Top 25 Influences on the FreeCapitalist

It’s not uncommon for someone to approach me and ask my opinion of some leading figure in history. I enjoy conversations about historical figures, particularly those whose lives were dedicated to the cause of liberty. So many people today claim to be for the cause but so few actually live for it. I have often thought to myself that I felt more at home studying the lives of those who have gone before me than in the company of those who make it a common practice to only talk of freedom doing very little for it.

The following list is my “Top 25″ list of the most prominent individuals influencing my learning and development related to the cause of liberty. I have only included those individuals who are no longer living and while it was my privilege to be personal friends with only two on the list, I feel like I know each of them individually. There are, of course, many disagreements in philosophy among those on the list, however their ideas and attitudes towards government, church, and their fellow men harmonize quite consistently in the battle for liberty and freedom.

I’ve compiled the list in chronological order, as opposed to order of influence. I could list many others who have had a serious influence on me personally but have carefully selected these individuals for this list and have placed an asterisks next to the names of those I consider the “Top 5″ most influential to me and my intellectual development. I’m certain that as I continue to study additional individuals I might want to re-organize my list which is a prospect I happily anticipate.

1. Francis Bacon, 01/22/1561 to 04/09/1626, Philosopher/Statesman
2. John Locke, 08/29/1632 to 10/28/1704, Philosopher
3. Isaac Newton, 01/04/1643 to 03/31/1727, Intellectual, Physicist
4. Benjamin Franklin, 01/17/1706 to 04/17/1790, Polymath/Statesman
5. Adam Smith, 06/05/1723 to 07/17/1790, Moral Philosopher
6. George Washington, 02/22/1732 to 12/14/1799, Military/Political
7. John Adams, 10/30/1735 to 07/04/1826, Political Leader
8. Thomas Paine, 01/29/1737 to 06/08/1809, Intellectual
9. Thomas Jefferson, 04/13/1743 to 07/04/1826, Polymath/Statesman *
10. James Madison, 03/16/1751 to 06/28/1836, Political Leader
11. Brigham Young, 06/01/1801 to 08/29/1877, Religious/Political *
12. Frederic Bastiat, 06/30/1801 to 12/24/1850, Theorist/Political Economist
13. Joseph Smith, 12/23/1805 to 06/27/1844, Religious/Political *
14. Abraham Lincoln, 02/12/1809 to 04/15/1865, Political Leader
15. Susan B. Anthony, 02/15/1820 to 03/13/1906, Civil Rights Leader
16. J. Rueben Clark, 09/01/1871 to 10/06/1961, Legal/Religious
17. David O McKay, 09/08/1873 to 01/18/1970, Education/Religious
18. Ludwig Von Mises, 09/29/1881 to 10/10/1973, Economist/Philosopher
19. Napoleon Hill, 10/26/1883 to 11/08/1970, Author
20. Ezra Taft Benson, 08/04/1899 to 05/30/1994, Religious/Political Leader
21. Ayn Rand, 02/02/1905 to 03/06/1982, Author / Philosopher *
22. Ronald Reagan, 02/06/1911 to 06/05/2004, Political Leader
23. W. Cleon Skousen, 01/20/1913 to 01/09/2006, Author Legal/Political *
24. Milton Friedman, 07/31/1912 to 11/16/2006, Economics
25. Les McGuire, 12/07/1970 to 06/08/2006, Philosopher/Business

For those who want to learn more about the cause of individual liberty, who want to learn more about the FreeCapitalist Project, and for those who are looking for a “starting point” to initiate their own personal study, I highly endorse and recommend the study of these individuals. Additionally, I consider the following twenty publications, by these same authors, as essential primers for personal study regarding capitalism and freedom.

1. The New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon - 1627
2. Two Treatises of Government, by John Locke - 1689
3. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith - 1759
4. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin - 1771
5. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith - 1776
6. Common Sense, by Thomas Paine - 1776
7. The Rights of Man, by Thomas Paine - 1791
8. The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine - 1793
9. The Book of Mormon, published by Joseph Smith originally in 1830
10. The Law, by Frederic Bastiat - 1849
11. The Laws of Success, by Napoleon Hill - 1929
12. Human Action, by Ludwig Von Mises - 1949
13. Atlast Shrugged, by Ayn Rand - 1957
14. The Naked Communist, by W. Cleon Skousen - 1958
15. For the New Intellectual, by Ayn Rand - 1961
16. Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Friedman - 1962
17. Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal, by Ayn Rand - 1966
18. The Proper Role of Government, by Ezra Taft Benson - 1968
19. Making of America, by W. Cleon Skousen - 1985
20. An Enemy Hath Done This, by Ezra Taft Benson - 1992

Dumb Dad of the Year Award

This weekend, the two oldest kids and I averted tragedy on our four-wheeler, and I learned something about repentance and Godly sorrow.    Not bad for a weekend, I suppose.

