First, watch this video clip of some of the major players involved in the Free Capitalist movement and the Producer Revolution (Koerber makes an appearance):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqNg7S8Ncnk
Here is the transcript of what the narrator says:
The world is changing. Since the beginning of time, a small minority who have valued knowledge over ignorance, truth over deception, freedom over security, and responsibility over slavery, have quietly held the world on their shoulders. These are the producers. Their ideas create the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, and the roofs over our heads. Without them, the world crumbles.
A second group has also existed, those who live, not to bring value into the world, but only to take it out, those who feel the world owes them a favor, that wealth and prosperity are the result of luck, that money is the root of all evil, yet they want more of it, that high returns come from high risk, and that it takes money to make money. These are the consumers. They make the most noise and the most demands. They get the most attention, and they cry the loudest for equality. Their theories and beliefs have dominated the media and popular opinion for millennia.
But the verdict is in: the mindset of fear and poverty and scarcity has been tried, and it has failed. The age of the consumer is over. The Producers are arising. The Producer Revolution has begun.
Ok, now you probably missed a lot of what was in that video. I’ll bet something doesn’t sit right with you, but then again some things they said ring true. After I explain some thing, that video is going to make a whole lot more sense.
There Are Not Just "Producers" and "Consumers"
First, “since the beginning of time” there have been two groups? Producers and Consumers? Is that a correct description of human beings since the beginning? Have there always just been people who either produce or consume? Who were the “producers” in ancient Egypt? Who were the “producers” in ancient Rome? Athens? Who were the people “whose ideas created the food they ate, the clothes they wore?” Would that be the Pharoah? The slaves? The Priests? Maybe the Senators of Rome? The conquered peoples? Hmmm. I don’t think you can place very many people in either the Producer or Consumer slot when you look back at history.
Aren’t people both producers and consumers? Are there people (and has there always been) that just produce and produce things without consuming anything? And are their people that just consume and consume without producing anything (other than people like invalids)? Why divide people into one of two camps like this?
This Idea Comes from Atlas Shrugged
This idea that there are two groups of people, producers and consumers, is not an old idea. It is not ancient. This idea appeared at the beginning of the 20th in the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Let me give you a synopsis of the book:
The setting is a dystopian America sometime in the near future. The economy is faltering. The government’s response to this is to exert more and more control over the markets and industry. Some of the wealthier and successful people in the country start disappearing in protest to the government controlling them, and their absence causes the economy to falter faster than before because their productive and creative abilities have been removed from the equation. In fact, not only did these productive people exit the public sphere, they secretly sabotaged a lot of their plants, mines, and inventions so that the people remaining behind, the “looters” and “moochers,” couldn’t use them.
The book’s title, Atlas Shrugged, is a reference to the mythical god Atlas who holds the world on his shoulders. In this story, the productive people are like Atlas, carrying the burden of supporting to world, that is, the looters and moochers. And these producers shrug a little, thus destabilizing the world, just like what would happen if Atlas himself would shrug while holding up the world.
The wealthy, productive, and successful people have secretly created a utopia off in some remote mountains in the west. There they live in perfect harmony where they can produce things without interference or restraint. There are no laws. They all only work for their own benefit, and they voluntarily trade what they produce with others. Some people in the utopia actually have to change occupations because someone else there does it better than them, and they are happy to make the switch. This is the utopia that Ayn Rand envisioned.
A Childish Dream
The utopia in Atlas Shrugged is a childish dream. Now, I know I will be immediately be accused of being a socialists or consumer or having a "scarcity mentality" or whatever, and that I don’t appreciate work or the right of people to keep what they produce. I do, but Ayn’s Rand’s utopia cannot achieve that, and it cannot perpetuate. There are no laws in this utopia. But then who settles disputes? Everything is done through contract, that is, one person agrees to do something for someone else while the other person agrees to exchange something for that. What happens if the contract is broken? The item produced is faulty, or delivered late, or what if there just is a misunderstanding of what was in the contract? Who decides who is at fault? Who enforces the contract? What, it would never happen? There will always be perfect understanding? That would be a childish dream.
What if someone incurs damages because of the negligence of another? Say I find that some horses have trampled my crops, but I never saw the horses and I don’t know whose they were. Who investigates? By what authority? What are the rules for gathering evidence and pressing charges and getting compensation? Or do I just take a loss on my crops? Do all people with horses pay me voluntarily? Who asses the damages? Can I just walk into someone’s stable and inspect their horses to see if they were the ones in my fields? Who decides these things?
In the book, there is a man who was doing one occupation only to find that someone else did it better, so this man gladly accepted a menial task working for this other man because they all were made so much more rich in this situation. What if one man only was a little more productive that another? Would one accept a menial job if he wasn’t made much more rich? Or would they compete? How is it that everyone settles perfectly into different jobs with no regard to anything but how much they make? No one has a passion to do anything except make money? And no one cares anything about what they do other than how much money they make?
