The purpose of The Undercurrent’s summer issue is to provide those attending Tea Parties with a deeper moral perspective on the government’s increasing attack on individual freedom. It is our belief that the nascent Tea Party movement, if it is to achieve enduring change, must advocate change in terms of fundamentals. You will see our focus on fundamentals throughout the articles contained herein. In his piece, “In Defense of Liberty”, Zev Barnett argues that the fundamental ethical premise that must be advocated is the propriety of rational self-interest (as against altruism); in “Ask, and You Shall Receive…a Tax Bill”, Noah Stahl argues that a fundamental polemic against taxation must attack the increase of government spending, not merely the increase in taxes. In her piece, “No Bonuses = No Contract Law”, Rebecca Knapp argues that the fundamental issue in the controversy over AIG bonuses is that it represented a governmental attack on contract law, the basis of all economics.
Our hope is that these articles-and above all the philosophy that inspires them-will help you the reader take a more fundamental perspective on the events of the day. We hope, for example, that you will see that the financial crisis is not an issue of Republican vs. Democrat, but that the Democrat Obama is simply extending logically what the Republican George W. Bush started with his stimulus package, Sarbanes Oxley, and his “compassionate conservative” agenda. We hope that you will see that the financial crisis is not an issue of “greed” on Wall Street or of regulatory failures, but of a decades-long growth of the welfare state premised on a false view of the proper role of government (See Alex Moya’s “High Cost of a Free Lunch”). And we hope that you will be inspired to investigate the philosophy that we believe provides the only chance of affecting fundamental change in our culture (see “The Value of Atlas Shrugged”).
A second American Revolution, like the first, must occur fundamentally in the hearts and minds of the people. America is still the greatest and freest nation on the globe-if we argue peacefully, articulately, and honestly for true ideas, that Revolution will occur in the universities, courtrooms, and houses of Congress. Join us in making it happen.
Samuel Adams once said, “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in the minds of men.” Let us arm ourselves with the penetrating and profound ideas of Ayn Rand, and prove Mr. Adams correct.
