Impeach: YOU

What if we held our citizens accountable rather than our politicians?

Think about it. The mandate of elected officials is to enact the will of the people, and in the end, these officials are only accountable to their electors. When Enron implodes, we don’t blame the men and the women on the ground - perpetuating the daily operations of the company. We blame the leadership. Those who give the orders. Those with the power to set strategic direction, and with the ability to hold others accountable for failing to successfully implement the mandate they have passed down.

In a Republic, it is ultimately the people who set the direction for the country by virtue of their votes. The people of the United States are, in a sense, a big board of directors. They have a fiduciary duty to collect facts, to maintain objectivity, and to uphold the values of the constitution. They are not to be judged on their intent or their morals, they are to be judged based on results.

Why not punish American citizens who negligently fail to do their duty as American citizens? If men and women, boys and girls, die because of collective acts of negligence on the part of these individuals, shouldn’t these individuals be asked to make sacrifices of their own?

Damn The Man

Damn the man who, armed with confidence, and stricken by ignorance, claims to posses knowledge that no man can posses

Damn the man who, armed with reason, and stricken by fear, fails to make the truth known.

History favors the passioned minority - but only when that passion translates into action.

More Wisdom from Ayn Rand - Videos

What we need today:

1961 message from Ayn Rand to GOP candidates

This is John Galt - Speech - Part 1

Happiness vs. Truth

There was a fork in the road.

I looked left – and saw happiness: It looked Warm. A life of personal satisfaction?

I looked right – and saw truth: It looked Cold. A life of principle?

Most people were going left. These people ran quickly after their happy, fulfilled lives. I wanted happiness too. I asked myself, “What good is life if I can’t enjoy it?”

I decided to go right. By the time I reached the fork in the road I had already known too much. I liked being happy. I liked smiling. I tried to do both as much as I could. But how could I look at myself in the mirror having selected an illusion as the primary objective of my life?

Happiness is, after all, an illusion, right?

I may live 85 years on this earth, but once I die, I know my happiness won’t follow me. Happiness may help me to enjoy my time on the earth. It may help me to live longer – thereby helping me to accomplish more things, and that has value, right?

My accomplishments won’t follow me either though. I could erect the tallest buildings. I could eradicate diseases. I could help my fellow man reach the outer limits of the universe – but when I die, relative to my own decaying corpse – these accomplishments will all have been an illusion.

To me, truth is the ability to suppress delusion and to accurately experience the essence of life and my fellow travelers. It does not preclude happiness; however happiness is not its end objective.

Why did I select truth over happiness? I don’t posses the words to explain why, but I ask… how could anything be more desirable than truth? Truth is real, it’s infallible. I won’t ever attain what I consider to be truth – just as I’ll never be able to prove my existence - but is apathy an adequate excuse?

I hope to have many smiles in my life and much joy as well. But when I take my last breath – at my very last moment of life – my smile will be a genuine smile, and it will have been earned.

More brilliance from Richard Dawkins

Except for the first, these are long videos. Dawkins was not on top of his game in these, in my opinion, but was pretty good, and the context of being in Falwell’s backyard, and talking directly to his students, makes it interesting. If you only have time to watch one video though, watch this one.

Liberty University student asks, “What if You’re Wrong,” to Dawkins (atheist)…

Dawkins in Lynchburg VA (part 1) The God Delusion featuring many questions from Liberty University students:

Dawkins in Lynchburg VA (part 2) The God Delusion:

Richard Dawkins: An atheist’s call to arms

A must watch, regardless of your views. Please comment after.

Watch the full thing, better quality, here.

Answering anti-Randian, anti-Objectivist scum

One way to answer someone who says something like…

“Not one supporter of the objectivist philosophy ever has shown the least inclination to actually put Rand’s “philosophy” into practice, and this tells us pretty much all we need to know about how realistic her thought is.”

My response below. And at the bottom I explain MY selfish reasons for wasting minutes of my life engaging such people for whom the state would execute if it had, and decided to enforce, a zero-tolerance policy against the incompetent class.

