Nonfiction and Fiction
PROLOGUE
1996 -
A boy, around six or seven years old, and his grandmother gazed upon a factory which had been reported to be bankrupt. From their parked bicycles, they walked towards the main entrance.
A young man emerged from the financially doomed building. Thin and tall, he stood remarkably straight. His wavy red hair was swept back from his forehead. Head held high on relaxed shoulders. Eyes, the aim of an artist’s quest: the focus of a photographic memory, the uncompromising twinkle, and the intensity that could come only from a brain of extraordinary throughput.
The grandmother and the boy stopped, electrified by the phenomenon. She focused on the young man’s face. It reflected her grandson’s passionate earnestness and innocence, untouched by humility.
“A teenager - ,” observed the old woman dressed in rags, “- but with the eyes of an active mind, the proud gait of the self-reliant, the aura rooted in rationality: the bearing of a thinker and a man of action.”
Her eyes met the teenager’s.
“Hello, Ma’am. Hi kiddo. Have a fine day.”
“Hello. My name is Diana Washington. This is my grandson, Ian Washington.”
“I’m Apollo Marianto. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You have the bearing of a victor and the name of a god,” Ian greeted. “God of reason, can this factory survive?”
“It shall, if it operates in freedom.” Apollo had decided to finance the factory.
“I will see to it,” the little boy promised.
Diana’s eyes shone with love and hope. In the succeeding days, she delighted in the infusion of investments into the factory. Its hundreds of workers and their families rejoiced.
Six years passed.
On her deathbed, Diana Washington thought of the factory and the thousands more employees it hired. She held her grandson’s hands and whispered, “Ian, the government is putting shackles on the factory... because it is successful.”
“Rest your mind, Grandma. I vow to remove the shackles.”
Diana proudly admired her grandson, “A thinker and a young man of action.” She saw in Ian what was unmistakable in Apollo.
“A world that has been conned and brainwashed will hate Apollo and Ian. The world will denounce their uncompromising integrity and radiant joy as arrogance and evil-selfishness. It takes rationality and morality to grasp that selfishness is a virtue. It takes men of mettle, the kind of Apollo and Ian, to staunchly advocate the glorious virtue of selfishness. Societies that have enshrined mediocrity will feel profound hatred for their ability, honesty, earnestness, achievement, pride, and happiness. Others might be destroyed by this unspeakable evil, but not my two boys. Ian and Apollo will build sanctuaries for greatness and human joy. They will fight for their kind of world: a benevolent universe.”
Diana did not foresee that the opponents of freedom and happiness would try to annihilate her two beloved boys. Power-lusters would mark Apollo and Ian for destruction in order to stop them from erecting barriers that protect the innocents.
The memorial ceremony for Diana Washington was fit for a queen.
Within a month, Ian traveled to
“Grandmother wrote you a letter.”
Apollo read the short request from Diana. He quickly recovered from his surprise. “I am but twenty-five and a guardian to a thirteen-year-old.”
That day, Ian’s instruction about the business world started. When Apollo brought him home, they went straight to the study. Apollo showed Ian his journal of heroes.
“President George Washington rejected a movement to make him King of the
By the time Thomas Jefferson was six, he had read most of the books in his father’s library. A polymath and polyglot, he is the greatest political thinker. I revere the author of the Declaration of Independence.
William Pitt the Younger, one of
From early childhood, José Rizal was advancing political ideas of freedom. He passionately advocated knowledge and individual rights at a time when independent thinkers would surely die. I love his sculpture of a naked woman triumphantly raising a torch, arms stretched high above her head, body straight and proud, feet firmly atop a skull over a thick book. Showing man’s goodness and efficacy, the sculpture entitled The Power of Science over Death represents my values. The woman’s exalted pose is a salute to man’s intellectual and creative power.
At age six, Ayn Rand taught herself to read and two years later discovered her first fictional hero in a French magazine for children, thus capturing the heroic vision which sustained her throughout her life. At age nine, she decided to make fiction writing her career. I greatly admire her books, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I live by her philosophy: Objectivism.
She admired Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. She regarded Victor Hugo as ‘the greatest novelist in world literature.’ Mr. Hugo depicts moral giants in his books. Their actions are heroic, noble, intelligent, and beautiful. Ayn Rand also said - It is great to be reminded that the cowardly, the depraved, the mindless, the ugly are not all that is possible to man. When one says, ‘life is not like Hugo’s heroes’, ask him: whose life? A Romanticist, Mr. Hugo’s vision is always focused on the fundamentals of man’s nature, on those problems and those aspects of his character which apply to any age and any country. The theme of his book Ninety-Three is: man’s loyalty to values. The emphasis Mr. Hugo projects is not: ‘What great values men are fighting for!’, but: ‘What greatness men are capable of, when they fight for their values!’
Ralph Teetor, a prolific inventor, invented cruise control. Blind since the age of five, Mr. Teetor built his first car, a one-cylinder, by age twelve.
At age thirteen, Bill Gates was writing computer programs.
The world owes a lot of its comforts and high standard of living to Thomas Edison. He said, ‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.’ When asked about his over 2,000 failed attempts to make a working filament for the light bulb, he replied: ‘I didn't fail 2,000 times; I just found 2,000 ways not to make a light bulb.’
I am inspired by his life, as a boy and as a man. I love the movies: Young Tom Edison and Edison the
The town’s bridge was washed away by the storm that night. Without a means of communicating this to the inbound train’s crew, the train would surely plunge into the river. Tom’s siblings were on the train with many other people.
The following morning, Tom returned the mirror. The furniture store owner did not wait for an explanation – he smacked the boy as the news about the endangered inbound train spread. Young Tom Edison joined the townspeople at the train headquarters. The town was desperate. No one had an idea of how to communicate with the inbound train except Thomas Edison, but none listened to him. He climbed a truck and operated an apparatus which emitted loud sounds heard from afar.
The townspeople realized what the young boy was doing – he was sending a message in Morse code. The truck was driven to the riverbank where the bridge had been, as Tom continued to send: Stop the train! Danger!
On the train, only one person realized that the sounds were in Morse code – Tom’s little sister. She decoded the messages and told her eldest brother who, in turn, told the train conductor. But the latter dismissed the information. He told the other passengers that the little girl was addled like her brother, Tom. The train neared the river at great speed. Tom Edison continued to send messages and his sister continued to decode them. As the young girl decoded the latest message, she exclaimed: ‘The town’s bridge was washed away!’
The conductor swiftly pulled a lever to stop the train. The young
The achievements of Thomas Edison are of public record: 1,368 patents out of which 1,093 are
In 1907, Edison-worshipper Henry Ford declared, ‘I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one.’
The Ford tractors were the first to be produced on a massive scale and the first farm tractors to be affordable by average farmers and rural citizens. Henry Ford held that his tractors were the key to eliminating war and improving the human condition. A revolutionary innovator, Mr. Ford stood alone against a mountain of criticisms. He was the first man to discover the advantages of mass production and the first to use an assembly line. To achieve his visions, he hired the best of men, offering an unsolicited raise in workers’ wages, higher than any union scale at the time – he was the first to refute in practice the theory of ‘class-warfare’.”
The ward looked up to his guardian, his hero. “The grandeur of your heroes and mine….”
After supper, Apollo invited, “Let’s go to The Pit Stop. I go there to rest and refuel. Together with my journal of heroes, The Pit Stop invigorates and gives me joy.”
Apollo opened the door to The Pit Stop, but did not turn on the light. It was a large, high-ceilinged room containing works of art. At the end of The Pit Stop were twin miniature skyscrapers that almost reached the ceiling. Their upper floors were brightly lit. Apollo and Ian stopped by the door, solemnly gazing up at the skyscrapers named Twin Beau Ideals. They were of the same mind. “The Declaration of Independence in towering steel - a free mind and ego soaring to the skies - happiness rising in architectural symphony.”
The lit top floors of the left tower spelled B I G; its lower floors were strategically lit to spell B U S I N E S S. The right tower’s uppermost lights spelled E G O; its lit lower floors radiated S E L F I S H N E S S. The Twin Beau Ideals glowed with the following:
B I G E G O
- - - - - -
B S
U E
S L
I F
N I
E S
S H
S N
E
S
S
Rights-infringers profoundly hated what rights-respecters revered. The towers represented a mighty threat to sacrifice-glorifiers, mind-destroyers, and oppressors. Rejecting the hands-off, nonintervention, noninterference imperative in freedom, rights-infringers revel in coercive impositions.
Apollo and Ian remembered the day when enemies of freedom and free enterprise destroyed the real-life BIG BUSINESS tower, and haters of equal inherent inalienable rights struck down the real-life EGO-SELFISHNESS skyscraper.
