THEME: “Either-Or“. “Either-Or” is an affirmation of Aristotelian logic, particularly the tenets of the Law of identity (A = A; a thing is identical to itself), the Law of excluded middle (either A or not-A; a thing is either something or not that thing, no third option), and the Law of noncontradiction (not both A and not-A; a thing cannot be both true and not true in the same instant).
I am also very pleased to announce that I will have the honor of being part of this excellent group of lecturers (Click here to view entire program). In the two lectures I will discuss what is the real history of Capitalism. Te goal of my talk is that all attendees will be able of explaining accurately why and how Capitalism is a social system that has never existed in its full, perfect, and unregulated form. In Part 1, we will explore the growth and flourishing of the ideas of free-market capitalism in the 18th and 19th centuries. In Part 2, we will ook at the assault against capitalism in the 20th century and consider where we find ourselves today.
I invite you start following it and to start commenting their articles. Indeed, this is great news for the spread of Objectivism, the Philosophy of Ayn Rand!
A couple days ago, Otto Perez Molina, recently elected as President of Guatemala; announced that he was willing to decriminalize the commercialization of drugs. According to U.S. authorities, Guatemala has became the transshipment point for more than 75 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States since 2005. Along with this, the Opium poppy cultivation is already done in large parts of the countryside making the production of Guatemalan heroin a greater and the newest worry for the United States. The country’s elites are already part of this business and the paranoia of crimes that used be a remembrance from Colombia‘s 1990s history seems to be repeating in these Central American countries.
What impresses me the most now is how this news has started spreading around my Facebook contacts (mostly libertarians and liberals). Both groups seem to be happy to hear this announcement by Guatemala’s President. However, both groups applaud the news for different reasons. The legalization/decriminalization of drugs will not be the panacea we all are hoping for. Specially not if started by any of the Central American governments. The reasons are many and I will begin by listing some of them to open the discussion,
Corruption, lax enforcement, and judicial impunity levels in Central America are among the highest of the world.
Drug lords and their new and powerful money have been mentioned by many analysts to be already part of the politic and economic elites of these countries.
The Central American countries in which this drugs are produced and transported are inhabited by a large majority of people living in the lowest leves of Human Development.
If legalized, the trade, production and commercialization of drugs (cocaine and heroine mainly) will be regulated by these governments.
Without any doubt, this regulations will enable and create legalized monopolies ruled with the partnership of previous drug lords and government officials.
It has not been advocated by any of the political leaders which road would take the legalization of drugs. This is important, because under current legalization procedures it is not the same to get the approval for a new medicine in the market as to get the approval for a new liquor, a new energizing drink or of a new edible product.
The history of the legalization (production, trade and commercialization) of items considered by many as drugs and for others as commodities has shown that for as long as a government elite hold the power to legalize it; it was in their power to take the first steps into the acquisition of a monopoly of its trade and production.
If legalized, the emergence of a coercive monopoly would be inevitable. As noted by Ayn Rand, the governments and their partners in these coercive monopolies “will be able of setting the initial prices and production policies independently of the market, with immunity from competition, from the law of supply and demand. An economy dominated by such monopolies would be rigid and stagnant.”
If we support the complete and absolute free trade of all commodities it is necessary that we do not grant to government an intrinsic right to regulate it. No compromise should ever be done with a government that requires regulation in order to give us legalization. Legalization should result in freedom and not in regulation. The drug trade should be opened to businessmen and entrepreneurs in the freest way possible. The freest way is that of requiring the traders to inform their buyers about all the necessary information about the products they are offering.
We may be taking part in a historical moment in which the most important thing are principles. Let us remember that one of the most valuable principles of trade is Freedom; and that one of the most valuable principles of government is to seek that i will Protect Individual Rights and not to regulate their lives.
Today we are commemorating the birth of Ayn Rand. Ms. rand was a wonderful romantic realist novel writer that choose America as her home after fleeing from the USSR in the 1920s. Ms. Rand was the philosopher who made the first defense of the morality of Capitalist and who elaborated a complete philosophical system that she later called Objectivism.
Ms. Rand was the greatest advocate for individual rights and she is my heroine. It is in her ideas that I find daily inspiration to pursue happiness and objectivity in my life!
Today I share with you the audio to one of her most powerful lectures. “In March 1974, Ayn Rand faced the improbable task of lecturing on the crucial importance of philosophy—to the graduating class of West Point. She succeeded magnificently: she attracted three times the expected attendance, she elicited an enthusiastic ovation, and her lecture was reprinted in a new philosophy textbook published by the U.S. Military Academy. Relive this memorable occasion, and rediscover the irresistible intellectual power of Ayn Rand.”
I have recently being informed about a new Objectivist Philosophy Program coming online next January 10, 2012. The program is sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute that will create an online Campus.
ARI Campus will allow students around the world to take courses at their own pace and on their own time—for free. Students at all levels will be able of exploring educational materials in multimedia courses.
Initial course offerings will include the following:
The full, public launch of the site is slated for September of 2012. Add to your calendars the date January 10, 2012 and log in to the initial courses that will be offered by the ARI Campus!
