And in the final analysis that is the paramount evil of collectivism....you are faced with the hobbesian choice of either going down in flames for the "right" and taking your family and employees with you, or trying to survive. I do business in Ukraine and I can tell you that the compromises people in the old USSR had to make just to feed their kids is unbelievable to an American. The beauty of free market capitalism is that average people like me can prosper and maintain dignity. The first thing you lose in collectivism is dignity. And telling yourself you had no choice never makes it easier. I tell myself I ran away to fight another day. Maybe. Or maybe I just wanted to survive and save my ass.
Voting with your feet is never anyone’s first choice, but sometimes it is a survival skill.
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Not to mix Rand novels, but my first employer told me "We all start out thinking we are Howard Roark, and we all end up realizing we are Peter Keating." I wanted to kick his ass. Now, 25 years later, trying to find that next project so I can still pay my employees, I realize that he was right.
I disagree with that assessment since you aren't still paying the protection money.
Had you truly sold out your principles, you would have remained in Camden and continued to pay. While having to pay the money one time may have felt like selling out, your moving out of Camden confirms that you certainly still have your principles.
I very respectfully disagree with your self assessment.
I would like to point out a few relevant facts that I based my opinion on but there are rules about spoilers on this thread and I don't wish to be in violation.
To stay and fight would have taken your time and money, both being absorbed by the very beast that you wished to defeat. You would have lost even if you had legally prevailed.
I'd first say it's not a stark menu of those two choices, but a continuum from one extreme to the other, and your actions are closer to the first (fight another day) than the second (survive at the cost of your dignity). Here's why: How long did the looters (city of Camden in your case) benefit from your "surrender"? Answer -- not long. They're no better off now that you've moved than they would have been had you refused their demand for protection money the very first time. And it's not something irrevocable like Rearden giving the government rights to Rearden Metal. I give you an A- at worst. While I do feel bad for the neighborhood kids who lost their jobs, maybe this will be an object lesson for them in the worth of overbearing government vs. the worth of the productive who produce value, and they'll grow up to be Galt's themselves.
Of course you wanted to survive to save your ass, so you paid the protection money. Nobody can fault you for that.
But you should be saluted for going on strike against the city of Camden.
“...maybe I just wanted to survive and save my ass.”
That’s why Ann Rand wrote this book. You should be thriving. You should have multiple buildings doing what you do, and hundreds of employees. Of course you wanted to save your ass just as you wanted to make money. Why shouldn’t you? The shame lies in the looters, not you.