Apollo told Ian, “Many people revolted at the September 11, 2001 destruction miss the fact that the values and virtues that made the Twin Beau Ideals possible have been under vicious attack for over a century. Deluge of vilification and incomprehensible injustice have been heaped upon free enterprise, big business, brilliant innovation, spectacular success, and self-interested pursuits of profit and happiness.”
The guardian and his ward each vowed, “What the twin towers stood for must not crumble to ruins. I pledge my life and sacred honor to see you rise again, Twin Beau Ideals, together with the good you represent: reason, liberty, coercion-free economics, science, technology, progress, innovation, pride, and joy.”
CHAPTER 1
2012 -
Starlit skies and 20°C (68°F) temperature capped a sunny
The royal family watched television for a worldwide news broadcast. A new political party had won in the British general election of 2012.
“The new head of government of the
This photograph was taken two months ago at a
Mr.
In deference to the British royal family, the news report did not mention that if the king’s and queen’s firstborn were alive, he would be the spitting image of the Prime Minister.
The television screen showed a current photograph of the Prime Minister together with two old shots: one taken at age seven and the other when he graduated summa cum laude from the
As King William and Queen Aryanna beheld the young Prime Minister’s handsome face, they ached for their firstborn,
Princess Diana contemplated Ian’s face. “Mr.
“The Prime Minister is left-handed while George is right-handed. I heard how he handles a gun with his left hand. He is a crack shot.” Prince Hari voiced the thoughts of the royal family. “I sometimes evade all the evidence that Mr. Washington is not George. It is a pleasure to think that George is back.”
King William called attention to the book he was rereading. “His grandmother’s novel, Freedom, is very good. That no publisher appreciated it before her grandson became a Member of Parliament is a disgrace.”
“What a marvelous book from an extraordinary woman,” the Queen enthused. “No wonder the boy she raised and home-schooled has such an active, brilliant mind.”
The whole world watched as the television news program replayed the most recent speech of the young Prime Minister.
“King William has asked me to form a government and I have accepted… Beloved citizens of a great nation: The noble William Pitt the Younger declared, ‘Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.’ As I vowed before my revered Grandmother, I swear before you and the world that I will forever be a dedicated advocate of equal inherent inalienable rights.…”
The world noticed. “The Declaration of Independence from a British Prime Minister with an American accent.”
CHAPTER 2
The Morning After
The Prime Minister, Mr. Ian Washington, arrived at
“I am looking at a mirror image some thirty years ago,” mused the King. The young, vigorous man before him stood six feet and three inches tall.
“How regal,” thought King William. “No. Not the bearing of a king, but of one impervious to kings.”
King William and Ian greeted each other formally.
“Mr.
“Sir, I am a radical for reason, individual liberty, political freedom, capitalism, and selfishness. I shall endeavor to persuade every man that my convictions are rooted in reality, in the nature of man. I will do my best to earn your support.”
“Why did you choose to look like
“May I not answer?”
“Then please proceed to persuade me. Why is selfishness a virtue?”
The Prince George Office had been bugged by the princess. Diana and Hari listened intently.
Queen Aryanna was at the White Drawing Room where the family would receive the Prime Minister. “Ian honors George by choosing to look like him. Oh, God! Please bring George back; I miss him so much. I hope this young man is my boy.”
The royals and the British people lost
The Queen composed herself as her children joined and kissed her. Shortly thereafter, the King and the Prime Minister were in their presence.
Queen Aryanna greeted Ian warmly. Princess Diana’s eyes twinkled as she looked at him. Her gaze at her father puzzled the king. It was a look of profound respect and love but tinged with sorrow.
Prince Hari greeted his father and Ian formally. The prince’s countenance was calm, but battles raged in his soul.
“Mr.
As Prince Hari and his family drank a toast to the Prime Minister, a member of the British Royal Family security codenamed Dione posted a comment on a website. Using a code, she mentioned the number of a stolen cellphone. Shortly thereafter, the cellphone rang. The call came from abroad. Dione listened to the instructions.
“Understood, ISARGES,” Dione responded to the caller; then she hung up. ISARGES’s orders unleashed a sinister plot against the royals. His three partners, The Actor, The Enforcer, and The Kingmaker, heard the exchange, each through a cellphone stolen that day. The cellphones would be destroyed after their conference call. The four plotters raised their glass to drink a toast. “Cheers.”
Afterwards, ISARGES watched the news. He sat up straight, eyes gleaming, upon hearing that a young physics professor was dying of cancer. The television screen showed the professor as he delivered his last lecture attended by many students. His voice was clear and resolute. Standing straight, his face was serene.
ISARGES took off his shoes and threw one after the other at the screen, wishing to dent the bearing of a dying but unbowed stranger.
Meanwhile at the White Drawing Room, King William and Princess Diana replayed the Prime Minister’s words in their minds. Ian’s impassioned advocacy of selfishness was also the theme of the great battle of his former guardian.
Thousands visited Apollo Marianto’s website, watched his speeches on the Internet, and pondered his ideas.
“I am running for the office of the President of the
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — …’
Prior to July 4, 1776, no society ever recognized Rights. One’s life belonged to God in a theocracy, to society in collectivism, to a monarch, or to others but oneself in altruism.
The Declaration of Independence recognizes Rights. It proclaims that each man is an end in himself – that he is not the means to the ends of others.
Governments’ sole justification for being is explicitly stated in the Declaration of Independence: to secure individual rights. Based on the principle of equal inherent inalienable Rights, as long as an individual does not infringe the equal rights of others, anything goes - man is free to determine and pursue his own happiness - man is free to be selfish.
The rich, the middle-class, and the poor have equal rights. Politicians and citizens who lust after coercive power or who demonize minorities including the spectacularly successful, are no respecters of Individual Liberty.
Thomas Jefferson said: “Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments.” To remove the use of force from citizen interactions so that individuals may deal with each other only by reason and persuasion, citizens delegate their right to self-defense to their government. Citizens cannot delegate a right they do not possess – hence, the government has no right to regulate inherent inalienable Rights, including the rights of individuals who hold that selfishness is a virtue.
George Washington said, "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
Many power-lusters use the term “unbridled greed” to cover their malicious envy and their unbridled greed for the power to coerce.
The dedication to criminalize Individual Liberty is bipartisan. Politicians lust to outlaw selfishness. They hurl ‘unbridled greed’, not at themselves nor at their protégés running government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but at wealth and job creators.
Neither the rich nor the selfish have the power to coerce. Only the government has the power to use force. When the government enters the realm of production and trade, it dishonors its noble mandate – it becomes a tyrant. Politicians who hurl ‘unbridled greed’ at citizens are cannibals. They corrupt the government’s noble mandate to secure individual rights.
The Declaration of Independence is clear: the only purpose of law and of government is to secure the equal rights of its citizens.
It is very important to remember that what independent equals delegate to their government is their right to self-defense because this means that the government has no right to interfere in the intellectual and moral life of its citizens. It is not the government's function to protect a citizen from himself or from nature.
The Declaration of Independence mandates absolute freedom in all realms not involving the use of force delegated to prevent, counteract, defeat, and punish fraud and the initiation of force.
The Police Force and Criminal Courts prevent rights-infringers from defrauding, robbing, or physically harming citizens; they apprehend and prosecute rights-infringers; the Civil Courts resolve civil disputes; the Armed Forces prevent, repel, and defeat foreign aggression. Government functions other than these subvert the Declaration of Independence because they involve using force against innocent citizens.
Men are independent equals with inalienable rights to pursue happiness. Having no slaves, each man is responsible for sustaining his own life. The government has no right to extort in order to provide goods or services for its citizens’ sustenance. The government has no right to infringe the inalienable rights of citizens who do not attempt to defraud, rob, or physically harm other people.
Many politicians declare that there is a cause greater than the individual – they name this cause: sacrifice, patriotism, country, or greater good.
One who declares for a cause higher than the individual cannot claim to be a defender of individual liberty.
Individualism regards every man as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses inalienable rights. An individualist respects individual liberty — his own and that of others. Independent equals must choose: self-reliance or dependence. Self-reliance requires selfishness. Dependence breeds moochers, looters, and rulers.
Men who glorify servility need serfs to provide their sustenance. They are not satisfied with benevolence; they demand sacrifice – the renunciation or destruction of the precious. They damn selfishness as evil, and preach masochism and sadism in the name of service and sacrifice.
Selfless means no self: no self-esteem, no self-respect, no self-love. One who is not self-reliant, a moocher or a looter, is selfless. He does not use his own mind. Having no self-respect, he needs others – for approval, guidance, and/or sustenance. One who babysits adults dishonors independence, and derives self-esteem from others. A rights-infringer is selfless - he recklessly risks his life and freedom for his need of victims. A power-luster tramples on individual liberty and derives satisfaction from enslaving others – he is not an individualist; he is not selfish.
