Yaron Brook Speaks at Tea Party Protest, Washington, DC

[darkyjoy]

I feel ashamed he goes talking with the tea party...I don´t think they will do anything for freedom...and looking at Sarah Palin or Geller and their strong religious convictions I don´t see how that matches the main idea of objectivism....

[sybo59]

He was about to say "and God is not real", until that damned music cut him off.

[prairieobjectivist]

Thanks Dr. Brook for a great (if a bit brief) speech on the moral essence of Objectivism.

[1deadlysquirrel]

"Tea Party" is a Big Lie. It's not the simple 1700s. We now have millions of life-saving water-food-air-safety, police, military, etc. provided by "big government" (We the People). During the real Tea Party there were no freeways, bridges nor school that allow real tax-paying patriots to work & contribute to the superior progress this nation has. I've never whined about paying taxes as without regulations many of us wouldn't be here. Due to Cheney's deregulations the Gulf is an oil pool."

[stephleom]

AYN RAND REVOLUTION

[stephleom]

AYN RAND REVOLUTION

[mkloppel]

I was there. I am glad this was posted.

[Sam26100]

There's that line at the end of Atlas Shrugged, where Mr Thomas asks Galt what he should do in order to put the country right, and Galt says "start by abolishing all income taxes"

Somehow Stefan Molyneux missed that part when he read the book

[TanaDrake]

ATLAS SHRUGGED is Americas 2nd Declaration of Independence:

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 neighbors—between those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of ghosts in heaven and those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of incompetents on earth. And no one came to say that YOUR LIFE BELONGS TO YOU AND THAT THE GOOD IS TO LIVE IT.

[PureLiberalRadio]

Nice speech with a pretty good level of enthusiasm! :-)

Yaron Brook said: "You are NOT your brother's keeper!" Nor should Big Brother FORCE us to be, as taught (and coerced) by the the ignorant, evil Democrats & progressives, and the ignorant, evil Republicans & conservatives.

DEATH to the religio-socialist morality of self-immolation! DEATH to the self-sacrificial Welfare State!

[nikkumra]

Why does he talk like Barney Frank?

[freesk8]

So ironic that an atheist like Brook has his speech ended with music with lyrics "God bless America."

I'm sure he would have objected if he knew about it in advance.

Too bad the tea party movement has so many religious wacko's in it.

I'm a Rand fan, and atheist, and a Libertarian.

Brook does a good job.

[waterstrike08]

Anarcho-Capitalism is a paradox!

[freesk8]

Care to explain exactly why the principles of anarchy and capitalism contradict?

Care to define "captialism?"

Care to define "anarchy?"

Bet ya can't.

[waterstrike08]

It's not a conflict of definition, but one of execution. I do agree that in order for capitalism to successfully work is to free the market, and free the people.

What is counter productive is that capitalism demands a unified currency system. Which will, inevitably, become a minarchist state. Especially with the privatized military and police that become locally dominant.

[freesk8]

I agree with your first paragraph.

It is not capitalism that demands a unified currency, it is some capitalISTS who do.

I still haven't decided if I am a minarchist or an anarcho-capitalist. Stefbot makes a good case!  Have you checked out his YouTube channel?

[fullmetalchymist]

Capitalism requires the existence of personal property rights, i.e. if you make or buy something, you have a right to dispose of that something however you wish. In short, you have a right not to be robbed. In a world where thieves exist, there must also exist a government whose sole responsibility is to protect the rights of its citizens.

Captialism is ruled by law. Anarchy is ruled by might (as are Socialism and Communism).

[freesk8]

Property rights exist before the state comes in to existence. It comes from self-ownership. The DEFENSE of property rights may be a legitimate function of the state, but the state does not bring rights in to existence. It may only defend or violate them.

Capitalism is liberty and property rights. Defense of those rights is possible through private security contracts as well as via govt.

Anarchy is not ruled at all. True anarchy must be non-violent self organization. Opposite of socialism.

[waterstrike08]

Sure i know of him. I just dont agree with his philosophy.

If defense is privatized there is the high risk of the formation of "gangs" from different individual societies, with no guarantee of enforcement of the contracts. There is no guaranteed protection of rights. just a free for all.

[freesk8]

There is also no guarantee of rights with a state.

As we all know, the state tends to grow, and liberty tends to retreat before it, until a revolution is necessary, which usually comes with bloodshed.

Murray Rothbard addressed the issue of competing security agencies. I think it was his main point that conflict is expensive, and the agencies would usually prefer not to engage in it. States have no such concern, since they do not have to stay within budget or show a profit.

[Sam26100]

Yes but that doesn't help us defend against foreign invaders does it If private security agencies just sit there and wait for an invasion, they'll go out of business They need to produce something which people value in order to maintain themselves People don't value tanks and bombs, until China invades, so how are they going to have the funds to maintain a millitary force strong enough to repel foreign invaders?

Im with objectivism, and the voluntarily funded government with objective laws

[freesk8]

I'm a huge fan of Ayn Rand, and though I am drawn to anarchy, I must admit that I am still a minarchist and think that natl. defense is a legit. function of the fed. govt.

