I received a few excerpts from a dear friend and Fraternity Bro. Jay Downer who I fondly call "Upper" in our back and forth correspondence, it was concerning "Altruism", as explained very well in the 1949 film titled
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"The Fountainhead"
This film is based on a book by author Ayn Rand concerning the life of Howard Roark an Architect and his Court Room Speech depicted in the Novel.
Roark is being sued for destroying something (a building) that was his, and his alone.
My interest in the story is secondary to the reason he was being sued, only because it provides an interesting analogy into the way we are being lead today, to believe that everything we do personally should be for the common good.
Which history shows us is a sure fire way to a Nations destruction
It never ceases to amaze me how much documentation we have on this very subject, and we do know a lot about history, but for some reason we never actually "learn" from it.
We can have 100 eggs and throw them off the top of the Empire State Building one at a time, until we get to the 100th one, and every one that has hit the street has broken, but somehow we believe that maybe, just maybe, this last one will produce a different result, we either threw the others too hard, or not high enough etc.
Even after watching all the eggs break some will still believe, that if we try it again tomorrow? things might be different,
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Definition of altruism (n)
1.Selflessness: an attitude or way of behaving marked by unselfish concern for the welfare of others
2.belief in acting for others' good: the belief that acting for the benefit of others is right and good.
So what on earth is wrong with that ?
Nothing, if in fact the recipient is actually receptive to the gesture, or unless the one intervening on their behave has an ulterior motive, a tyrannical motive, by thinking, I'll decide who gets what, and from whom.
OK back to the speech
You can watch this defense speech below, or just read some excerpts from the courtroom defense speech below that.
This (at least to me) explains a lot about how we are being pushed to the limit of our existence which is a Freedom loving Constitutional Republic, however like the eggs, we too will break if we continue on this present path.
So watch the video, or just read the excerpts, I prefer both, it's like sitting in a class room for a few minutes, but it is presented very well.
Or just jump past it to the written verbiage.
""""The "common good" of a collective, a race, a class, a state, was the claim and justification of every tyranny ever established over man.
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Every major horror of history was committed in the name of an altruistic motive.
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Has any act of selfishness ever equaled the carnage perpetrated by disciples of altruism?
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Does the fault lie in men's hypocrisy or in the nature of the principle?
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The most dreadful butchers were the most sincere.
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They believed in the perfect society reached through the guillotine and the firing squad.
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Nobody questioned their right to murder since they were murdering for an altruistic purpose.
It was accepted that man must be sacrificed for other men.
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Actors change, but the course of the tragedy remains the same.
A humanitarian who starts with declarations of love for mankind, and ends with a sea of blood.
It goes on, and will go on so long as men believe that an action is good if it is unselfish.
That permits the altruist to act, and forces his victims to bear it.
The leaders of collectivist movements ask nothing for themselves.
However observe the results.
The only good which men can do to one another, and the only statement of their proper relationship, is in taking on of a Hands off! approach
Now observe the results of a society built on the principle of individualism.
This, our country. The noblest country in the history of men.
The country of greatest achievement, greatest prosperity, greatest freedom.
This country was not based on selfless service, sacrifice, renunciation or any precept of altruism.
It was based on a man's right to the pursuit of happiness.
His own happiness. Not anyone else's.
A private, personal, selfish motive. Look at the results.
Look into your own conscience.
It is an ancient conflict. Men have come close to the truth, but it was destroyed each time after one civilization after the other fell.
Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy.
The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe.
Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.
"Now, in our age, collectivism, the rule of the second-hander and second-rater, the ancient monster, has broken loose and is running a muck.
It has brought men to a level of intellectual indecency never equaled on earth.
It has reached a scale of horror without precedent.
It has poisoned every mind. It has swallowed most of Europe.
It is engulfing our country.
I am an architect. I know what is to come by the principle on which it is built. We are approaching a world in which I cannot permit myself to live.
Then going on.
I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine.
No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need.
I wished to come here and say that I am a man who does not exist for others.
It had to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing.
I wished to come here and say that the integrity of a man's creative work is of greater importance than any charitable endeavor.
Those of you who do not understand this, are the men who're destroying the world.
I wished to come here and state my terms.
I do not care to exist on any others.
I recognize no obligations toward men except one:
to respect their freedom and to take no part in a slave society -"""
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End of excerpts, now keep in mind all this was in 1949 right between WWII and The Korean Conflict.
And close on the heels of a President who instituted many of the programs causing the problems we have today, F.D.R.
Monitoring and controlling many of the areas of our lives that should have been left to a Free Mans Preference instead of regulating what we could eat, or what is even in the food we eat, or drink, the planning of our future, handling of our finances, a list of intrusion's on what should be private matters.
The FDA, FDIC, SSA and many others.
All sounding good in the beginning but as they grow they became stifling and more controlling, and history shows, we become captive to them, instead of the other way around.
After having gone through the great depression people were very vulnerable and looking for a savior, so after defeating Hitler and freeing up a lot of the world we felt we were now on a path to complete freedom and prosperity for us all,
Happy Days are here again was the chant !!
Gradually the gleam started to wear off and we had some off and on conflicts both foreign and domestic creating some generational divides, and chants like
Peace, Love, Smoke Dope, Hell No! We won't Go, widened the divide that carried on into today which then opened the door for another "Change"
Now when things go badly some people get emboldened and they rise up and prosper, others just throw their hands up and say Please!, Please! help me, somebody do something, Please!.
Looking longingly for a Savior, but not a Heavenly One
Thus opening the door for another tyrannical takeover, because the somebody should have been God and You.
People should have known even then by looking back on the History of the World, no totally Free Nation has endured which has violated these basic principles about which Roark spoke, and he is only one of many.
The warnings come day after day from many reliable sources, even so simple a warning sign as "Caution Men Working Ahead" normally works, in that case we slow down, and maybe even stop in order to safeguard either ours, or someone else's life, as we should.
Yet with other obvious warning signs we continue running ahead at what seems like break neck speed to the eventual demise of the greatest country in history, ripping the very foundation from underneath the country that we cherished.
Unless we alter course, and do so quickly.
I find it painful to watch and think about, but hopefully as a nation we will do as in the "Men Working Ahead" zones.
We will tap the brakes, slow down, and even stop if necessary in order to save us from ourselves, before it is too late.
Pogo, the cartoon character may have said it best.
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"We have met the enemy and the enemy is us"
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"Read, Think, Act"
For God and Our Republic, VT Eagle
"In the beginning of Revolution, the Patriot is Scarce, Brave, Hated and Scorned, When His Cause Succeeds, The Timid Join him!
For then there is no cost for being a Patriot"