Those who fear self-reliance, i.e. selfishness, demonize individualism - they advocate service and sacrifice. Since President Abraham Lincoln and his heroes had eradicated serfdom, citizens are conned into thinking that voluntary self-immolation is noble. Men conned into regarding selfishness as evil evade that it is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. They unwittingly facilitate power-lusters who recognize that man’s love of self must be destroyed so rulers could thrive.
To value is a function of the self – it is selfish to care for loved ones; their well-being or happiness is not divorced from the valuer’s. That good people live and prosper is in one’s own self-interest. One benefits from the advantages of social existence: exchange of knowledge, trade, division of labor, and defense from force. One wants to live in freedom and in peace – therefore, to cherish a society that respects individual rights is selfish.
The virtue involved in caring for loved ones and doing the right thing is integrity: you love, so you care; you think it is right, so you do it.
Individualists do not need sacrificial lambs. Men with self-esteem, i.e. selfish men, take pride in independence. One cannot achieve happiness without self-esteem. Without self-respect, life is not worth living. This explains why men of integrity do the right thing no matter the cost. No matter how difficult, they cannot do otherwise - they cannot sacrifice their sacred honor. Doing the right thing is not sacrifice – it is upholding the precious, not renouncing nor destroying it.
The people of the Enlightenment bequeathed virtue and glory to posterity. I call on individuals who value freedom to remember the founding of the nation conceived in Reason and
Sons and daughters of
The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, all valuers in words and in deed, faced death by hanging. The British marked out every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to “treason”. The signers became the objects of vicious manhunts. I remember and honor them with reverence – I glorify their love of
…
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost…
If over my grave some day thou seest grow,
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power…
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o 'er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, O my country, that in God I may rest…
For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,…
I respectfully remember the exalted memory and souls of Dr. Rizal and the glorious 56 – men who would not bend to tyrants, and by their grace, freedom blossomed:
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George Read |
Caesar Rodney |
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Thomas McKean |
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George Clymer |
Benjamin Franklin (age 70) |
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Robert Morris |
John Morton |
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Benjamin Rush |
George Ross |
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James Smith |
James Wilson |
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George Taylor |
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John Adams |
Samuel Adams |
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John Hancock |
Robert Treat Paine |
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Elbridge Gerry |
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Josiah Bartlett |
William Whipple |
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Matthew Thornton |
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Stephen Hopkins |
William Ellery |
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Lewis Morris |
Philip Livingston |
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Francis Lewis |
William Floyd |
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Button Gwinnett |
Lyman Hall |
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George Walton |
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Richard Henry Lee |
Francis Lightfoot Lee |
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Carter Braxton |
Benjamin Harrison |
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Thomas Jefferson |
George Wythe |
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Thomas Nelson, Jr. |
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William Hooper |
John Penn |
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Joseph Hewes |
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Edward Rutledge (age 27) |
Arthur Middleton |
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Thomas Lynch, Jr. |
Thomas Heyward, Jr. |
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Abraham Clark |
John Hart |
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Francis Hopkinson |
Richard Stockton |
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John Witherspoon |
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Samuel Huntington |
Roger Sherman |
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William Williams |
Oliver Wolcott |
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Charles Carroll |
Samuel Chase |
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Thomas Stone |
William Paca |
John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress, attended
This is an excerpt of Richard Henry Lee’s remarks on July 4, 1776: ‘Let this most happy day give birth to the
Two of Abraham Clark’s sons were officers in the Continental Army. They were captured and tortured. The British offered Mr. Clark his two sons’ release if he would renounce his signature on the Declaration of Independence. He refused.
William Ellery attended
Stephen Hopkins, self-educated, age around 69, and with cerebral palsy, signed the Declaration of Independence with a shaking pen but declared: ‘My hand trembles, but my heart does not.’ In 1773, he freed his slaves, and the following year, he introduced a bill that prohibited the importation of slaves into the colony of
According to legend, at the battle of
Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr. lost their vast landholdings and estates while in prison. They were singled out for indignities and brutal treatment.
The homes, estates, and fortunes of Francis Lewis, William Ellery, William Floyd, and Lewis Morris were plundered. Philips Livingston’s great holdings were confiscated. John Hart’s farm was raided by British and Hessian troops. Hunted down, the elderly Mr. Hart escaped and hid in the nearby
Richard Stockton was brutally beaten upon capture. He was starved and subjected to freezing cold weather. After nearly six weeks of brutal treatment, he was released, his health ruined. His
Thomas Lynch Jr., company commander in the 1st
Dr. John Witherspoon was president of the
The
In 1769, chosen for the first time to be a member of a legislature, Mr. Jefferson made one effort in that body for the permission of the emancipation of slaves, but was rejected.
In the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern, Patrick Henry immortalized selfishness when he proclaimed, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
President George Washington protected and preserved individual liberty when he rejected a movement to make him King of the United States, calling it "abhorrent", and when he refused to run for a third term. He evinced an enormous respect for himself and his fellowmen. He personified integrity.
President Thomas Jefferson said, "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government."
Those who damn selfishness denounce the desire to live happily. Those who need slaves damn selfishness because people who value themselves cannot be ruled. Men who love themselves but facilitate these damners are cowards.
You who defend selfishness honor its advocates: President George Washington, the glorious 56, the sons and daughters of
Those who declare for self-renunciation or self-destruction are unfit protectors of individual liberty. They should be voted out of the government of the people, by the people, for the people –
That the Land of the Free shall not perish from the Earth!”
***
Apollo decided to run for the 2012 presidential elections after reading the following articles four years ago:
The US Presidential Candidates’ Declaration of Dependence and Sacrifice
Sep 16, 2008
In the “Service Nation Presidential Candidates Forum” hosted by
Senator John McCain said that after 9-11, he would have called upon Americans to serve. He said, “What has been missing is a president in the White House that taps into that yearning (for service) in a serious way.” The senator extolled service: “Finding new ways to serve - that’s what these next few years should be all about.” “It’s not about the individual, it’s about the cause we serve.” “It makes us exceptional in the kind of citizenry we have and the kind of service and sacrifice that we are capable of.”
Had Senator Barack Obama been president at the time of 9-11, rather than tell the American people to shop, he would have done this, among others: “I would have asked very explicitly for young people to engage in community service and military service.” The senator also extolled service: “The next president is going to have to actively pursue these issues of service.” “… a president who is willing to inspire people to get involved and get outside of themselves.” “What it means to be an American (is) to serve and to sacrifice.”
The
Senator Barack Obama’s national service plan has a price tag of around $3.5 billion, while Senator John McCain would sign the bipartisan bill on national service tripling the size of AmeriCorps.
The Declaration of Independence does not include the words “serve”, “service”, or “sacrifice”. It mentions “Happiness” twice and “Rights” thrice. It does not speak of a cause greater than oneself, but of the “Right of the People”:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
The Gettysburg Address does not include the words “serve”, “service”, or “sacrifice” either:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
President Abraham Lincoln also said this: "We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny."
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson said: "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
Americans who, like President Lincoln and President Jefferson, think of liberty as: “each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor”, find that the legacy of the Founding Fathers and the brave men President Lincoln honored in his Gettysburg Address, is not represented by any presidential candidate.
President Lincoln said that he had an oath registered in heaven, the most solemn one: to preserve, protect, and defend the government of the people, by the people, for the people -- to preserve, protect, and defend the nation conceived in Liberty -- liberty, which means: “each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor.”
On January 20th, 2009, the
On January 20th, 2009, the President of the
The next President of the
The person who serves and the one being served are both dependents, just like the sacrificer and the sacrifice-profiteer. The presidential candidates glorify dependence and sacrifice, and thus dishonor the Declaration of Independence.
After 9-11, Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama would have called upon Americans to serve. The senators fault President George W. Bush for not tapping into the Americans’ “yearning for service”, and for asking them to shop.
After 9-11, President George W. Bush assured Americans that their government would protect them, that they could travel and go about their normal lives. He did not ask them to sacrifice nor do their government’s responsibility -- he urged Americans to honor what they are: brave and strong. He threw a ceremonial baseball pitch at the Yankee stadium -- he glorified what is mentioned twice in the Declaration of Independence: Happiness!
I thank President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and nameless courageous heroes, for successfully thwarting another 9-11 for seven years.
Fellow Americans, let us demand that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, honor George Washington, the glorious 56, the sons and daughters of Liberty, and the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence -- that Individual Rights, that the pursuit of happiness and of one’s own personal interests, shall not perish from the Earth!
* * *
Part 2: The US Presidential Candidates’ Declaration of Dependence and Sacrifice [September 25, 2008]
The
American: Senators McCain and Obama, are you men of integrity?
Senator McCain: Yes, I sure am.
