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Title: "Rise of the double standard" foretold in Atlas Shrugged
Source:
Idaho Observer
URL Source: http://proliberty.com/observer/20081105.htm
Published: Nov 11, 2008
Author: n
Post Date: 2008-12-11 17:31:01 by OliviaFNewton
Keywords: doublestandard, tyranny, fiat`, gold
Views: 515
Comments: 38
From the November 2008 Idaho Observer: "Rise of the double standard" foretold in Atlas Shrugged If you have never read Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand, you should. In one passage, a stereotypically "liberal" New York journalist named Bertram Scudder was overheard by South American copper magnate Francisco d’Aconia stating to a girl during a social event, "Don’t let him disturb you. You know, money is the root of all evil – and he’s the typical product of money." Rand gave d’Aconia some very excellent lines here to describe "money." Aside from being, at least from an "individualist" point of view, a concise and brilliant overview of what money, people, good and evil really are, Rand used d’Aconia to foreshadow exactly what is happening today. Ironically, one of Rand’s philosophical devotees was Alan Greenspan—the man who set in motion the exact circumstances described below. "...Then you will see the rise of the double standard—the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money—the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law—men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims—then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter. "Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion—when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot. "Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it becomes, marked: ‘Account overdrawn.’ "When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world?’ You are."
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 36.
#1. To: OliviaFNewton (#0)
Her idea is not original with her. It's been noticed long before she was even born. It's generally called the Political Means (force) and the Economic Means (trade).
Let us count on one hand the number of posters that recognize this.
Turtle is brilliant, not to mention adorable amd really, really cute.
And a pug whisperer. You got it goin' on!
Turtle loves pugs.
Lady X loves cats..
Critter loves ladies.
There are no replies to Comment # 36. End Trace Mode for Comment # 36.
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#2. To: Turtle (#1)
Her idea is not original with her. It's been noticed long before she was even born. It's generally called the Political Means (force) and the Economic Means (trade).
#3. To: OliviaFNewton (#2)
Let us count on one hand the number of posters that recognize this.
#5. To: Turtle (#3)
Turtle is brilliant, not to mention adorable amd really, really cute.
#6. To: OliviaFNewton, Lady X (#5)
#14. To: Turtle (#6)
Turtle loves pugs.
#36. To: Lady X (#14)
Replies to Comment # 36.