So, it was Saturday afternoon and the entire family was bored.  In a stroke of genius I decided it would be fun to take the two older kids (Bethany is three and Marty is two) on a four-wheeler ride.  Behind our house is what seems to be an endless wilderness and its also fun to ride the four-wheelers, with the kids, up and down our driveway.  So, we all got jackets on and headed out for the afternoon. 

As you can see by the picture above, no comments about how fat I’m getting please ;), we have a green, rugged, four-wheeler that has a large passenger seat on the back.  It’s just big enough for two small kids.   Off we went.  We drove around the back for a while, and then up and down the driveway a few times.  After about twenty minutes the driveway and the grassy area you can see in the photo seemed less than adventurous to all three of us.  Both kids kept laughing, and we were all having a good time.  So, with their encouragement, I headed up a little higher on the hill behind our house, intending to show the kids a pretty fascinating view of Utah Valley.  We got to the top of the hill with very little problem; since none of us were wearing any real protection at all I think I capped the top speed on the four-wheeler at about 10 mph for our journey.  Speed, was not our problem.  It was heading back down the hill, very slowly, when we ran into a problem.  Having not been on a four-wheeler all winter, maybe my mind was just dull – or maybe I was just absent minded period, but I hadn’t dawned on me that going down hill might be a bit tricky.  As we started down, almost immediately we were in a surprisingly difficult predicament.  At least it was surprising to this dull-headed dad. 

As you can see from the photo, when we set out, each kid had both legs off to either side of my body.  This works great for flat surfaces and even going up hill.  But, as you have probably guessed by now, I didn’t take long, going down hill, for me to become strikingly aware of a problem.   Before I knew it both kids were sliding forward, right off the four-wheeler.  We were headed down a pretty mild hill, but it was a hill nonetheless.  I was using my left hand to ride the back brake a bit (in hindsight I should have been using the foot brake), and I turned to each side to take an inventory of the kids.  Bethany had a panicked look on her face as she explained, “Daddy I’m getting off.” 

Now, though it sounds like she was making a declaration, what she was really saying was, “Like it or not I’m falling, and there is nothing I can do about it.”  She was on the declining side of the hill as well, so I was immediately concerned.  At about this same instant, for some still unexplainable reason the brake cable snapped.  I switched hands, using my right “front” brake to bring us to a complete stop.  Taking my left hand off the handlebars, I reached to grab Bethany before she slid completely off the four-wheeler.  Gripping the front brake with my right hand had consequences all its own. I turned to check on Marty and as a result of the rapid stop, he was headed, somehow, head first for the dirt.  It was like he was in slow motion, sliding ever so slowly, but certainly, down.  His face was towards me, and in a very calm way he said with a kind of matter of fact tone, “Daddy, help me.” 

There was nothing I could do.  His head was about six inches in front of the rear tire.  My left hand had a hold of Bethany, and if I let go of the front brake with my right hand, the four-wheeler would roll forward with both of my hands off of the handlebars.   So, I just watched my boy fall – helplessly, head first to the ground.  My only thought at that point was related to keeping the four-wheeler from rolling forward and right over the top of him.  In a panic, I stood Bethany up on the ground on my left, I used my left hand to grip the front brake, reached down and grabbed Marty and brought him up as quickly as I could.  I think the whole ordeal lasted maybe two or three seconds all together.  But, looking back in my memory, it feels like a full length motion picture.  Bethany started to slip down the hill, not able to keep her balance, so I laid Marty across the gas tank in front of me, grabbed Bethany, and forcefully put her behind me in the rear seat.  Of course, we were still pointing down the hill, which explained why her response was, “Dad, I don’t want to start over.” 

After sitting there for a few seconds, making sure I was not in the middle of having a heart attack, I got Bethany situated behind me, facing forward with one leg to either side of me.  I told her to hold on and I could feel her arms around my waist – that felt better.  I had Marty straddle the gas tank, and I showed him how to use his hands on the tank to keep his balance.  It had never before dawned on me that my kids just didn’t instinctively understand how to “hold on.”  Nevertheless, now that we had it figured out, trying not to let the kids notice just how panicked I had been – I slowly let off the brake and we started back down the hill.  Neither of the kids was saying anything.  I realized that they were trying to figure out what had just happened.  Worried that I might have scarred them for life, I forced myself to say something.   “Wow, wasn’t that exciting?” I chuckled.    Marty responded first by saying, “No, I hit my head.”  Bethany, in a very sullen voice could be heard behind us adding her disapproval saying, “Dad, can we not do the scary part anymore?”