Senator Obama: Certainly; I am.
A: You both hold the conviction that the ideal of service and sacrifice is a cause greater than the individual.
SJM: On my honor, I do.
SBO: I solemnly do.
A: Senator Obama, since Senator McCain sacrificed in a war while you have not, would you now honor your ideal by halting your campaign, thereby sacrificing your wish to serve as President of the
Senator McCain, since you have already sacrificed and served for many years, would you now honor your ideal by sacrificing your wish to serve as President of the USA, that Senator Obama may experience what you both hold dear?
SBO: But there is a cause greater than my wish to serve and sacrifice as president: this country and the world need me and my vision for change!
SJM: I have a duty greater than my wish to further serve and sacrifice, which is to restore traditional values!
A: A man of integrity acts in accordance with his values, and translates his convictions into practical reality. President George Washington, who thought it abhorrent to be king of the USA, set a precedent in the interest of Liberty by refusing to run for a third term.
SBO: I admire President George Washington, but my favorite is President John Kennedy who said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
A: I ask not what the government can do, because the Declaration of Independence is clear: the only purpose of law and of government is the protection of each man’s Life,
I ask not what I can do, because it has been immortalized by Presidents Lincoln and Jefferson: I can do as I please with myself and the product of my labor, within limits drawn around me by the equal rights of others.
I ask not what I can do for my fellowmen, because we are independent, sovereign entities endowed with equal rights.
I do assert every man’s inalienable rights! My government:
Ask not that I volunteer to be a slave; do solemnly swear to defend my freedom.
Ask not that I accept masochism and sadism as noble; do highly resolve to protect my right to pursue happiness.
Ask not that I condemn selfishness; do take increased devotion to honor and preserve its advocate: the Declaration of Independence.
Ask not how to limit the individual; ask how to get out of his way!
* * *
Oct 26, 2008
The choice in the Land of the Free has become: toward-socialism or toward-theocracy.
Socialism is a lesser evil. Thus, I hope the Republican Party will be demolished in November, and then a party for Individual Liberty will rise to clobber the Democratic Party.
Since every American is free to be a religionist, deist, atheist, or agnostic, there is no justification for injecting religion in a political party to achieve religious freedom. Thus, an organized religion that pursues a political agenda lusts for the power to use force to impose its beliefs.
Theocrats have hijacked the Republican Party.
Man, by nature, is fallible and not omniscient. Teenagers could make mistakes and get pregnant. The Republican Party holds that such youngsters have no window to change course, and must go through a lifetime paying for a mistake. The party holds itself as an advocate of life, yet champions forcing a woman, or even a girl, to suffer the toils of unchosen paths.
A political party that wants to impose a tortured life on a citizen is a monster. It is against happiness; hence, it is not pro-life. After imposing a no-abortion policy, it would prohibit birth control and divorce, by force. Think back – the power loom and anesthesia were denounced as sins; Galileo was convicted of heresy because he advocated that the Earth revolves around the sun.
* * *
Power-Lusters and their Serfdom-tool: Regulations
October 30, 2008
I cherish the principle of equal inherent inalienable rights because it adheres to my personal philosophy: I want to be happy, but never at the expense of anyone. I earn my own happiness. I don’t want anyone to sacrifice or to be regulated for me. I greatly appreciate acts of benevolence, and I am forever grateful to innovators who carry me along to a better existence where their brilliant minds take them.
It is in my own self-interest that active minds flourish. They can flourish only in freedom.
The response of power-lusters to great achievement is not admiration, but a desire to destroy or control. They succeed because many citizens evade that regulation is a form of slavery, and that their approval or silence is an endorsement of serfdom.
Regulations are used by politicians, their protégés, and constituents to lord it over wealth creators. As President George Washington would say, such tyranny and these tyrants are abhorrent.
Neither Senator Barack Obama nor Senator John McCain is an advocate of freedom. It is logical that they are both anti-capitalism. Senator Obama plans to spread the wealth around while Senator McCain’s hero is President Theodore Roosevelt, a dedicated antitrust enforcer.
Alan Greenspan says in his essay entitled Antitrust: "No one will ever know what new products, processes, machines, and cost-saving mergers failed to come into existence, killed by the
The following is from Mike Milken, a brilliant innovator who created millions of jobs, and consequently, tyrannized by power-lusters:
“In 1993, a new government health-plan proposal would have led to sweeping changes in the pharmaceutical industry, including what some feared would be regulation of rates of return on investments. This would have had a major impact on an industry in which it can take 14 years to bring a new drug to market. The ten largest companies in the industry lost a staggering $70 billion in market capitalization in only 14 months because of the mere possibility of regulated rates of return. Tragically, but logically, pharmaceutical companies responded by cutting research-and-development budgets in a necessary realignment of risk and return. While we'll never be able to measure what medical breakthroughs may have been lost or delayed, one thing is certain: corporate managements can never afford to ignore regulatory developments.
In the late 1980s, Congress passed the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), which typified a brief period of over-regulation that targeted insurance companies, bondholders, banks and other lenders. Well-meaning but ill-advised, FIRREA banned investments by savings and loan institutions in non-investment-grade companies and forced the S&Ls to sell existing loans that had been made to these enterprises — the very companies that create all the new jobs in America. (Over the last 30 years, more than 100 percent of jobs created in the
Thus, as recently as the late 20th century, the Congress of the United States effectively, albeit unknowingly, said it was illegal to provide capital to businesses headed by minorities and women or to any company that would create jobs. It was OK to make a mortgage loan that would build a building; but you couldn't finance the company that provided jobs for the people inside the building. That's why I called FIRREA and similar regulatory acts "neutron legislation" - like a neutron bomb, they left buildings standing but eliminated the people, or at least their jobs. Because only a handful of our 50 states have more than a few dozen "investment-grade" companies (some states have no such companies), Congress effectively redlined most regions of the country, reducing asset values and employment.”
Serfdom has bipartisan support in Congress, and we will soon have a president of like mind.
I hope citizens of mettle will rise to defend freedom -- that the nation conceived in
* * *
Unbridled Greed for the Power to Coerce
Nov 1, 2008
One who utters “unbridled greed” is maliciously envious. A politician, like Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama, uses this term to cover his unbridled greed for the power to coerce…
* * *
Many Americans thought, like King William, that Apollo was a radical. Like Ian, Apollo would agree. The presidential candidate decided on this path twenty-three years ago.
CHAPTER 3
Apollo Marianto turned twelve years old on March 22, 1989. On this day, his half-sister, Lisa Jones, was convicted for covering up “crimes” that were never proven.
Lisa was a trader's assistant for Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.. Not yet fourteen in 1978, she ran away from home in
In 1980, Drexel hired Lisa in a clerical position. The youngster with no formal education rose through the ranks to become a trader's assistant. Against all the odds, the teenage runaway made a success of herself. In January, 1988, she was earning over $100,000 a year.
As his sister burst into tears, Apollo felt revulsion at New York City Attorney General Giuliani. “Lisa’s remarkable American success story has been annihilated by Rudy Giuliani’s reign of tyranny,” he thought. “Giuliani’s unbridled greed for the power to coerce is made possible by vicious envy, undefined and flexible laws, some crooked judges, and the blessings of many in the press.” Lisa cried as the jury in her criminal trial announced that it had found her guilty of five counts of perjury and two counts of obstruction of justice.
From March to August 1991, the US Second District Court of Appeals in
Despite the reversals, the victims of Giuliani’s prosecutorial excesses greatly suffered. Innocent people and businesses were destroyed.
Apollo felt deep love for his sister and the man who invented a brilliant method of financing business ventures, created millions of jobs, and became a meteoric success: Mr. Mike Milken. Apollo found it abhorrent that the establishment losers in the marketplace, the maliciously envious, and the politically ambitious power-lusters, viciously tyrannized Mr. Milken. Apollo was outraged that Mr. Milken was deemed guilty of greed by the press and the public. “It is the height of irrationality, dishonesty, and viciousness to criminalize superb wealth and job creation. Mr. Milken earned his wealth without infringing a single man’s rights. His genius enabled over 3,200 companies to prosper and create 62 million jobs.”
Rudy Giuliani had threatened to indict Lisa Jones in an effort to get her to turn against Mr. Milken, but she refused to give in. Giuliani eventually prosecuted her. In cross-examination, the assistant
The words of Daniel Fischel, a professor of law and business at the University of Chicago Law School, were seared in Apollo’s mind: “Payback - The Conspiracy to Destroy Michael Milken and his Financial Revolution”:
Giuliani ordered the arrest of Timothy Tabor, a former arbitrageur at Kidder,
Judge Robert Stanton granted the request of the defendants for a speedy trial and turned down the request of Giuliani for a continuance. Having no case, the government had no choice but to dismiss the indictment.
