[IMC-Editorial] "Anti-War" Demonstrators Opposed to American Individualism

[ARI Media]

Dear Editor:

At root, the "anti-war" rallies are generated not by any sympathy for
Iraq, but by a hatred for America--or, more fundamentally, for the
principle that America represents. The protest leaders oppose the
*individualism* that lies at America's foundation. They despise the idea
of a capitalist system in which the individual is sovereign, free to
live his own life and pursue his own values, irrespective of the wishes
of "the public." And they therefore despise the derivative idea that, as
a free nation, America has the sovereign right to defend its
self-interest, irrespective of the wishes of the rest of the world.

The "anti-war" forces are not opposed to war, nor even to a war against
Iraq, if it were authorized by the United Nations. They just don't want
the decision to be made by the United States. It is America's *deferral*
to the United Nations that they frantically seek. It is American
"selfishness"--the tenet that one has the moral right to uphold one's
self-interest--that triggers anger and fear in them. It is the
undercutting of America's sovereignty--the surrender of the principle of
individualism to the principle of collectivism--that is the goal of all
their marches, speeches and editorials.

They want the individual to subordinate his freedom to the collective
will of his community, and they want the government of a free people to
subordinate the liberty of its citizens to the collective will of the
international community. Their one, overwhelming desire is to cut
America down by making it bow to some higher authority. They want us to
*submit*.

The proper response to these anti-American protests is to uphold our
moral right to defend ourselves against the threat posed by a
criminal-state, regardless of the demands of any other nation.

Sincerely,

Peter Schwartz
Chairman of the board of directors of the Ayn Rand Institute
Irvine, CA  92606
(203) 730-9596

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