LTE Printed

LTE Printed
By Mike N · February 16th, 2012 6:01 am · No Comments · ·Edit

I had the following LTE printed verbatim in the Macomb Daily a countywide newspaper serving Macomb county which abuts Wayne County home of Detroit.

“We must return to basic principles

I applaud George Will’s Feb. 5 opinion column, pointing out the dictatorial desires of progressives from Woodrow Wilson to Franklyn Roosevelt and President Obama. Americans need to know that the Democratic Party is dominated by those who think brute force is the practical way to govern citizens.

But Will failed to take the next step: to ask why do progressives worship force instead of freedom, while our Constitution clearly calls for freedom? The answer is to be found in the Declaration of Independence with its principle of individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This principle is one of reasoned self-interest, that one can serve one’s own interests as long as one respects the same rights of others.

But progressives disdain these principles, believing that man is not capable of reasoned behavior and must be forcibly ruled by benevolent masters, a longing for something that has never been or will ever be. If America doesn’t return to the principles of the Declaration of Independence soon, the progressives will have the dictatorship they crave. Where reason and rights do not prevail, force does.”

Mr Will is a famous conservative pundit who is quite good at pointing out all the idiocies of progressive policies. But like so many of his colleagues, often fails to identify the principles underlying those policies thus leaving them unchallenged to continue birthing more such policies.

More Part Time Objectivist Activism

My activism the last week in promoting Objectivist ideas was mostly good with only a little bad. First the good. On Monday the 6th I went to the center campus of a local community college to check on my rack of The Undercurrent newsletter. They were all gone so I plunked down another 25 copies and will check back in two weeks. Then I went to the south campus and my previous supply of 30 only had 3 left so I put another 25 there also.

On Tuesday the 7th I checked a coffee shop next to the college where students like to hang out. I put a rack of 30 copies there back in November. There was only 1 left so 25 more went there as well. I also left 2 copies of the Sampler on the bottom shelf of the rack.

Today I visited a small private college that teaches business with several other professions. I gave a copy of "Why Businessmen Need Philosophy" to the Administrator with a view towards providing more copies should any teacher want more to teach to his/her class. Failing that I wanted to donate the book to the business school library so it will be available to students to read if they so choose. The administrator seemed very receptive although she said she never heard of Ayn Rand or Objectivism. She has now. I also left a flyer for the free books for teachers program and the student essay contests with her.

The bad news came from a larger private college where I sought permission to place a rack with The Undercurrent on it. This administrator said that because people pay tuition to attend, it may be inappropriate for the school to be seen as advancing a given viewpoint. In a nutshell, no rack. So I have determined that if someone should haphazardly leave a few copies laying on a random table well, the school couldn't be held responsible. Besides, thanks to today's experience at the smaller business college, I'll be going back to donate a copy of WBNP to their library probably this Friday the 10th.

I was also reminded of another business college about five miles from those mentioned above. As soon as I order more copies of WBNP I'll be paying it a visit.

That's it for now but I'll keep looking for more opportunities.