Apollo was horrified by the tyranny that destroyed the careers and reputations of good men. But the press and the public were not.
On December 17, 1987, fifty federal marshals carrying guns and wearing bulletproof vests raided Princeton/Newport Partners, one of the most successful securities firm. The same night, the government investigator who signed the arrest warrants against Mr. Tabor, Mr. Wigton, and Mr. Freeman, was sent to see Lisa Jones. She refused to cooperate. The government gave her immunity to compel her to testify and expected her to incriminate her superiors at Drexel. But no matter what the government threatened, she stuck to her story.
The Princeton/Newport officers refused to plead guilty and rejected any promise of leniency in exchange for cooperation.
On August 4, 1988, the government indicted Jay Regan and four other Princeton/Newport officers for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO. Lisa’s boss at Drexel, Bruce Newberg, was also indicted.
Giuliani used RICO’s vague language as a potent weapon to coerce guilty pleas and punish those who refused to implicate others.
For years since 1986, the news department of the Wall Street Journal continuously reported illegal leaks from Giuliani that the government had “unearthed substantial evidence to support charges of criminal violations of securities laws by Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.” Week after week, reporters James Stewart, Daniel Hertzberg, and Laurie Cohen wrote one front-page story after another that read like prosecutorial briefs explaining to the public why Drexel and Mr. Milken were guilty of major crimes.
In April, 1988, New York Congressman John Dingell convened a congressional hearing for the sole objective of embarrassing Drexel and Mr. Milken. Dingell knew that Mr. Milken was under grand jury investigation and that his lawyer had informed the committee that he would take the Fifth Amendment and would refuse to answer questions. Dingell compelled him to appear anyway, so Mr. Milken was forced to listen to the Congressman’s tirade against junk bonds and hostile takeovers.
Apollo resolved to uphold Individual Liberty as he observed the government, mandated to protect Rights, bludgeon citizens because they had earned much wealth.
When Drexel’s CEO, Fred Joseph, was grilled about the “evils” of takeovers and junk bonds, he did not defend the good. Joseph opted to appease Dingell. His decision to cave was widely interpreted as a public admission of guilt.
By June of 1988, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC had decided to file a massive securities-fraud action against Drexel and Mr. Milken. Though they had been tried and convicted in the press, Drexel and Mr. Milken could not defend themselves because no charges had been filed. This repugnant government strategy was never questioned by the press. Instead, the press, with almost no exceptions, were eager participants in the destruction of pure greatness.
In September, 1988, the SEC filed a 183-page securities-fraud suit against Drexel, Mr. Milken, and others. Judge Milton Pollack immediately ordered that Drexel would not be allowed to defend itself against the SEC’s charges by subpoenaing witnesses or documents. Drexel and Mr. Milken, once again, had no ability to respond to the charges.
With so much advance buildup from the never-ending leaks, the SEC’s suit was a big anticlimax. The SEC simply could muster no evidence that Drexel and Mr. Milken had injured anybody. The press should have been filled with stories about how the suit showed the emperor has no clothes. Instead, the
Giuliani demanded that Drexel plead guilty and cooperate against Mr. Milken or face a RICO indictment.
In November, 1988, Giuliani indicted Lisa Jones for perjury. Prosecutor Mark Hansen told the jury that she lied to the grand jury to conceal Drexel’s involvement in the criminal tax trades in order to protect Drexel and her comfortable lifestyle.
In December, 1988, Princeton/Newport went out of business. A law directed at mob violence and organized crime was used by a tyrant to drive a highly successful company out of business before those indicted had a chance to defend themselves in a trial.
Drexel made a bargain with the devil on December 21, 1988. Drexel agreed to plead guilty, settle the SEC lawsuit, and fire Mr. Mike Milken and his bother, Mr. Lowell Milken. Naked tyranny was unleashed! The 1988 compensation owed to the Milkens were confiscated, though at that time, they had not been accused of any crime.
People who lusted after unbridled coercive power and who harbored unbridled envy succeeded in pulverizing the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
L. Gordon Crovitz of The Wall Street Journal wrote on January 26, 1989:
“RICO's Broken Commandments
Readers of the financial news are by now familiar with the word RICO, for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law. Readers may be surprised to learn, though, that there is actually a 398-page document that lays out specific guidelines federal prosecutors are to use in applying RICO.
The instructions for prosecutorial discretion in the federal prosecutors' RICO manual say, for instance, ‘It is not the policy of the Criminal Division to approve 'imaginative' prosecutions under RICO which are far afield from the congressional purpose of the RICO statute.’
The ‘activity which Congress most directly addressed,’ its preface says, is ‘the infiltration of organized crime into the nation's economy.’ The crimes to watch for are listed in its table of contents: Syndicated Gambling, Loansharking, Murder-for-Hire, and Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity.
Every use of RICO by
No Use for Plea Bargaining. ‘The use of RICO in a prosecution is also governed by the Principles of Federal Prosecution,’ the manual says, referring to a separate multi-volume guide on prosecutorial discretion. ‘Inclusion of a RICO count in an indictment solely or even primarily to create a bargaining tool for later plea negotiations on lesser counts would not be appropriate and would violate the Principles of Federal Prosecution.’
Little Use to Coerce Testimony. The manual's preface warns against threatening RICO to coerce testimony or cooperation. ‘It should be noted that only in exceptional circumstances will approval be granted when RICO is sought merely to serve some evidentiary purpose,’ the preface says.
No Use in Mail Fraud Cases. The manual strongly discourages concocting a RICO case built on tax and secondary allegations such as mail fraud: ‘The use of mail fraud as a predicate is not generally encouraged, particularly in cases where no other predicate crimes are charged.’
No Use in Tax Cases. Supervisors ‘will not approve a proposed RICO indictment that contains as predicates mail fraud charges concerning federal tax evasion or related violations, unless the use of those charges is first cleared with the Criminal Section of the Tax Division’ at Justice.
Little Use in Securities Cases. Among the racketeering activities listed in RICO is ‘fraud in the sale of securities,’ but not every securities case is supposed to be a potential RICO case.
Strict Limits on Pre-Trial Forfeiture. The manual says pre-trial forfeiture of assets can be appropriate where a defendant might otherwise ‘begin to dispose of them or transfer them to conceal them from the government.’
These guidelines make fascinating reading in light of recent prosecutions and the new
On one view, the twin purposes of the RICO case that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani brought against the partners of Princeton/Newport were to force a plea bargain and coerce testimony. Pressure for a plea grew after Mr. Giuliani invoked provisions for a pre-trial forfeiture of property. In the context of a securities firm, this reversal of the presumption of innocence meant that Princeton/Newport did not survive long enough to have a chance to defend itself in court.
When Mr. Giuliani seized firm assets, the securities firm's backers made the prudent calculation to pull their funds out before trial. Far from disposing of the assets subject to forfeiture, Princeton/Newport pleaded with prosecutors to be able to do the opposite. It wanted to hold on to funds so that it could stay in business, and even posted a bond.
The firm's lawyers contend that the prosecutors wanted a plea partly in the form of coerced testimony against Drexel Burnham Lambert, which traded with the firm, and Robert Freeman of Goldman Sachs, one of the three investment bankers Mr. Giuliani has been trying to reindict after having to drop initial charges for lack of evidence. The firm's lawyers labeled RICO a rubber hose.
‘The primary purpose (of the prosecution) in this case is to coerce the testimony of the defendants against principals at Drexel and Goldman Sachs,’ they said. One of the lawyers told this newspaper soon after the indictments that a prosecutor told him that ‘we have no real interest’ in Princeton/Newport, but that the firm ‘can help us with Drexel Burnham and others… If you cooperate, fine. If you don't, we are going to roll right over you to get where we want to go.’ Prosecutors deny making these comments.
The manual also suggests that Princeton/Newport should not have been hit with RICO for alleged tax violations. The core of the case was that the firm had allegedly created fraudulent tax dodges by creating false long-term capital gains and short-term capital losses. Despite this, the charges were not restricted to or even labeled as tax-code violations, but were racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud. The defendants argued that at most this should be a civil tax case. Ironically, after Princeton/Newport was in liquidation the government informed the partners that they had in fact overpaid their taxes during the years of the alleged racketeering activity.
It's worth taking a second look at Mr. Giuliani's first big RICO case. This was the much-celebrated 1984 case against Marc Rich, the wealthy oil trader. A close reading of the allegations shows that these also effectively reduce to tax charges. The core of the case is that Mr. Rich wrongly attributed domestic income to a foreign subsidiary. Again, this sounds like a standard civil tax issue, not RICO. Mr. Rich has stayed in
Anton Valukas, the
Using RICO in the
The lesson of Princeton/Newport was not lost on Drexel. After two years of flatly denying any wrongdoing, the Drexel board voted to settle rather than run the fatal risk established by Mr. Giuliani to any RICOed securities firm. Drexel agreed to plead a peculiar kind of guilty to six charges (none of which, incidentally, are for insider trading). It will plead guilty to charges ‘which the company is not in a position to dispute.’