Once we were back in safe, flat territory, things lightened up a little bit.  Marty actually asked if we could do it again because he didn’t want to go home.  Bethany explained to Marty that we “half (sic) to go home,” because he had “bleed” on his head.  When we got home, I took a minute and tried to clean Marty up.  I was already thinking that I really didn’t want to explain to Michelle what had happened.  But, there was no cleaning up the scrapes on his forehead.  Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt.  As we walked in the house I remembered the time when I was three years old and had returned with my dad from a similar motorcycle accident. Things didn’t go so well for him back then, when he had tried to explain to my mom what had happened, and I imaged things weren’t going to go so great for me as I explained our adventure to Michelle.  Of course, she was right there to great us as we walked in.  She couldn’t – according to the laws of the universe I’m sure – have been busy with the baby somewhere far away from the back door. 

“Mommy, I fell off the furwheeler (sic),” was Marty’s first comment to his mom. Bethany once again explained that he had blood on his forehead.  Michelle calmly asked me what had happened, but I stalled.  I suggested that we just get the kids jackets off, Marty’s head cleaned up, and both of them seated at the kitchen table so we could all eat some lunch together.   That didn’t work so well either - the kids told her everything.  

Well, as you can see from the picture, Marty is fine.  Both kids can’t wait to go for another ride on the four-wheeler, but I can’t stop thinking about it.  I can’t stop thinking about a) how fortunate we were and b) how darn stupid I was.  I have been feeling like the worst dad on the planet.  I couldn’t sleep very well last night as I kept replaying those critical seconds in my mind.  Over and over, I searched.  It wasn’t the general ordeal that haunted me as much as it was my son.  Watching Marty hit the ground, his head bending towards his shoulder as his neck gave way to the weight of his body, is the moment I keep playing over and over again.  He had the look of a child counting on his dad to save him.  I was feeling helpless, unable to figure out how to help in any way.  That is what has haunted me.   When we woke up this morning, I full expected him to be mad at me.  He wasn’t. 

So, today in church, I sat there listening to a lesson about repentance and Godly sorrow – and something struck me. When we talk about repentance, one of the first things that usually comes to mind is the feeling of guilt.  Guilt is accompanied by other related feelings of regret and remorse.  These emotions combined to form what we could refer to generally as simply the “feeling bad” emotions.  I was certainly having my bout with these feelings on Sunday morning.  But, to any student of the gospel its obvious that simply feeling bad is not enough to truly repent.  Now, on a side note, it wasn’t that I was particularly preoccupied with the idea of repenting for what occurred on Saturday, its just that Saturday was on my mind.  Nevertheless, in order to repent, something has to happen inside which results in a rebirth – a new commitment to want to live differently.  It is this change that eliminates the desire to sin, and it’s this change that allows repentance and forgiveness to actually take place.  Unfortunately, many of us get stuck on the “feeling bad” part of the process.  This “thing” that happens to create the change of heart is often referred to as Godly sorrow. 

What is Godly sorrow?  Well, I suppose that is a lecture for a different time, but the insight I had today has been poignant.  Contrary to what many teach, I don’t think God has much interest at all in any of us getting stuck, “feeling bad.”  Of course, that might be an essential “piece” of the process but it cannot be an end in and of itself.  The self-loathers, the mystics, and the tyrants in the religious world have leveraged the “feeling bad” part of the process to the point of codifying it into doctrine in many faiths (closely related to the false notion called “the depravity” of man).  No, us feeling bad – even to the point of mourning in “sackcloth and ashes” doesn’t make the world a better place (no matter how much authority rests with the person claiming that this is our proper position with regards to God). Lacking the conscience and the spiritual sensitivity to “feel bad” for sin is another problem entirely.  But, past the point of feeling bad there is a place inside our hearts that can be called Godly sorrow, where our bad feelings and our regret for our actions fade into the background. 

Here’s the insight and the connection with my four-wheeler incident.  No matter how many times I replay the four-wheeler incident in my mind, I can’t seem to come to grips with the “thing” that haunts me.  I keep trying to find a way to “fix” the situation – to explain it in a way that doesn’t hurt so badly.  As I replay the incident in my mind the temptation is to try and “fix” the problem.  I want to blame the four-wheeler, the rear brake cable did snap and without that happening the whole incident would have probably been much less dramatic.  This would mean, if I just fixed the brake cable, find out why it snapped, I will have fixed the situation.  Right? 

