THE MORALITY OF ALTRUISM VS CAPITALISM (Ayn Rand)
The word altruism is regarded by most people as a noble
concept, because it is mistaken for charity, benevolence, kindness, respect for
the rights of others, or the voluntary
actions that individuals choose to pursue to help his fellow men. But this is
not the true meaning of altruism.
Altruism has been man's ruling moral code for most of
mankind's history. It has had many forms or variations but it's essence has
remained the same: altruism holds that men have no right to exist for his own
sake, that service to others is the only moral justification of its existence,
and that self sacrifice is its highest moral value, duty and valor. It regards
man as a sacrificial animal. It is the underlying moral code of collectivism.
On the other hand, the moral code which is implicit in
capitalism, has never been made explicit.
The basic premise of that code is that men, every man, is an end in
himself, not the means to the ends of others, that men must exist for his own
sake, neither sacrificing himself to others, nor sacrificing others to himself,
and that men must deal with one another thru voluntary cooperation, as traders, be it in cultural,
philosophical, spiritual, social, or economic goods, for mutual benefit, and
devoid of all violence or coercion.
This in essence is the moral premise on which the United
Stated was based, the principle of men's right to his own life, his own
liberty, and the pursuit of his own happiness. The concept of individual rights. This concept is so new in human history that
many intellectuals have not fully grasped it, as they remained committed to the
mystic morality of altruism, and it is the most profoundly revolutionary
achievement of the United States.
Capitalism does not tell men to suffer, not to pursue
enjoyment and achievement here, on earth. It does not tell men to serve and
sacrifice, but to produce and profit. It does not preach passivity and
resignation but independence and self reliance, and above all, capitalism does
not permit anyone to expect or demand, to give or to take, the unearned.
The altruist-collectivist morality was the underlying
concept of every political system since the dawn of civilization, until the
arrival of capitalism. The rulers of society exerted their power under the
principle of: "The good is that
which is good for society (or the tribe, the race, the nation), and the ruler's
edicts are its voice on earth....". This was the underlying principle of
every statist society: the Divine right of Kings, the theocracy of Egypt with
the Pharoah as an embodied god, the unlimited mayority rule or democracy of
Athens, the welfare state run by Roman Emperors, The Inquisicion of the Middle
Ages, the absolute monarchy of France, the welfare state of Bismark, the gas
chambers of the National-Socialism of Nazi Germany, the slaughterhouse of
comunist Soviet Union.
The advent of capitalism is what allowed hundreds of
millions of peasants and people subjugated by
the ruling elites, to escape poverty, prosper and live free, and produced
the most egalitarian societies know to humanity since the beginning of the
human race