The reason it is not able to dispute the charges does not have anything to do with available evidence or the wherewithal to pay its lawyers. It's RICO itself that made a defense of RICO impossible, and RICO that coerced the plea.
Ironically, just as RICO is expanding to cover disputes with legitimate business concerns, prosecutors are finding RICO ineffective against organized crime. Just this week, Federal Judge Thomas Griesa in
For that matter, while Drexel finds that paying $650 million and sacrificing Michael Milken to settle its case is the cheaper alternative to a RICO indictment or trial, the alleged head of the Gambino crime family this week walked away from a New York courtroom after posting a $100,000 bond. John Gotti was indicted for ordering the shooting of a union official. Mr. Gotti was acquitted in 1987 in a federal RICO trial. This time he was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morganthau in state court, so RICO is not even part of the case against him.
Perhaps the most interesting passage in the Justice Department manual is its indirect recognition of the seeds of RICO's self-destruction. ‘The Department's judicious and restrained use of RICO’, the manual says, ‘has been a significant factor in fending off attacks by groups who might like to see the statute's provisions sharply diluted.’”
Lisa was convicted on March 22, 1989. She was sentenced to serve eighteen months in prison. Also this month, the government filed a ninety-eight-count indictment against Mr. Mike Milken and his brother Lowell accusing them of racketeering, and securities, mail, and wire fraud.
The Princeton/Newport trial began in late June 1989. The trial judge, Judge Robert Carter, refused to allow the defense to offer evidence and expert testimony that the tax trades are legal based on relevant tax laws and regulations. Prosecutor Hansen told the jurors that they need not worry about technical nuances of law to convict under RICO.
Whether the defendants had in fact complied with the tax law became irrelevant in a case where they were accused of tax fraud!
The jury convicted the defendants on substantially all the charges. Envy and tyranny had triumphed.
Apollo vowed, “I will dedicate myself to upholding Individual Liberty.”
Mr. Fischel also wrote: “During the trial, the Justice Department adopted a major policy change making it practically impossible to base future RICO cases on tax offenses. The accompanying statement, in a thinly disguised slap at Rudy Giuliani, made clear that a change was required to prevent overzealous prosecutors from converting routine civil tax disputes into major criminal RICO prosecutions.
On appeal, the Second Circuit threw out the convictions for the tax trades. But, by then, the Princeton/Newport firm had been RICOed out of existence by Rudy Giuliani.
At the time of Lisa Jones’ trial, there had been as yet no proof that the tax trades were illegal. The Second Circuit’s reversal of the conviction of the Princeton/Newport defendants meant that Lisa Jones was prosecuted and convicted for defending tax trades that were not criminal. Unfortunately, she was unable to have her conviction overturned, though her sentence was reduced to ten months.”
But the popular media and the public were deaf, mute, and blind. Or on the side of Rudy Giuliani. The reign of tyranny marched on.
On February 13, 1990, Drexel declared bankruptcy. Benjamin Stein compared the fall of Drexel, a private company with no power to coerce, with the defeat of Nazi
The ninety-eight-count indictment against the Milkens contained nothing that was not already known from the SEC’s earlier civil suit against Drexel and the extensive press leaks. The indictment was like a tyrant with no clothes, but it disclosed the Milkens’ spectacular wealth up-front. The government understood that, to the envious, the Milkens’ compensation was sufficient to prove their guilt.
Apollo witnessed what his hero, Jose Rizal, wrote in a novel: “It’s not criminals who provoke great hatred, it’s honest men.”
Mike Milken's legendary Wall Street career began in 1969 when he joined the firm that would become Drexel Burnham Lambert. Having completed in-depth studies of financial history and debt at the
Over two decades, Mr. Milken financed more than 3,200 companies that became engines of job creation beginning with his very first transaction, which helped assure Boeing's market leadership through the rest of the century.
Starting in Drexel's fixed-income research department, Mike eventually assumed responsibility for a wide range of financing that used more than 50 types of securities in 14 asset categories to provide customers with a full range of debt and equity services to match their capital-structure needs. By 1976, he had established unrivalled credibility and trust by building up the quality of Drexel's debt research: the financial theories he developed in the 1960s had been proven in the world's markets.
A report stated, “Mike didn't just head a lot of different departments in his work at Drexel. He and his colleagues created what is today a major part of the structure of global finance based on their financial innovations in the 1970s. This structure - now taken for granted and taught in every business school - powered job growth in
His most important work was financing entrepreneurs who had good ideas for building companies that became significant engines of job growth. Based on his studies during the 1960s and his practical experience in the 1970s, Mike was determined to focus, first, on cash flow rather than reported earnings; and second, to consider human capital part of the balance sheet. He changed entire industries where smaller players simply did not have access to capital until he provided it. In home building, which employs millions of people directly and through subcontracting, Milken financed KB Homes, now the largest company in the industry, as well as Toll Brothers, MDC Homes, Hovnanian Enterprises, Oriole Homes, U.S. Home and many others. These are companies that literally built the American Dream.
In entertainment, MGM, News Corp., Viacom and Time Warner were all Milken-financed. In the toy industry: Toys-R-Us, Mattel, Hasbro and LeapFrog. In hospitality: Hilton, Days Inn, Holiday Inn and others. Convenience stores include 7-11 (Southland Corp.) and Circle K.
Safeway is a company with 200,000 employees in almost 1,800 stores across the
Cellphones are in just about everyone's pocket today. The industry started in the early 1980s when Milken financed a small company called McCaw Cellular Communications.
Another way to look at the impact Mr. Milken has had is to consider just one state.
Milken was also a pioneer in providing access to capital for minorities and women. In the early 1980s, he received hate mail and even a death threat for financing African-American entrepreneurs like Reg Lewis. Before Milken, no woman had ever headed a publicly traded company that she had not inherited; Milken was the first to finance such a company.
Some of the other companies Mr. Milken financed include: AMC Entertainment; Bally's Manufacturing; Barnes & Noble; Beatrice; Cablevision; Caesars World; Calvin Klein; Chiquita Brands Int'l; Duracell; Filene's Basement; GAF Corp.; General Host Corp.; Kay Jewelers; Knoll Int'l; MCI; Medco; Mellon Bank; Metromedia; Philadelphia Electric; Playtex; Sunshine Mining; TCI; Uniroyal Goodrich; and Telemundo.”
Apollo recorded in his journal, “Mr. Mike Milken earned his wealth honestly and with the greatest honor – by using his mind to create a brilliant innovation.
But the land of the free is free no more. The rich with no political connections are deemed criminals because they are rich. The principle of equal inherent inalienable rights has been annihilated by Giuliani, the SEC, many in the press, and the envious. Tyranny, envy, and irrationality reign.”
The government’s evidence of guilt was the following:
Direct Compensation from Drexel Mike
1983 $ 45,715,000
1984 123,805,000 10,180,000
1985 135,324,000 16,674,000
1986 294,779,000 27,209,000
1987 550,054,000 48,059,000
The full might of the
In April 1990, Mike Milken pled guilty to six “felonies” and agreed to pay $600 million, consisting of $200 million fine and an additional $400 million for the creation of a restitution fund to compensate “victims”.
Mike Milken was a tough and formidable competitor who was despised by the Wall Street and business establishment he displaced. His success made him the envy of many, both in and out of the financial world. He was an outsider who made it big by ignoring the unspoken rule that outsiders must know their place and not rock the boat. There is no evidence that he committed any crimes, and certainly no evidence that he engaged in any conduct that had ever before been considered criminal. After the most thorough investigation of any individual’s business practices in history, the government came up with nothing. In fact, the government never established that Mr. Milken’s “crimes” were anything other than routine business practices common in the industry.
After all the leaks and accusations, the Fatico hearing exposed the government’s case as a bust even though the government had every advantage. Mr. Milken’s lawyer had demolished the government’s case but Mike was still a convicted felon awaiting sentencing. On November 21, 1990, he was sentenced by Judge Kimba Wood to serve ten years in prison.
At this time, math wizard Apollo had sold several software packages which earned him millions. He invested in the stock market.
In 1992, Mike Milken and other ex-Drexel employees settled hundreds of civil lawsuits. He paid over $1 billion to resolve claims against him though it was pure and simple legal extortion.
On August 5, 1992 Judge Wood reduced Mr. Milken’s ten-year sentence to twenty-four months. This was after her colleague, Judge Stanton, had publicly stated that one of the six felonies that Mr. Milken pleaded to was not even a crime. The Second Circuit had also reversed a slew of Rudy Giuliani’s convictions for the same conduct that Mr. Milken was accused of.