Where are the children? There are none. So...obviously without reproduction this society cannot perpetuate. So then when there are children, how do you discipline them? Are there limits to discipline? They are necessarily dependent (therefore, "moochers") so how should they be treated? What do you do if someone appears to be mistreating their children? What do you do if the children don't share the same ideas of everyone else as to how the society should operate? Are you gonna kick them out? That would be using force against them, denying them of their rights and property. Who is going to teach the children and what are they going to teach?
By the way, where does the fire station go? Hospital? Sewer? Electrical stations? Roads? Road maintenance? Who decides? What about defense? Will there be no disagreements on anything?
This utopia that Ayn Rand envisions is lacking in a serious way. Of course we all want to be free to do what we want and keep what we produce, but we also want to know how to resolve disputes, how we will organized courts and police powers so that our rights are protected. Having no laws does not equal protection of rights. It's a childish dream to think so. What we need are good laws that protect rights even while disputes and law enforcement are being carried out. We also need good laws that correctly identify rights and the acceptable uses of force, because not everyone will agree with what those rights are or when they have been infringed or to what degree, and people will disagree on what the proper use of force is (like with the rising generation having different opinions). So good laws necessitate deciding what you can force people to do, because there are some things (like going to jail for stealing) that are legitimate uses of force, and therefore you must have some system, some laws, in place to deal with that. Ayn Rand just simply says that the problem is that people pass laws and use government to take from others, therefore you shouldn't have any laws or government. Ayn Rand says that people mooch off of others so then you shouldn't even work for the benefit of others...ever. This utopia is like a little kid throwing a tantrum at the playground and declaring that he is going to take his toys and go home, and everything will be perfect. It childish and absurd.
The name of this utopia in the book Atlas Shrugged is "Galt's Gulch," and it is the name of the official forum of the FreeCapitalist website: http://freecapitalist.com/orca/.
The Sermon of John Galt
At a critical point, when the national economy was about to totally collapse, and when the secret utopia was strong enough, the leader of this utopia was able to hijack a radio broadcast to the entire world (using superior technology that they held back in the utopia) and gave a long speech on the morality of what they were doing. This speech is 60 pages long in the book and it is the culmination of the philosophy of Ayn Rand.
Below are some excerpts from that speech:
“For centuries, the battle of morality was fought between those who claimed that your life belongs to God and those who claimed that it belongs to your neighbor.”
“Pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value and, like all of man’s values, it has to be earned." p.1020
“Do you ask what moral obligation I owe to my fellow men? None—except the obligation I owe to myself, to material objects and to all of existence: rationality.” p.1022
“Why is it moral to serve the happiness of others, but not your own? If enjoyment is a value why is it moral when experienced by others, but immoral when experienced by you? p. 1031
“Your code declares that the rational man must sacrifice himself to the irrational, the independent man to the parasites…” p.1032
There it is. The source of the core ideas behind the Free Capitalist movement. It is Ayn Rand and her book Atlas Shrugged. In this book, there are only two groups of people: those that loot and mooch (who take from others from the barrel of a gun), and those who produce and keep everyone else alive. These are the “Consumers” and “Producers” of the Free Capitalist movement and the Producer Revolution. In the speech, John Galt asks what you owe your fellow man. Rick Koeber states that you only serve other for your own ultimate benefit.
The Oath
At the utopia, there is a special lock that can only be opened by one who says particular words. The words are the pledge of those in the utopia:
"I swear by my life ... and my love of it ... that I will never live for the sake of another man ... nor ask another man ... to live ... for mine"
That is their motto, their pledge. It sums up their ideology. It is purely selfish. And don't get confused into thinking this is some proclamation to not be enslaved by someone else. This says, and means, that you do not do anything for anyone else. You only do things only for yourself. That's much different than vowing not be be the slave of someone else.
The Religion
Ayn Rand’s ideas in the book Atlas Shrugged are the foundation of the Free Capitalist movement. So much so, that even Jesus Christ has been reformed into one that only did his sacrifice for his own benefit (see earlier post). The teachings of the LDS church have been warped to try to uphold these beliefs, as well as other writers of political theory and economics. This is why some things ring true in the Free Capitalist movement: they take things people have written (which ring true) but then try to bend and reshape it and try to convince you that they somehow uphold the ideas of Ayn Rand which they have adopted. Ayn Rand has become their prophet, Atlas Shrugged has become their scripture, and John Galt their savior. I know, that sounds harsh, but read Atlas Shrugged and then review what is taught in the Free Capitalist movement. Look to see which ideas prevail, which ones are fundamental, which ones reign supreme. That’s where someone’s god is.
Now watch the video again. Notice all the pictures of Atlas (he’s shown many times thoroughout the clip). Listen to how people are divided into two groups. Listen to the narrator and hear the words of Ayn Rand coming through.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqNg7S8Ncnk
Below is a cartoon that I thought relevant (click for larger version)
(from http://www.angryflower.com/)