But the appeal of anarchy is in it's purity. Rand never answered how govt is to be paid for. Lotteries? Yuck. Why promote "a tax on those bad at math."

Admitting that some taxes are necessary puts us on the slippery slope to statism.

But it is fun to consider privatizing national defense. Maybe enough would contribute?

[Sam26100]

Rand didn't support taxes at all.  This is how she thinks the legitimate government should be funded:

aynrandlexicon . com/lexicon/taxation . html

[freesk8]

Rand suggested that govt be funded by a lottery or by voluntary contributions.

I stated why I don't think lotteries make sense.

But do you really think that voluntary contributions could be sufficient to provide for defense, police, courts and the basic objectivist/minarchist/liberta­rian limited govt?

I'm not so sure. What if forced taxation were necessary because of the tragedy of the commons or some form of free rider problem?

Would you advocate it then?

[Sam26100]

Lottery? first time I hear that.

Voluntary contributions would definetly be sufficient.

First of all if you look at all the voluntary aid that America gives, domestically and abroad, you can get an idea of just how willing people are to give money for a cause they believe in.

Secondly, it takes a lot less money to defend a country, than it takes to have an army capable of invading others, such as the one we have today. Osama Bin Laden has demonstrated this, against the commies

[rebelionel]

Dr. Brook is a real American hero for the work he is doing in this country to shine a 200 jiggawatt spot light on the fact that a persons life belongs to themselves and no one else, and the political principle of political rights is the social expression of this fact about our nature. Bravo, Dr. Brook! I am a huge fan of your work. Never stop!

[freedominsomalia]

fuck the founding fathers, ANARCHO CAPITALISM

[xTjPx]

he can't be president because he wasn't born here.

[xkeltoix]

the best thing about objectivism is that its entirely subjective

[fullmetalchymist]

While I agree that many individual Objectivists allow subjectivism to creep into their beliefs (its human nature, after all) Ayn Rand's basic philosophy struck me as being very objective and well-reasoned (for the most part - and not all of her opinions were justified by her philosophy - her stance on homosexuality, for example). The biggest problem I have with it is that she based her metaphysics on Aristotle's biology of the soul. Come on.

[waterstrike08]

If i may, i'd like to point out 3 things.

can you tell me what you feel is subjective in Ayn Rand's philosophy?

Ayn Rand herself said that in that time they did not know enough of the homosexual psyche to have any definite opinion of it; all she did say was that it was not reasonable. and i think she would feel differently today.

The soul is not described as a mystical, physical entity, but is the psyche of a living organism; which has different sensitivities with a variety of species.

[8888sam]

make him presedent!!!

[tdkpaul]

i like the ideas of ayn rand and of objectivism as a whole, but from reading on "little green football" it wasn't such a good idea to speak at this event ?!

what do you think?

I'm not an American, but interested in this topic. USA needs to be free, if we don't want the world go down

[Eta49]

Great speech but, what time of the day was this speech made?

[KajiCarson]

The "An Rand" institute?

[ReasonSharp]

KajiCarson, *Ayn* Rand Institute, not An.

[KajiCarson]

You're a slow one, aren't you? I was referring to the guy introducing Brook at the beginning of the video, who mispronounced Rand's first name. Why do I have to explain this to you?

[ReasonSharp]

TBH, I didn't even hear that guy at the beginning. But sure, go ahead and fire all your frustrations at me for a simple correction, gheez.

[KajiCarson]

Forget about it.

[WarVideo]

What is wrong with all the goddamn people who keep saYing An Rand? Are theY stupid or something, where did theY learn to read in english? Thats what public education does to You,it turns You into a moron.Somebody should tell these people that the Y letter isnt silent, just like everY other word theY saY that also has a Y in it. Just because the Y in AYn is in the middle doesnt mean it magicallY disapears. The first time I heard her name, it never occured to me to just magicallY drop the Y.

[grantsinmypants2]

"Ann Rand" sound better than "Some foreign name I can't pronounce, Rand." That's why they do it. It's pragmatism and pretentiousness, not stupidity or bad education.

[Scoforever]

He should have just done the John Galt speech.

[Bigturns33]

that would have been unreal

[KajiCarson]

It would be nice to hear a guy like Brook recite that one. But I don't think most people would have the attention span to listen through till the end though.

[iverson92123]

@Scoforever Nice!!!!! I agree.

[Anakha13]

Police, fire, utilities et al are examples of local government, not the federal government. Here's a pile of money, go buy a clue.

[legendre007]

Another stirring speech from Dr. Brook.  :-D

[soitoldhimno]

Haha, man, you're crazy.

[RobertPFreeman]

@ rednecktrucker1969

If you really understood your comment and followed it to its logical conclusion you would be advocating a system of zero property rights. It is only to the extent that you contradict your above sentiment that you can support any property rights.

Be consistent. Go enjoy your communism.

[rednecktrucker1969]

I was simply pointing out the things we ALL already pay for as a society. A free society is not realistic, as society requires certain things to operate. Follow your line of logic to its end and everyone sits in caves with shotguns protecting the roadkill that they call dinner.

[RobertPFreeman]

@ rednecktrucker1969

Absolutely not. They would just learn to trade for it rather than using the government to make each other slaves.