Problem is, brake cables or some other “thing” might go wrong at any time on a four-wheeler excursion.  So, I’m tempted to argue, “If I would have just had the kids put on a helmet” then this wouldn’t have been as bad.  Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that I was stupid on Saturday.  I want to say, “Well next time I’ll just take one kid,” or next time this or next time that… but nothing soothes the pain caused by the deeper and much more important truth.  The deeper truth is this.  There will always be uncertainty – and there will always be unforeseen “accidents.”  That is NOT the problem in this situation.  The problem on Saturday has to do with the kind of dad I was being.  I was not being the kind of dad that I want to be.  On Saturday, I was thoughtless.  I can’t change that, that is the kind of dad I was being then.  That is the haunting truth, the ordeal with Marty hitting the ground was merely the consequence. I was not being attentive to the kids before the crises.  I was not prepared. The consequence of the way I was being - the incident - is simply a reminder.  It is an undeniable reminder that I was not living the life that the “dad” in my mind must live. 

This is how it seems to be, when I think of sin.  When we feel regret for our actions, that’s good for a short time.  It’s an acknowledgement of the message that God is sending us about our actions – through natural consequences.  Consequences are not punishments as much as they are reminders.  Feeling guilt and remorse and regret is focusing on the consequence – as if the consequence of our action is the “bad thing.”  Thinking this way makes us ever weaker victims as we confront so many of life’s uncertainties.  If we only experience guilt or shame in the face of such circumstances our whole life can become consumed with our feelings of failure and inadequacy, and we can become hopeless.  If instead, however, we focus on “how” we are “being” or how we were being in a given situation – and we compare that to our potential, to the God given potential that represents what we “could be” with God’s help – then we have a new feeling inside.  Its not so much a feeling “bad” for our actions but it’s a longing for “being” a different person – a better person – the person God would have us be.  Recognizing this difference, I think, has something very important to do with this idea of repentance, Godly sorrow and rebirth. 

In a real way, I have repented for Saturday.  Some laughed at me in church today when I shared this insight, thinking perhaps I was being a little melodramatic.  But, what can be more important than repenting for being a lazy dad?  What could be better for me, for my kids or for any dad than to repent of his absent mindedness and commit (not to his kids – that would be out of regret or remorse) but to God – and to himself – that he is going to live differently.  Of course this commitment provides all the benefits to the kids that would be present if he were to make a commitment out of guilt or shame, but the difference is that HE doesn’t loathe himself in the process.  This kind of recognition, of our desire to live a better life, when faced with an undeniable consequence of our previous actions – is at the core of becoming the “new man” spoken of in the scriptures.  It, I believe, is at the core of finding hope in Christ and in his atonement.  Well, for what its worth, I certainly think I’ll sleep better tonight – as a result of this insight.  Maybe it might help you if you ever find yourself at some point in the future, stuck replaying in your mind, some scenario filled with regret when, no matter how many ways you look at it, there is a deeper truth that still haunts your soul. 

I love my kids, and I love the fact that in the years ahead neither of them will likely remember anything from Saturday. As for today, I just hope that I can keep the commissars away (that’s supposed to be funny) while I work on overcoming my “Dumb Dad” of the year routine.   I have much work ahead, but as a result of Saturday I think I’m a better dad already.  When I took the picture of Marty with the scratch above his brow, I told him what I was doing and he responded – “I wanna go ride on the furwheeler.”     

Are You a Capitalist?

For many years now I’ve been using the title “FreeCapitalist” and have enjoyed watching the odd expression in the faces of others as they attempt to contemplate my meaning. I have my own reason’s for calling myself a capitalist, and a few of them are not what most would suspect. In this same line of thinking, I am always learning something new. Recently I stumbled across something that related directly to my own personal reasons for using the title. Surprisingly, it was while I was reading an essay first published in 1886 by Rev. James W. Cole entitled, “Earning the Capital.” I thought it might be valuable to re-publish a portion of his essay to illustrate a point about capitalism that is seldom noticed in our world today, one hundred and twenty two years later.

Selection from “Earning the Capital” By Rev. James W. Cole

What is capital? Most writers on economics answer, “Capital is surplus; the storage of the labor of the brain and muscle; the overplus from the daily needs and uses of men.” If this general definition be a true one, it can apply only to the outer, material forms of wealth. For one’s wealth does not consist solely in the possession of money, however vast that sum may be. A simple definition of the word will show this. Strength is strongness. Length is longness. Breadth is broadness. Wealth is ” wealness ” or wellness; things that make for one’s well-being.

Is the miser a wealthy man? Do the millions of gold some men get tend to their well-being? Is it not true that the getting of money develops in some the baser elements of their nature, so that occasionally you may see persons whose riches have but served to make them meaner than the meanest poverty could ever make them? Can such persons be truthfully said to be wealthy or well-being persons?

The word, you see, has broken away from its original foundation, and is by many persons regarded as simply synonymous in meaning with money. But money is not an end; it is a means to an end, and that end is nobly to live the life that is given you. If money or any other product of the earth will help you do that, then get it, get all you can of it; but if it would hinder you in your development of true manhood, then avoid it. Earn something else by your brain and muscle, if you would be wealthy.

