[mnehring]

I realized today I have never posted the full speech to discuss. I've quoted this often, but this paragraph jumped out to me.

There is a special reason why you, the future leaders of the United States Army, need to be philosophically armed today. You are the target of a special attack by the Kantian-Hegelian-collectivist establishment that dominates our cultural institutions at present. You are the army of the last semi-free country left on earth, yet you are accused of being a tool of imperialism--and "imperialism" is the name given to the foreign policy of this country, which has never engaged in military conquest and has never profited from the two world wars, which she did not initiate, but entered and won. (It was, incidentally, a foolishly overgenerous policy, which made this country waste her wealth on helping both her allies and her former enemies.) Something called "the military-industrial complex"--which is a myth or worse--is being blamed for all of this country's troubles. Bloody college hoodlums scream demands that R.O.T.C. units be banned from college campuses. Our defense budget is being attacked, denounced and undercut by people who claim that financial priority should be given to ecological rose gardens and to classes in esthetic self-expression for the residents of the slums.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[ConservativeMind]

Ping for later reading.

[DustyMoment]

I have often said that Ayn Rand was less an author than an architect. She fundamentally understood the direction America was embarked upon in the 50s and developed the blueprint of that direction.

We can see the culmination of her blueprints in “Atlas Shrugged”. We have almost reached the America she describes and Obama could definitely put us there.

McCain will just slow things down a bit, but his train and Obama’s train are both headed for the same station. Obama’s train is an express . . . . . . . McCain’s train is a local.

[Recovering_Democrat]

bump to read later.

When Ayn Rand got it right, she was dead on right. When she got it wrong, she got it very wrong. I can only hope she had some reason to believe at the end, because she had a brilliant mind and love for freedom.

[mnehring]

Libertarian Ping travis.
I know there is are major differences between Objectivists and Libertarians, and Rand despised Libertarians, I know that she is often used as the back up of Libertarian discussions and thus, thought you would be interested.

[alexander_busek]

Thanks for posting this!!!

[definitelynotaliberal]

ping

[hosepipe]

Pretty good essay(speech)... based on the physicality of human life and denys that the human spirit is a separate “thing”.. and is eternal.. She makes her points quite well considering her viewpoint(s).. I got from this particular discourse that even IF humans are flesh only and Not spiritual creatures at all.. that philosophy and/or even metaphysics is STILL Important.. even quality of life altering.. for survival..

Rand was indeed a thinker.. and tried to simplify human life to workable size.. from her viewpoint and observation(s).. She asks good questions.. limited by her observations as we all are.. Ayn Rand provided a good defence of philosophy here.. where some atheists eschew philosophy.. as they do metaphysics.. She was a contarian.. I liked it..

[Swiss]

Back in the 70’s it seems like the military academies got the best speakers. Here is a link to the Robert A. Heinlein speech about Patriotism to the Naval Academy in 1973.

http://www.geocities.com/knightsofherne/patriotism.html

[BenLurkin]

bookmark

[jongaltsr]

To bad more “modern” men don’t understand the importance and shear power of philosophy. If more people were learned in this methodology there would be less “popularity contests”, “political correctness”, “Hollywood worship” and general confusion about life.

[Andonius_99]

bump for later

[fanfan]

Thanks for posting this.

Every graduate needs to read this.

[Jonx6]

ping for later read...

[elkfersupper]

Bump.

[M203M4]

There is a special reason why you, the future leaders of the United States Army, need to be philosophically armed today. You are the target of a special attack by the Kantian-Hegelian-collectivist establishment that dominates our cultural institutions at present.

You are attacked, not for any errors or flaws, but for your virtues. You are denounced, not for any weaknesses, but for your strength and your competence. You are penalized for being the protectors of the United States. On a lower level of the same issue, a similar kind of campaign is conducted against the police force. Those who seek to destroy this country, seek to disarm it--intellectually and physically. But it is not a mere political issue; politics is not the cause, but the last consequence of philosophical ideas. It is not a communist conspiracy, though some communists may be involved--as maggots cashing in on a disaster they had no power to originate. The motive of the destroyers is not love for communism, but hatred for America. Why hatred? Because America is the living refutation of a Kantian universe.

Today's mawkish concern with and compassion for the feeble, the flawed, the suffering, the guilty, is a cover for the profoundly Kantian hatred of the innocent, the strong, the able, the successful, the virtuous, the confident, the happy. A philosophy out to destroy man's mind is necessarily a philosophy of hatred for man, for man's life, and for every human value. Hatred of the good for being the good, is the hallmark of the twentieth century. This is the enemy you are facing.

YES YES YES YES. Rand nails it so well it is scary.

[since1868]

bookedmark

[Pagey]

Overdue BTTT.