longer does an individual have the right to contract as he sees fit, to deal and trade with others as voluntary entities to mutual benefit – but must ask the state’s permission and guidelines for virtually every step of daily barter. No longer do individuals enjoy the security of property rights – but must fear that at any moment the statist grip might reign down and seize at will. No longer do we value objectivity in our courts – but champion diversity and compassion. No longer do bad decisions affect only the responsible parties – but the results are forced on all. No longer do we accept the notion that freedom enables individuals the potential to offend – but we strive to legally gag and bound any thought, word or action that might be offensive. No longer does the rule of law stand to protect individual rights – but embodies the primary culprit trampling them.

Let’s be clear – this is certainly not a partisan rant. Yes, the current central-planning administration is forcing horribly destructive policies on this country, but theirs is merely the foremost layer of putrid icing on a cake baking in the statist oven for the past 100 years. At best, the alternate candidate (current and previous administrations) might have possibly been marginally better in a few areas, but unlikely to offer any essential difference. Each would be equally prone to enact the same destructive policies, differing only in minor details. Those who contend that their party is not responsible should check their premises and consult history.

For us to return to the society achieved by our founders, America must resort to her roots. We must resurrect that spark of individual motivation, intuition and responsibility that underlined a nation of laws not men. We must discard the notion that mans purpose is to live for the sake of others. We must abandon the premise that the individual is subordinate to the state. We must reestablish the right and honor of parents to education their children. We must reject the premise that one man is entitled to any portion of the life of another, for any reason. We must get the state out of our schools, hospitals, businesses, cars, homes, minds, and bedrooms. We must realize that theft is morally wrong, whether committed by one man against another or by congressional committee according to consensus. We must return to the era of individual rights.

There are tremendously harmful movements currently in place; the final step in socialized medicine (we’re pretty much there already), gigantic steps to impose environmental regulations on individuals and businesses (potent enough to destroy a healthy economy and deadly to a crippled one), and the continued crusade to disarm American citizens; all pose very serious threats to the existence of this country as we know it – all are diametrically opposed to the founding principles of this nation.

Now is most certainly not the time to be passive, polite or complacent. Now is not the time to ‘turn the other cheek’. The contrasting ideals facing this country are not merely differences of opinion; they are life changing, way-of-life changing, nation-crumbling historical missteps. We are at a crossroad and currently pointing to a very dark place that will leave us yearning for the past.

The individuals who thought, fought and died for this country are responsible for the most glorious achievement in the history of man - glorious precisely because America is the only country founded on the moral basis of individual rights. Individual rights are the only possible basis and the logical underpinning for any system considered under the context of freedom. Our founders had the wisdom and forethought to devise a social structure based on these rights and the sense to realize that such a nation was worth fighting for. To these men, not only was it worth abandonment from their family, everyday routine, and livelihood, it was worth the price of their life – and not as a selfless sacrifice, but as a refusal to live under an inferior system.

The system they envisioned was and still is the only one suitable for proper human existence – where man has the right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness, and with Government’s only proper role as the protector of those rights.

From now on I’ll meet the 4th with the earnest reverence it demands. And now more than ever, we must diligently consider our country’s path and the issues that face us through the lens of our founding ideals and in the context of individual rights. I urge any of you who value life, freedom and joy to do the same. We simply cannot continue our current route – reality cannot be evaded.

Daniel Hannan is a wonderfully refreshing voice.

In general, Hannan is absolutely right in that we’ve abandoned the essence of America, in particular, we’ve discarded the notion and sanctity of individual rights. Rights, if revered, facilitate freedom. Freedom enables productivity. Productivity generates wealth. Wealth creates prosperity. Prosperity benefits life. To the extent that the root of this logical sequence is hampered, so each subsequent link suffers the same diminution.