When that noble man, the late Prof. Louis Agassiz, was asked why he did not use his great talents to gain money, when he was offered three hundred dollars each for a course of six lectures, he replied with lofty scorn, ” I cannot afford to lecture for money.” To him there were far more valuable and wonderful things in this world than money. Alas! that there are but few like him.

The citizens of ancient Rome were wont to place the statues and images of their great ancestors on pedestals, and in the vestibules of their houses, in order to remind themselves and their children of those ancestors’ virtues and glorious deeds, and to inspire them to emulate them; and for one hundred and seventy years they allowed no painted or graven image of a deity among them, with the result, as Plutarch tells us, that for two hundred and thirty years after the founding of Rome no husband deserted his wife, nor any wife her husband, and for six hundred years there was no parricide known, and for forty-three years, during the reign of Numa Pompilius, the temple of Janus, the god of war, continued closed, there being no war, nor sedition, nor conspiracy.

Would that Americans could be diverted long enough from their worship of Mammon to cultivate some of the virtues of those old heathen! Perchance, then, they might, for the peace of their families and the good of the republic, imitate the example of that famous Themistocles of Athens, who, when two suitors, one a poor man and the other rich, sought for the hand of his daughter in marriage, chose the poor man, saying he desired as a son-in-law a man without riches, rather than riches without a man.

But now you are a man, and a man of business desires and wishes to succeed in some particular business. You have virtues and some talents, but, it may be, very little money, perhaps none. Can you succeed without money? Certainly. Some of the richest men in this country began their business life without a dollar. Nature is just as ready to help you to get riches as she was to help them. She will give as good returns today and tomorrow as yesterday.

Money is but one of the numerous and valuable things to be found in her vast storehouses on land, and in the seas, and in the air, and in the sun, and you can get it out if you wish and will. Perhaps you have heard it said that, ” it takes money to get money.” No, it doesn’t. Money is not a loadstone, drawing its kind only. Money is only lumps of matter dug out of the ground, and shaped in certain forms and stamped with a design, and you can get an abundance of it without digging in the earth for it, and trying to catch it with another piece of the same kind.

What! Get money without capital? No, with capital. Why, man, you are a capitalist! Wages are only a form of income. An everyday laborer is a capitalist. Every person to whom God has given brains and a good body is a large capitalist.

Your mind, your muscle, is your capital, and with them you may earn what you will. All the riches of the world are the product of the labor of brain or muscle. Your brain may be a veritable gold mine if you will but develop it.

In 1882, at Christie’s rooms, London, a little daub of matter, only twelve by nine inches, that a brain had put on canvas, sold for thirty thousand dollars. It was Meissonier’s “Napoleon the First in the Campaign of Paris.” The same artist’s “1814″ was sold for one hundred and seventy thousand dollars; eight years later, Millet’s “Angelus” brought one hundred and ten thousand dollars, and Murillo’s “Conception of the Virgin” one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars. Great fortunes, you see, that the brain produced.

The musician Paderewski spent a few weeks in this country a year ago, and then carried home with him one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, as the proceeds of his brain.

Sir Walter Scott was a silent partner in the firm of the publishers of his books. The firm failed, and he was involved in debt six hundred thousand dollars in consequence. He was then fifty-six years of age. Summoning all the energy of his mighty brain to the task, he labored incessantly, by night and day, sending out volume after volume, until in five years he had paid it all by the product of his brain. Yes, brains are great money-getters, if you use them for that purpose.

The son of a farmer in the state of New York, a sickly lad, Samuel J. Tilden, so used his brains as to bring him a fortune, by the practice of law, of five millions of dollars. A Swedish young woman, Jenny Lind, twenty-eight years of age, came to the United States with nothing but her voice, that her brain had cultured, and in ninety-eight nights she had sung out of the pockets of the American people seven hundred and twelve thousand dollars. Another Swede, Ole Bornemann Bull, so manipulated a violin as to draw out of the same American people in a single season more than a hundred thousand dollars; while an American-born lad of English ancestors, Edwin Booth, so used his brains while an actor, that in less than two months’ time he had taken in from the people of San Francisco alone, over ninety-six thousand dollars.

But why multiply instances in literature, art, oratory, music, the drama, all going to prove that your brain is your capital, and that all you need to do if you wish for money is to use it.

Who is Les McGuire?

If you’ve never read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand you’ll never fully understand this essay. So, before you go any further let me just recommend that if you’ve not yet done so, obtain a copy of that book and start reading. It has the potential to change your perspective on life. This was the case with me and it was also the case with my friend Les McGuire.

I remember hearing about Atlast Shrugged back in college, but for some reason I never decided to read it. Blank out (that’s for you objectivists). After going completely broke in 2001 I remember seeing my wife reading it and her encouraging me to read it, constantly. I even remember reading somewhere that President Ronald Reagan had reportedly said something like, “Next to the Holy Bible, I prefer to read Atlast Shrugged by Ayn Rand.”

