Naturalism and Capitalism are Like a Hand-in-Glove

In the Export of Individual Liberty

"Ever since [Bush speechwriter Michael] Gerson wrote for Bush the words “There is
another destructive mindset: the idea that if government would only get out of the
way, all our problems would be solved. An approach with no higher goal, no nobler
purpose than ‘Leave us alone,’” the Republican party has been eagerly embracing
openhanded government."
http://us.mc590.mail.yahoo.com/mc/showMessage;_ylt=Am9Gzb3X1ZB_SKxLI.suGENjk70X?mi
d=1_4359_AP5kxEIAAMyJSMFMLAlD4WQJs48&fid=Inbox&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&.ra
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Naturalism in economics requires capitalism. "Capitalism is a social system based

on the recognition of individual rights..." wrote Ayn Rand. "The recognition of
individual rights entails the banishment of physical force from human
relationships: basically, rights can be violated only by means of force." from
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Now, coming from Rand, there are people who will automatically discount this idea
of equating "freedom" with "capitalism," especially those who don't see the
connection Rand or not. But, the initiation of force, as opposed to its use in
self-defence, can never be justified, and thus is never moral. Man lives by reason
alone, or he has no justification for anything, objectively speaking.

Then, too, there are those who claim that morals are relative, whatever that
means. Actually, it means whatever its proponent wants it to mean; whereas
objective morals are based in the nature of Man as the "rational animal," with the
objective standards for his existence being those of "qua Man."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/qua

"Capitalism and Freedom is a book by Milton Friedman originally published in 1962

which discusses the role of economic capitalism in liberal society. [ ] Friedman
makes the case for economic freedom as a precondition for political freedom. He
defines liberal in European Enlightenment terms, contrasting with an American
usage that he believes has been corrupted since the Great Depression. " [italics
added] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism_and_Freedom

"[Adam] Smith's great revelation was that political freedom would most likely
emerge and persist under conditions of economic freedom, what we now call
capitalism. Our democratic system as defined in our Constitution incorporated
respect for this economic system.

"More than the export of democracy, it is the export of entrepreneurial

capitalism that can produce a new birth of peace and freedom around our globe.
Entrepreneurial capitalism is based on individual invention, and because wealth
comes from one's own initiative, it advances human dignity.

"And here is the good news. Virtually every country, whatever its political
system, wants to embrace it. They have seen the success of the American economy.

"It has been said that when goods cross borders, armies don't. Today, China and
India are the world's two largest countries racing toward entrepreneurial
capitalism. They are the example and test of that thesis. Several decades ago,
their armies clashed. Now no one talks of war, only of their economic emergence.
Capitalism has promoted peace and, in China, better — though still inadequate —
respect for rights." Carl J. Schramm; USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-06-27-capitalism_x.htm

"Capitalism is defined as, 1: An economic system characterized by private or

corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by
private decisions, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that
are determined mainly by competition in the free market." Mike Wasdin
http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/wasdin/wasdin28.html

In the Academy of MN's blog's description of The Nature of Human Nature,

http://freeassemblage.blogspot.com/2008/08/nature-of-human-nature.html , it is
made clear that "man's ethical values, compulsions, activities, and restraints can
be justified on natural grounds," and that "his highest good [is] pursued and
attained under natural conditions." "Qua Man" includes anything that was known
true of man qua man when Aristotle coined the phrase, to what rational,
ontological, metaphysical naturalism (or Objectivism, which are not the same)
determine it to be. Why? Because those two philosophies do not degrade Man, they
raise him up from the mud that other philosophies squash him into.

Anything less than capitalism, whereby economic goals are neither restricted nor
determined by the coercive forces of government, is not an economy of freedom.

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This publication © 2008 by Curtis Edward Clark and Naturalist Academy Publishing ®

Posted by Curtis Edward Clark; Dean