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To: cornelis
How surprising that Peter missed the mark completely. Liberals have a peculiar paradigm. Self interest is not a character defect, rather it is a requirement if we are to enjoy the things that Peter professes to admire (such as Christ's sacrifice on the cross). It is in one's self interest to have strong families and communities and from time to time those relationships require sacrifice. However, in the aggregate those sacrifices inure to the benefit of the self. In other words, if it is in my self interest for my daughter to grow up safe and happy, then it is in my interest to support a healthy, moral and prosperous society.
This completely jives with conservatism, Milton Friedman and others argued that a corporation's only obligation was to the shareholders, therefore obeying laws and respecting the environment was necessary because doing so positively affected the shareholders.
Self interst is not a character defect as much as the left would like you to believe.
61 posted on 11/13/2009 8:29:37 AM PST by Floribama
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To: Floribama

The pursuit of self-interest can be a positive force. Rand’s dogmatic adherence to self-interest above all else fails to recognize that where self-interests clash, there must be some guide other than “survival of the fittest”. When a ship is sinking, it is neither dishonorable or bad if all men adhere to tradition of “women and children first”.

For someone who advocated the selfish pursuit of happiness above all else, Rand outwardly appeared to be one of the most miserable humans in the public realm. It seems that hedonism fails to bring lasting pleasure.


105 posted on 11/13/2009 9:52:30 AM PST by LibertyJihad
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