Nevertheless, I still didn’t read the book. I remember hearing others joking around from time to time with the question “Who is John Galt?” but aside from knowing it was some allusion to Rand’s book, I just wasn’t that interested. As a matter of fact it wasn’t until another friend of mine told me that he could not understand how I could claim to believe in freedom, free markets and in America and still resist reading Ayn Rand, that I finally relented and read the book.

About my experience I can only say what is bound to be a serious understatement. I wish I wouldn’t have waited to so long to meet Dagny, Reardon, Francisco, Midas Mulligan, Ellis Wyatt and John Galt. I have since fallen in love with the book and its author. I don’t mean to say that I enjoy everything in the book, nor do I mean to suggest that when it comes to Ayn Rand I turn my brain off and give a blanket endorsement, of course I don’t mean that. But, I will say, that if you have any interest whatsoever in living a life that you love, it is time for you to get to know the characters of Ms. Rand’s book. Or should I say books? We’ll leave that for a different discussion.

It was reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time that I realized what it meant to be a man of the mind. Reading the book also helped me to remedy a number of intellectual contradictions that I’d been stewing over privately for years. Most notably, I was finally able to identify a rational explanation to my mental aversion related to the common notions of faith and religion. These concepts are, to me today, something entirely more useful than they were before I read Atlast Shrugged.

I could go on and on about the many different ways reading Ayn Rand quite probably saved my life. Reading Atlas Shrugged saved me from something much more profoundly disturbing than the demise of my physical body, mental death. The paramount hero in the book is John Galt, though the reader doesn’t really get a sense for this until at least half way through the book. In Galt’s famous radio address he says,

“Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive, he must act, and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action…To remain alive, he must think.”

I had already reached a point in my life where after long struggle I had learned for myself the substance of what John Galt is here pointing out. However, it was Ms. Rand, through her characters, that gave me added courage to stay the course, and the idea that I was not alone.

Many objectivists are still surprised, that having become fully indoctrinated by Ms. Rand’s writings and speeches, I have managed to keep my “faith” and still hold my religious convictions. This too is a topic for another time and place, but let it here suffice me to say that thanks to Ms. Rand I now have a more firm grasp on many rational, conceptual formations critical to life beyond the typical mysticism so prevalent in the minds of so many today. I’m sure this could be discomforting to my fellow religionists and Ayn Rand disciples alike. But, like Ms. Rand’s classical protagonists, the discomfort of my associates does not tempt me to equivocate on matters of truth.

Over time, and after much study Ms. Rand and her fictional characters became prominent heroes of mine, and back to the topic at hand, also to my friend Les McGuire. A full description of the friendship between Les and I is, yet again, something for another time. But, it is important to explain that we were friends of the most rational kind. We were not friends because of mutual emotional affinity, childhood association, family or church connections, etc. Les and I became friends because of our common ideas and interests and this defined our relationship.

Unfortunately, Les and another friend of mine, Ray Hooper were tragically killed in an airplane crash in Provo, UT in June of 2006. With Les gone, I have found myself often returning to the characters of Ms. Rand’s novels for the familiar feeling that so closely resembles how it seemed when I was spending time with my friend.

Les and I did a morning talk radio program every day of the week for almost a year. We talked about subjects across the board, from silly to very serious. We shared our ideas together in a public form that was engaging and satisfying for us both. I’m not so sure we would have changed our pattern even if someone would have told us that the conversations weren’t going out over the airwaves, because the time we spent was rewarding all by itself.

One day, as Les and I sat discussing something - off the air - he turned to me and out of the blue asked, “Rick, if you had the opportunity to exchange your mind for one day with anyone who has ever lived, who would it be?”

The question was unexpected. The first thought that came to my mind was “I’d rather keep mine, thank you.” Les laughed and teased me from that day on for being so arrogant. I told him that if I was arrogant, then I was rationally so. My explanation to him was simply that in my estimation I had spent my life developing my own mind and it would be useless to exchange my brain with someone else only to return a day later with my own mind, remembering nothing from the experience.

I told Les at the time, “I’d rather have a good visit with anyone in history who had a brilliant mind and therefore be enabled to improve myself.”

“This,” I explained, “is why I read.” This is the point. Les and I agreed, that for both of us, reading had become a way to probe the minds of great men and women, to get to know them and their ideas, and to measure the value of their contribution to the intellectual marketplace of ideas.

“Improvement,” I later suggested in our conversation, “is my constant goal, not just an experience here or there.” I suppose each of us could answer the question Les asked me that early morning, and give different answers based on our unique life perspectives. But, to me, it boils down to one fundamental point. Do you love your life?