You fail to realize that someone who puts Rand’s philosophy into practice would not likely be within your view… taking advantage of YOUR “roads.” They may be living in a cabin in the woods… they may be working late nights in a lab somewhere trying to cure cancer… they may be building the very roads you talk about… or they may be in a Turkish hotel tickling virgins… but they certainly aren’t driving on main street with an “I Heart Rand” bumper sticker on the back of their green mini van, and for goodness sakes, they CERTAINLY are not hanging around with people like you.

You make generalizations without utilizing logic to connect various points, and even my society-loving high school lit teacher knew enough to advise me against this practice. It’s just an ignorant thing to do… and it is case in point why many (though clearly too few) people find themselves fearful and frustrated by the ignorance of people like you, and the masses at large.

There is one thing we might agree with. I think the idea of having objectivist associations, groups, and societies is silly. A mature objectivist has seen the failings of “others” far too often to allow anyone else to carry their torch, but everyone gets weak at one time or another… and in times of weakness… human beings tend to join groups to remind themselves that they are not alone.

A glaring difference between a “true” objectivist who produces for themselves… and a self-proclaimed altruist who “produces for others,” is that one of these individuals is “brash” when they answer the question… why (why do I live, why do I live my life the way I do)… and the other is either dishonest or lacking of self knowledge.

When I write this post, I write it for myself. I know I will not convince you of anything, and that your response will include the kind of silly points you’re fond of making. I write this post because when I encounter people such as yourself, I walk away more energized than before, motivated to continue creating the innovations that silly saps like you will take for granted 100 years from now.

Blame Bush?

I take profound issue with modern-day Bush-bashers and haters, and those who stand out against the Iraq war.

Not because I don’t think President Bush is incompetent - he is. Not because I don’t think the Iraq war was mismanaged - it was. I take profound issue because I don’t like the tendency of people to find a single scapegoat for each and every issue.

Before President Bush was “elected” the first time - his lack of intellectual curiosity and personal depth was glaringly obvious. Yet - as a people, we permitted him to be elected. When it came time to invade Iraq, approval ratings were amazingly high and MOST people in the country supported the war, and the effort. We permitted him to take us to war without a debate.

Now, thinking strategically, invading Iraq may have been the right move at the time (maybe not). However, we all should have known how grave a risk it was to invade an Arab country. With an individual like Bush leading the effort as chief executive, we should have been confident that the war would not have been executed properly. President Bush has never demonstrated executive competence once in his life. Not in the oil companies he ran in Texas, not as Governor of Texas, and not as President of the United States.

So - the American people permitted an incompetent person to take us into a strategic war with support of most people. The American people then put him BACK into office after many of his failures were clear, but only to critical and objective thinkers. And NOW, the American people are unhappy.

Democrats and Republicans are equally to blame. The former for being pussies, the latter for being ignorant.

I am against letting President Bush be the scapegoat, however, because it is about time for Americans, and human beings at large, to learn their lessons. President Bush was a tool of the people. He was elected by a people who SHOULD HAVE KNOWN what he would produce. It is unfair for the people to blame a person for doing exactly what critical thinkers predicted he would do.

If these people simply blame Bush, without blaming themselves, then the President Bush catastrophe will just happen over and over again. The people will remain uninformed and duly dogmatic and will continue to elect members of the incompetent class to rule us.

It is about time for personal responsibility. I failed my country by not rallying hard enough against Bush when he was running the first time. We all did. This is not a democrat versus republican issue - it is a matter of competence versus impotence.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:

- Life

- Health

- Free Market Economy

- Family

What are you thankful for?

The Fountainhead - Howard Roark Speech (Ayn Rand)




Life

75 years

gone

accomplishments

gone

family

gone

loved ones

gone

darkness

nothingness

no glory

no nirvana

to live an honest life despite this…

that is character

Republic, not a Democracy

We cannot trust the masses to stay informed. We cannot trust the masses to make wise decisions. We cannot trust the masses.

In a true democracy, all individuals have a say. But in America, all individuals do not have a say. We have a REPRESENTATIVE democracy. Not a true democracy.

The idea of a representative democracy makes sense in theory. People cannot be trusted… so let them hire representatives to do their bidding.

The only problem is… the masses vote for the wrong representatives.