Apollo wrote in his journal: “The reign of envy and tyranny is an unholy alliance of the establishment displaced by brilliant innovation and the ‘decade-of-greed’ destroyers, aided by unscrupulous power-lusters: government lawyers like Rudy Giuliani. This alliance, coupled with a corrupt press and some crooked judges, is a national abomination.”
Mr. Mike Milken was released from prison in March 1993. Apollo turned sixteen in this month and year, a multimillionaire.
Rudy Giuliani became New York City Mayor in 1994. The voters sanctioned tyranny and the unholy alliance.
In 1995, eighteen-year-old billionaire Apollo graduated summa cum laude from
A year later, he met Diana and Ian Washington in
In the same year, thirty-nine-year-old Eliot Spitzer became the New York City Attorney General. Within two years, he became the most powerful man in Wall Street. He greatly enjoyed being feared by industry giants. In the guise of protecting consumers, his office became the country's foremost regulator of the financial services industry.
Apollo noted, “After the tremendous success of the unholy alliance in tyrannizing Mr. Mike Milken, Spitzer has discarded all pretense to decency. His press leaks of regulatory investigations cause stock declines and losses forcing businesses to kowtow to his whims. King Eliot sees no need to prepare cases for trial since a company goes bankrupt before it is even indicted. Like a power-crazed king, he gleefully wields the power to destroy any company and any businessman.”
Wall Street became power-luster Spitzer's kingdom. He had the gun to terrorize Wall Street: New York State's Martin Act. He had jurisdiction since most financial firms and many of their clients were based in
Only in the state that persecuted Mike Milken. Only in
The lawyer also said, “Federal agencies are confined to narrow jurisdictions. The SEC lords it over securities issues, the Federal Trade Commission wields power over antitrust matters, and the Justice Department prosecutes fraud. But Spitzer has unlimited powers. Functioning as a one-stop prosecutorial and regulatory shop, he can, at his own discretion, indict any executive on securities fraud and levy antitrust charges at any company.”
Spitzer took advantage of the nature of the jobs of top executives: they were corporate officers with company assets and reputations to protect. Instead of presenting facts to a grand jury, he issued press releases. Corporate executives thought they had no other recourse but to bow and bend to Spitzer.
King Eliot pursued Merrill Lynch's investment banking and research practices. He issued a press release announcing "a shocking betrayal of trust by one of Wall Street's most trusted names." This caused Merrill Lynch to lose $5 billion in market value in a few days. It quickly settled. The investment banking world buckled under pressure when King Eliot alleged that they issued biased research to curry favor with investment-banking clients, and that they gave executives of client-companies special access to shares in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Piper Jaffray was fined $25 million. In the landmark December Global Settlement, major firms: Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Smith Barney, and UBS - agreed to pay a total fine of $1.435 billion, to sever the links between research and investment banking, to ban the spinning of IPOs, and to commit to purchase independent third-party market research for five years and thus subsidize such research firms.
King Eliot boasted, “This agreement will permanently change the way Wall Street operates.” Punishment, remedy, and structural change.
King Eliot egregiously defiled the Declaration of Independence mandate that the use of force be used solely to protect Rights.
Next, King Eliot terrorized the mutual fund industry. He intimidated Edward Stern, a hedge fund manager who had set up late-trading and rapid-trading deals with several mutual funds. Mr. Stern cooperated. Then, King Eliot extorted a series of settlements with major mutual fund companies like Janus, MFS, and Strong Capital. Companies caved in to King Eliot’s demands. They paid fines and reduced fees for investors. King Eliot ecstatically puffed. Punishment, remedy, and structural change!
Spitzer investigations became an invitation for shareholder lawsuits. To appease King Eliot, CEOs resigned, top executives were replaced, and millions in fees were refunded. King Eliot lorded it over the business world.
King Eliot accused commercial insurance companies of bid-rigging. Consequently, the stocks of the accused corporations, like AIG (American International Group, Inc.) and Marsh & McLennan, plummeted, losing a combined $38 billion in market capitalization. Terror gripped the insurers as King Eliot indicated that an industry-wide investigation had just begun.
Absolute terror reigned in Wall Street and in Corporate America. Tyrants had demonstrated in Mike Milken’s case that, notwithstanding the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, businessmen were not protected by the Constitution. Spectacular success in one’s profession, without rights-infringement, had been condemned as unbridled greed for profits, and deemed the worst crime.
Envious minds were so rotten they couldn’t appreciate that profits earned by using reason and not compulsion is good, that spectacular profits meant more investments for more wealth and jobs.
Some of the companies terrorized by Spitzer would collapse:
In 2008, three of the largest
Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was founded as an equity trading house in 1923 by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer, with $500,000 in capital. The firm survived the Wall Street Crash of 1929 without laying off any employees. Based in
But Bear Stearns would not survive the subprime mortgage crisis and other mistakes of such magnitude that only the government could make. In 2008, unable to sell assets to meet liquidity requirements, solvent but not liquid Bear Stearns would be sold to JPMorgan Chase for ten dollars per share, a price far below its 52-week high of $133.20 per share.
Six months after acquiring Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase would be the only bank prepared to acquire the assets of Washington Mutual after seizure by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). These would save nearly 40,000 jobs and would provide market stability.
Government intervention into the housing and financial industries caused the subprime mortgage crisis. The Clinton and Bush administrations used government’s coercive power to increase homeownership. The Federal government leaned on the mortgage industry, including government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to lower lending standards. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) mortgage policies fueled risky lending.
In 1995, the GSEs began receiving government incentive payments for purchasing mortgage-backed securities which included loans to lowincome borrowers. Subprime mortgage originations would rise by 25% per year between 1994 and 2003, resulting in a nearly ten-fold increase in the volume of subprime mortgages in just nine years. The relatively high yields on these securities, in a time of low interest rates, would be very attractive to Wall Street. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac subprime mortgage purchases would encourage the entire subprime market.
In 1996, HUD directed the GSEs to devote at least 42% of their mortgage purchases to those issued to borrowers whose household income was below the median in their area. This target would be increased to 50% in 2000 and 52% in 2005.
To fulfill their government mandate to make home buying more affordable, from 2002 to 2006, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined purchases of subprime securities would rise from $38 billion to around $175 billion per year before dropping to $90 billion. The total subprime securities market for this time period would rise from $172 billion to nearly $500 billion and then would go down to $450 billion.
By 2008, the GSEs would own, either directly or through mortgage pools they sponsored, $5.1 trillion in residential mortgages, about half the amount outstanding. Yet, their net worth as of June 30, 2008 would be only US$114 billion.
In September 2008, reality would sink in - the highly leveraged GSEs would crumble. The Federal government would place them into a conservatorship, effectively nationalizing them at the taxpayers' expense.
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), passed by the 95th United States Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, encouraged lending to any borrower. Amendments to the CRA in the mid-1990s raised the amount of mortgages issued to otherwise unqualified lowincome borrowers, and allowed the securitization of CRA-regulated mortgages, even though a fair number of them were subprime.
The government owned the monetary system. Government mistakes enforced by force wiped out many businesses, impacting the entire economy. The Federal Reserve, SEC, FDIC, housing policies, government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Attorney Generals, wreaked havoc on the economy.
In 1844, 23-year-old Henry Lehman, the son of a cattle merchant, emigrated to the
On September 15, 2008, the firm would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing would mark the largest bankruptcy in
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. was a global financial services firm founded on January 6, 1914. It would be acquired by Bank of America on January 1, 2009.
In November 2007, Merrill Lynch would announce it would write-down $8.4 billion in losses associated with the national housing crisis. In July of 2008, Merrill Lynch would announce $4.9 billion fourth quarter losses for the company from defaults and bad investments in the mortgage crisis. In one year, between July 2007 and July 2008, Merrill Lynch would lose $19.2 billion or $52 million daily. The company's stock price would also decline significantly during this time.
While struggling to survive yet desirous of maintaining its integrity, Merrill Lynch would offer to buy back $12 billion in auction-rate securities. A week later, in August 2008, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would threaten to sue Merrill Lynch, accusing the company of misrepresenting the risk of mortgage-backed securities, grossly evading that government-licensed rating agencies gave AAA ratings to these securities.
On September 5, 2008 Goldman Sachs would downgrade Merrill Lynch's stock to "conviction sell" and would warn of further losses from the company. Bloomberg would report in September 2008 that Merrill Lynch had lost $51.8 billion in mortgage-backed securities as part of the subprime mortgage crisis.
AIG and Citigroup were thought to be too big to fail, but they would fail, paving the way to nationalization.
King Eliot derived satisfaction from seeing fear in the faces of successful individuals. In the spring of 2000, he arrived at Lisa Jones Inc.