Are you living the life you would freely choose if nothing stood in your way? If you can honestly answer yes to these questions it speaks volumes about where you are headed in life and what you have to offer those you love as well. Improvement and progression are easy to talk about, but to live a life dedicated to such a goal takes more than simple wishing.

Just a few months before the plane crash Les started hosting his own radio program called “the Producer Revolution.” Every weekday morning at precisely 9:05am anyone in the world could tune in and hear Les make his bold yet quizzical pronouncement, “I am the man who loves his live.”

He started his show almost every day with this declaration. Of course, to the readers of Atlas Shrugged, he was obviously copying the statement of John Galt, early in his radio address - answering the then common question, “Who is John Galt?” But, why did Les do that? He even had custom plates for his Mercedes once again taking on the persona of John Galt. I don’t think very many of our friends have ever taken the time to think it through.

Les was a great example of someone who strived for perfection and progression in his life. I never saw him yield to the momentum of the tide of mediocrity. He loved his life and he loved those around him - starting with his wife, his children, his close family and friends. Anyone who spent any time around Les could easily see this, and could see that ideas like the one’s I’ve been talking about caused his entire demeanor to seem noticeably different than almost anyone who happened to be around him.

John Galt, in his radio address, goes on to answer, “I am the man who does not sacrifice his love or his values.” This, to me, is not simple fiction. It’s an invitation to live a different sort of life.

Not everyone is ready for Ms. Rand’s invitation (delivered through Galt), but in time – I’m convinced that almost all of us begin looking for it. Every man born into the world without serious mental defect has an innate sense that his life is important, that he is important, and that it is within his grasp to accomplish great things. It is not in the nature of man to be depressed or to harbor deep despair about the future. Apathy is not our natural state of mind.

Small children are the best example of how naturally hopeful and heroic the opportunity of life is to mankind. As Ayn Rand clearly explains in her introduction to The Fountainhead:

“It is not in the nature of man—nor of any living entity—to start out by giving up, by spitting in one’s own face and damning existence; that requires a process of corruption whose rapidity differs from man to man. Some give up at the first touch of pressure; some sell out; some run down by imperceptible degrees and lose their fire, never knowing when or how they lost it. Then all of these vanish in the vast swamp of their elders who tell them persistently that maturity consists of abandoning one’s mind; security, of abandoning one’s values; practicality, of losing self-esteem. Yet a few hold on and move on, knowing that that fire is not to be betrayed, learning how to give it shape, purpose and reality. But whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man’s nature and of life’s potential. It does not matter that only a few in each generation will grasp and achieve the full reality of man’s proper stature—and that the rest will betray it. It is those few that move the world and give life its meaning…“

The key to living the heroic life is rediscovering that fire within. I have learned for myself that in order to understand the affairs of societies and nations, one must first come to understand the basic nature of men and their affairs.

In order to understand how to reform or improve a nation or a community, it is first necessary to clearly understand how to change individually. This is the tragic error of so many who set out to save the world with no real clue of how to save themselves.

There exists no shortage, in the world, of those whose own happiness seems eternally illusive to themselves and yet who at the same time naively and irrationally embark on a mission to save the world from their own despair. This is a dangerous condition for all those affected. No leader can be trusted who cannot first lead himself. No teacher should be trusted if he has not found in his own life the principled path to happiness. No politician, no businessman, no coach, no adviser, and no parent can effectively perform the sacred responsibility of guiding and directing others if they do not themselves know the ultimate destination of their prescribed path.

This is a critical difference between the producers and the consumers in the world. Beware of those whose own misery drives them to a constant and desperate search for escape from reality by ordering around others for their “own good.” Beware of those who have no vision of the future but thrive off of being a leader. Look instead for those who have a vision of the future and who have some principle-based reason for leading.

The greatest of all teachers has said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” I know this advice to be sound and powerfully effective. There are innumerable voices in the world speaking to those looking for the reality of life, the path of freedom and prosperity and peace. It is important to discern between the voices of consumers, who simply seek to control and manipulate, from the voices of producers, who actually have a substantive desire and ability to lead.

Look for the producers, they are the men and women of the mind, who love their life. Most of us spend a significant portion of our lives yearning subconsciously for someone to help us find answers to discover this same state of mind. Unfortunately, too often were are unable to articulate the source of our gnawing discontent.

The metaphor created between the two main characters of the Wachowski brothers’ film The Matrix illustrates a similar situation.

Morpheus: . . . They got to you first, but they’ve underestimated how important you are. If they knew what I know, you’d probably be dead.

Neo: What are you talking about? What . . . what is happening to me?

Morpheus. . . I imagine that right now you’re feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole? Hm?

Neo: You could say that.

Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?

Neo: No.