Americans, in general, have never fully understood the source of this country’s greatness. None of the commonly mistaken notions; religion, race, or resources, can explain the unprecedented achievement by America. Only one concept, rights, i.e., freedom from compulsion, did and can ever facilitate the American ideal. Until our culture learns the meaning of that concept, its logical roots and obvious repercussions, the thrust of America is completely neutered - we’re running on the fumes of reason and justice, and time is running out.

I urge everyone to abstain from showing support, or even projecting an indifferent consideration, of the anti-life, anti-man, anti-capitalist “Earth Hour” movement.

As rational alternatives, I suggest these counter-movements that celebrate life, man, reason, capitalism, prosperity and joy.

• Alternative to Earth Hour
• Edison Hour on Facebook
• Human Achievement Hour

This read is astonishing.

This raises a truly alarming question: can capitalism and democracy survive side by side?
[edited for relevant concision]

His conclusive question is valid, but not for the misguided notions he presents.

The answer is clearly no, Democracy and Capitalism are not compatible.

Capitalism is a system based on individual rights where Government acts to protect such rights as the sole agent of retaliatory force.

Democracy is mob-rule. Whether the gangs involved are political parties, lobby groups or grassroots organizations - they are all competing to condone and prescribe illegitimate government force to achieve their ends. Such goals can only be achieved by encroaching on other individuals right to life, liberty or property and cannot be accomplished under a system where said rights are sovereign.

The author seems to resort to the tired old false dichotomy of Keynesian meddling vs. full Statism, i.e., Socialism/Fascism vs. Communism - neither is the path to Capitalism and the prosperity that results.

America is not and was not constructed as a Democracy but rather a Constitutional Republic. To borrow Ayn Rand’s words -

The American system is a constitutionally limited republic, restricted to the protection of individual rights. In such a system, majority rule is applicable only to lesser details, such as the selection of certain personnel. But the majority has no say over the basic principles governing the government. It has no power to ask for or gain the infringement of individual rights.

Also, contrary to his apparent penchant for central planning, Keynesian madness is precisely the tactic (facilitated by a phony currency) responsible for all previous, current and our impending economic turmoil because it involves wholesale trumping of individual values, choices and accountability and the attempt to evade reality in a economic context.

I’ll end with the thoughts of Myrhaf:

The only solution to the entire crisis is the one thing our statist politicians cannot tolerate: individual rights. Get the state out of the economy and let free individuals dispose of their property according to their best judgment. No, Obama and his buddies want no talk of individual rights; they want the people to think of themselves as part of a collective controlled by the state.

Mob violence is a perfect manifestation of Obama’s collectivist vision of man’s nature. His altruist-collectivist-statist premises have no room for free, rational individuals trading peacefully with one another without interference from their masters in Washington, D.C.

As part of a promotion at audible.com, several books are on sale including the unabridged version of Atlas Shrugged.

I highly recommend the audio book version. Not only has it proven to be a very convenient format for enjoying the story, but also a way to share the story with others. I keep the stack of 50 CD’s in a case that I leave in my car and occasionally will put on my desk at work. I’ve loaned it out on two separate occasions - both of which were facilitated by the format of the media.

To get this life-changing novel for $4.95 is a incredible value.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, I just realized that you must be a member to get the sale price. This fact was conveniently excluded from their add as well as the site. Still a great deal if you were to join for 3 months (minimum) @ $7.95/month, which would allow you three books at no additional charge plus the sale price on Atlas. Essentially, one could get 4 books for $28.80 total.

I’ve been re-listening to Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal in audiobook format just this week, and to read this piece after having just heard Greenspan’s chapters is mind-boggling. The style, wording and clarity are the same, but it’s all non-essential tangents!

How could he be at once so eloquent and passionate an advocate for Capitalism and turn into this? Smeagol says not to “bridle with heavy regulation”, Gollum calls for a new “regulatory regime” - which is it Mr. Greenspan?

This is an very clear and concise explanation of deflation as it pertains to our current mixed-economy nightmare. Being somewhat of an economic noob, I had to read it carefully a few times to grasp all the underlying premises - good stuff.

George Reisman is my favorite and most reliable source for coherent and rational economic musings.