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Ayn Rand on Homeland Security
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Hypocritical to call for peace but allow dictatorships
Observe the nature of today's alleged peace movements. Professing love and concern for the survival of mankind, they keep screaming that the nuclear-weapons race should be stopped, that armed force should be abolished as a means of settling disputes
among nations, and that war should be outlawed in the name of humanity. Yet these same peace movements do not oppose dictatorships; ranging from welfare statism to socialism to fascism to communism. This means that they are opposed to the use of coercion
by one nation against another, but not by the government of a nation against its own citizens; it means that they are opposed to the use of force against armed adversaries, but not against the disarmed.Consider the plunder, the destruction, the
starvation, the brutality, the slave-labor camps, the torture chambers, the wholesale slaughter perpetrated by dictatorships. Yet this is what today's alleged peace-lovers are willing to advocate or tolerate--in the name of love for humanity.
Source: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, p. 35, by Ayn Rand
, Jul 15, 1986
Military draft is the worst violation of individual right
Of all the statist violations of individual rights in a mixed economy, the military draft is the worst. It negates man's fundamental right--the right to life--and establishes the fundamental principle of statism: that a man's life belongs to the state,
and the state may claim it by compelling him to sacrifice it in battle. Once that principle is accepted, the rest is only a matter of time.If the state may force a man to risk death, in a war declared at the state's discretion, for a cause he may
neither approve of nor even understand, if his consent is not required to send him into unspeakable martyrdom--then, in principle, all rights are negated in that state, and its government is not man's protector any longer. What else is there left to
protect?
Politically, the draft is clearly unconstitutional. No amount of rationalization can alter the fact that it represents "involuntary servitude." A volunteer army is the only proper, moral--and practical--way to defend a free country.
Source: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, p.226, by Ayn Rand
, Jul 15, 1986
Physical force is proper only to stop terrorist invasion
The proper functions of government fall into three broad categories, all of them involving the issues of physical force and the protection of men's rights: ˙the police, to protect men from criminals --
the armed services, to protect men from foreign invaders--the law courts, to settle disputes among men according to objective laws.
Source: The Virtue of Selfishness, by Ayn Rand, p.131
, Nov 1, 1964
Initiating force is evil; but retaliating is imperative
In a civilized society, force may be used only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. The reasons which make the initiation of physical force an evil, make the retaliatory use of physical force a moral imperative.If some pacifist
society renounced the retaliatory use of force, it would be left helplessly at the mercy of the first thug who decided to be immoral. Such a society would achieve the opposite of its intention: instead of abolishing evil, it would encourage & reward it.
Source: The Virtue of Selfishness, "Nature," p.108, by Ayn Rand
, Nov 1, 1964
Not "Better Red Than Dead": but "Better See The Reds Dead"
When certain statist groups, counting, apparently, on a total collapse of American self-esteem, dare go so far as to urge America's surrender into slavery without a fight, under the slogan "Better Red Than Dead"--the "conservatives" rush to
proclaim that they prefer to be dead, thus helping to spread the idea that our only alternative is communism or destruction, forgetting that the only proper answer to an ultimatum of that kind is: "Better See The Reds Dead."
Source: Objectivist Newsletter #1, "Choose Your Issues," by Ayn Rand
, Jan 1, 1962
Page last updated: Apr 30, 2021