Morpheus: Why not?

Neo: Because I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.

Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?

How many of us have felt that exact feeling; a feeling of knowing something is wrong in the world but not able to explain it and not knowing what to do about it? It is no coincidence that most who come across this publication can identify with exactly what I’m saying.

A few years ago when I first met Les, after seeing that we had certain aligned interests, we talked about organizing our friends for the purpose of starting a revolution—a moral revolution that could sweep across the nation. We talked about the revolution’s ultimate objectives, what drove us in wanting to initiate such a revolution, the positives and negatives of doing so, and the most appropriate way we could do it.

Les later explained, while posting a response to a question online,

This is why I have the passion I do, because of the materialism and consumerism so prevalent in the world. I believe it will take a revolution to get us to that point where people live the lives they were sent here to live. When I first started to realize this, I asked myself, “What are we doing to save the Constitution of the United States?” Most everyone I knew then was basically broke, living paycheck to paycheck, selling their time for money. They were slaves; their time and energy were not their own. I met Rick; we talked about it, and we decided what we could do to prepare and help people get free. We agreed that if we could help them regain their labor and time back (financial independence) and then teach them the core principles of how to be a producer, we could effect massive change in the world.

Everything you see here, and everything we do, is aimed toward that end. If you understand this about us, much of what you see us do and say will make more sense to you.

Organizing a revolution is no small or temporary undertaking. If you are interested in the goals, mission, and purpose outlined here, then you are invited to join the revolution by making a public declaration, a personal commitment to live a principle-centered life. The following is what we call the FreeCapitalist Pledge™:

We who are not about to die, we who love our lives and who freely choose to acknowledge that ‘God governs in the affairs of men’;

Stand forth and individually pledge -

I choose to create more value in the world than I consume.

I choose to reject idleness, force, deception & graft.

I choose to think, to act and to govern myself.

I choose faith in principle not speculation or chance.

I choose liberty and life; happiness and peace.

In a world addicted to scarcity, I dissent.

I am a Capitalist.

This public declaration is the only cost of becoming a member of the FreeCapitalist Project, and it’s only the beginning. Individual members are invited to continue on a path of personal prosperity and civic service. Members are introduced to opportunities to learn, teach, attend local community councils, forums and study groups (study groups require a modest tuition and monthly dues).

I am constantly grateful to have had amazing influences in my life like Ayn Rand and the characters of Atlas Shrugged. Even more importantly, I am grateful for peers, colleagues, family and friends who strive every day to exemplify the virtues and commitments of society’s producers.

If you did not know anything about my friend Les McGuire before June of 2006, I invite you to finish reading the FreeCapitalist Primer, and when you are finished I invite you to pick up a copy of Atlas Shrugged. Don’t put it down until you’ve read for a while. It will take some time, but the investment is well worth it.

The opening line of Atlas Shrugged reads, “Who is John Galt?” When you’re finished with the assignment I’ve just given you, you’ll have a better understanding of why I titled this essay the way I did. Perhaps then, when you are little more familiar the ideas this Project, will you occasionally take the opportunity to substitute the phrase and at just the right time ask a friend, “Who is Les McGuire?”

“Are you living the life you would freely choose, if nothing stood in your way?” When you are ready to be a man or woman who loves your life - no excuse will do.

* This essay is taken from the most recent version of the FreeCapitalist Primer which can be downloaded as a FREE eBook.

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Overcoming the “Invincible”

January 4, 2008

So often the “air” of invincibility these days is simply “made and imagined” by the media. I don’t mean to take anything away from the Patriots; for sure they deserved to play in the Super bowl this past Sunday. But with their 18-0 record and all the talk about this team being perhaps the best to ever play the game, does it seem funny to anyone that from the first play of the game the team didn’t look like it really wanted to win. I know that sounds funny, but really have you watched any of the film. Whether it was how they acted after each play or the expressions on their faces, it seemed to me from the first play of the game onward that the Patriots just lacked “something.” In a nut shell, they were certainly not inspiring.

Now, the Giants on the other hand made repeated mistakes right and left and these were quite obvious for all to see. Nevertheless, despite their weaknesses –the tenacity, commitment and having that special “something” as evident by the poise and constant readiness of the Giants enabled them to overcome the “invincible.” The Giant’s last drive in the game, kept alive by a hand & helmet catch by David Tyree – a backup’s backup, should remind us all that the reason you “keep hanging on” in life is not just so you can say you kept hanging on, its so you can win.

The Giant’s showed a generation last Sunday night that it is possible to beat the “Invincible.””Turn Your Brain-On” - Do a little Reading…

• MSNBC Article: “This was greatest Super Bowl of all-time.” By Mike Celizic
• AP Article: “Giants-Patriots Most-Watched Super Bowl.” By David Bauder

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