The Self-Made Rich

There was a story online about Oprah and how Mrs. Seinfeld sent her 20 pairs of shoes. Then people posted comments suggesting that Oprah doesn’t know how much a loaf of bread costs… and others started bashing her for being “detached.”

I am always amazed by jealousy. I wonder - rather than being jealous… why don’t people just go out and work harder? Make smarter decisions? Drink less beer? Smoke less cigarettes?

The super-wealthy (those that are self-made, not the inheritors) become wealthy in large part by creating value for the world… and then they reap the benefits. They take unusual risks. They do unusual things. They don’t care about how much a stupid loaf of bread costs.

These people should be regarded as heroes, not people who have earned scorn from the masses. It’s not that I like Oprah, I just think the reasons that many people have for disliking her… and other rich people… are dumb.

It is not about having the money. Most second, third, fourth, etc generation wealthy people are shallow and stupid. It is about MAKING the money… creating so much value for the world that you get rich. Creators of value are heroes. Oprah created so much value for a segment of people that she got rich… good for her.

Random thoughts…

1. Few thoughtful, rational people exist
2. People don’t confront their own mortality early enough in life
3. People are shallow
4. Modern-day religion does more bad than good
   1. The bad: It feeds the ignorance of the masses and takes people’s souls
   2. The good: Fear of hell turns many people who lack character into law-abiding citizens who live above their means and keep the economy humming
5. I don’t respect 99.99999% of the people who self-identify themselves as “Nascar Fans”
6. Most men are boys. Most women are little girls.
7. Most women would confidentially prostitute themselves if it meant receiving $10 million in cash.
8. Most men who had $10 million to spare would gladly pay them.
9. Good people do exist. They are rare. And I wish I knew them.

Ayn Rand Message Boards…

I constructed the following message board post for “4aynrandfans.com,” however I could not post it. The administrator requires all new registrants to verify their email address, which is certainly reasonable. After I completed my verification, I learned that the administrator has elected to review each registration before granting the permission to post.

——

How can you justify the idea of a space where individuals… fans… of Ayn Rand… gather to discuss her, and her ideas?

First, let me distill a myth. Ayn Rand may have had great ideas… and/or a great ability to express ideas… and she may have been a great person in her own right (at least according to the principles that she seems to espouse), but Ayn did not live a life that was in perfect balance with “objectivist” ideals, and I could draw that same conclusion about the people “discussing” her here simply by the fact that they… you… are “discussing” her here. Perfection is an impossible ideal. In matters ranging from science to cooking - nothing… no one… maintains perfect and absolute consistency.

That being said, I contend that if Ayn Rand were able to live her life in 100% accordance with her ideas, she would have shunned her so called “followers,” and she would have urinated on any “school” or “club” that evolved to perpetuate those values that she held so dear. Sadly, Rand was human.

If you consider yourself to be a creator… to be a person of will and determination and integrity… Roark… why do you spend so much time “discussing” Ayn Rand and thinking about HER ideas? Why do you spend so much time writing essays? Why do you spend so much time effectuating this “club” where “Rand’ists” will come to hang out, sip tea, and share philosophies? Do you think our friend Howard would be here writing articles for our… his… amusement?

You realize that I am inclined to call many of you followers. It’s like Ayn Rand made a bowel movement and many of you rush to smell it, and compare the great writer’s scent to your own.

Ayn Rand and those who actually effectuate her principles do not need your defense. They do not need your club. They do not gain by the fact that people who read her book, who posses no other purpose in life than to flock to the romantic ideal of maintaining “self” against all odds, are here - ready to take arms. What is your purpose? To awaken the world? I suggest instead that your focus change to awakening yourselves. The very idea of self-associating myself with a mass of other people whose philosophies are tangentially related to mine compels me to vomit.

I realize there may be exceptions here on this board, but i’m inclined to believe that many of you are exhibiting behavior no better than the James Taggart’s of the world. Meeting in your pristine dining halls, or in this case, in exclusive message boards run by administrators who are likely to delete this message.

For everyone else… whether you are 14 or 86… if you live your entire lives in confusion… pursuing phony ideals… if you find truth in the last breath you take here on this earth… I hope you will forgive yourself of all your sins.

The world is dark. Cruel. Cold. We are alone. Deal with it.