“Hello Apollo!” Spitzer gleefully greeted as he entered Apollo’s office. The Attorney General eagerly anticipated the look of desperation masked by obsequiousness.
“Mr. Spitzer.” Apollo did not attempt to hide his contempt.
“Breaking news and headlines within the hour will report that Lisa Jones Inc. and its CEO are under investigation.” The king did not feel bound to state the charges. “You will lose everything and rot in prison.”
“You threaten in my private property. Get out of my room in a minute and out of my building in five, or else.” Apollo’s face was as calm as his voice.
“Great pain awaits you, brother of Lisa Jones!” Spitzer snarled and then hastily left.
Shortly, an email was sent to all employees and stockholders of Lisa Jones Inc. announcing that CEO Apollo Marianto would speak in ten minutes. The speech would be broadcast over the building’s public address system and on the company’s website.
Apollo’s voice was clear and fearless. “Dear investors and colleagues: the New York City Attorney General personally delivered a message a few minutes ago. Quote - Breaking news and headlines within the hour will report that Lisa Jones Inc. and its CEO are under investigation. – unquote. I expect armed troopers and reporters to arrive at any minute.”
A hundred
“Use the stairs.”
“Marianto is at the top floor. This is obstruction of justice. Think again. Hard!”
“No one is obstructing you to use the stairs.”
“Get me your building administrator.”
“No one is obstructing you to go get him.”
“Where is he?”
“I plead the Fifth.”
The hundred troopers in the building listened to Apollo’s speech. Many turned on their two-way radios enabling the troopers around the building to hear it, too.
“This company has very high standards. I am proud of our hard work, integrity, and first-class business. I have never infringed nor will I ever violate anyone’s rights.
The Attorney General revels in violating
I am honored to use the words of Patrick Henry: Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, or wealth and jobs so precious as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? There is but one course – give me liberty or give me death!
The essence of a respecter of freedom and his opposite is: A respecter of man’s rights is self-reliant, thus, selfish. A dependent has no self-esteem, thus, selfless -- dependence breeds moochers, looters, and power-lusters.
I am proud to hold selfishness as a virtue. A selfish man does not rule nor can he be ruled. If the government deems selfishness a crime, then it has outlawed the Declaration of Independence and Individual Liberty. If a rich, successful individual is deemed a criminal for his wealth, then society has enshrined envy and irrationality as the good. If a brilliant achievement is considered depraved, then evil has triumphed.
I interact with others by reason and persuasion. I create wealth and jobs without infringing anyone’s Rights. I offer my best to the market place. My best creates economic power which the intellectually dishonest equate with coercive power. Economic power uses the tools of reason, persuasion, and innovation – it is devoid of coercive power. The government holds the legal monopoly to use force. When it intimidates a citizen, it has abandoned reason. It is no longer a protector but an aggressor.
Any law, any government act that infringes individual rights is unconstitutional. Patrick Henry said: ‘The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it comes to dominate our lives and interests.’
Power-crazed individuals defile the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. A government that tramples on Rights has taken on the role of a thug.
President George Washington would say: King Eliot Spitzer, his ilk, and their facilitators are abhorrent!
The Attorney General has decided to destroy this company. To compromise with tyranny is to strengthen it. To expose the impotence of tyrants is to glorify freedom. Is my life so dear or this company so precious as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I honor decent people who have been tyrannized – give me liberty or give me death!”
Eighty-five troopers walked out of the building. Those who remained looked at their chief for directions. He asked them to follow the others and go back to their precincts. He removed his bulletproof vest and handed it to his second-in-command.
The chief trooper faced the security guard. “I have a warrant for Mr. Marianto. Let me do my job.”
As the chief trooper entered the elevator, many television crews broadcast live that the troopers were leaving the Lisa Jones Inc. building with no sign of Apollo Marianto. Photographers and reporters recorded every detail of the events.
The door to Apollo’s office was opened by his secretary. The chief trooper did not enter. Though he felt revulsion that his noble job had been perverted by a politician, his serious face registered no other emotion as he looked at Apollo. Apollo walked towards the chief trooper, and then followed him to the elevator.
Camera flashes exploded as the chief trooper and Apollo exited the Lisa Jones Inc. building. Apollo was not in handcuffs. He walked with the bearing of a free man: proud and unafraid.
Trade volume in the Lisa Jones Inc. stock spiked up. Within the hour, instead of declining, the stock price rose by 20%! In the next hour, the price doubled. Bill Gates had instructed his broker to buy the stock; he deposited $5 billion of his personal money for the stock purchase. CEOs like John Allison of BB&T Inc. had done likewise, as much as they could afford. Many employees of the 3,200 companies that Mike Milken financed into prosperity emptied their savings to buy Lisa Jones Inc. stock. Numerous residents in
There were no sellers.
Press releases from the Attorney General’s office flowed. The popular media that battered Mike Milken rehashed their vitriol.
“Apollo Marianto is the resurrection of the decade of greed!”
“The unbridled greed and arrogance of a self-confessed selfish man merit extreme punishment!”
“The selfish speech – evil knows no bounds!”
“Pure evil – unbridled selfishness!”
“Marianto threatened Attorney General Spitzer!”
Apollo had been studying law and would take the bar examinations in a year. He did not hire a lawyer nor request bail. He did not answer any of the prosecutors’ questions. Spitzer ordered the arrest of other Lisa Jones Inc. employees, but everyone followed Apollo’s lead.
Apollo’s sister worried, “The inmates might believe the media’s vitriol that Apollo is evil.” She was terrified that inmates might hurt or kill Apollo.
In jail, inmates asked Apollo about making spectacularly huge amounts of money.
“How could you make so much money without being a crook?”
“My mind and my effort create new wealth. If I did not think and endeavor, the new wealth I have created would not have existed. This fact shows that such wealth has not been taken from anyone. The Wright brothers invented the airplane – they created a value – no one had that value before. Thomas Edison created many great things. His inventions raised the standard of living for everyone. As a consequence of inventing more efficient products and methods, others are displaced. But such displacements are temporary and for the better. When a cart is displaced by a car, the cart manufacturer is displaced – if he values progress, he would endeavor to learn a trade involving the more efficient invention – this way, his displacement is temporary.
A valuer of the good distinguishes between the earned and the unearned. If the cart manufacturer is such a valuer, he would admire, not resent, the car inventor. In a free market, in a society where only reason and persuasion are used in production and trade, the only way to acquire wealth is to earn it.
Those who desire the unearned advocate the use of compulsion – they are looters. Lacking self-esteem, they believe they can’t compete in a free market. They don’t respect others and themselves – instead of living by their own effort, they claim entitlement to the fruits of their fellowmen’s labors. Those who do not distinguish between the earned and the unearned are intellectually dishonest. Those who champion regulation and expropriation are no respecters of rights.”
A young inmate named Ben Allen stayed silent but his mind was fired up. The words of Apollo stirred his soul.
A man twice Apollo’s age said, “There is a consensus that selfishness is evil. You don’t care if your stockholders lose money or if your employees lose their jobs. Not caring about others is evil.”
“My values are in a hierarchy.
“Everybody says you are evil. Who are you to say everybody is wrong?”
“I think I’m good while almost everyone in the press and the population thinks otherwise. What do I go by? The truth, which I could objectively arrive at by using reason and logic. Not infringing anyone’s rights is good. Achieving wealth without such infringement is glorious. Many denounce the achievement of spectacular wealth as unbridled evil, but they evade the means by which that wealth is achieved. Such evasion is a great injustice. It destroys the good; hence, it is evil.”
“The media say you thumb your nose at public opinion. Why do you disrespect society?”
“I respect a society that respects Rights. I go by reason and logic, by my own mind. One who goes by public opinion or consensus is a second-hander, not an independent thinker. A second-hander, one with no self-esteem, primarily cares about what others think while a first-hander, a selfish independent thinker, primarily cares about the truth, his sacred honor, and his happiness.”
“Spitzer and the popular media tout that your refusal to answer the questions of prosecutors is tantamount to an acceptance of guilt.”
“They defile the Constitution.”
Some who hated Apollo wished he would be harmed in jail, but the inmates did not feel any resentment towards him. The night before Apollo was to appear before a Grand Jury, his cellmate was replaced by a tall, muscled man with a scowling face. At his most intimidating, the man stared at Apollo.
Apollo did not acknowledge him in any way.
As soon as the lights were out, Apollo’s cellmate pounced. Thuds and grunts were heard by inmates in the nearby cells. There was a snap of broken bones, and then a final thud on the floor.
Apollo appeared before the Grand Jury without a scratch. He proved that brute force was no match against a dedicated mind.
Apollo answered all questions. His succinct, erudite replies impressed the grand jurors. They pondered his words:
“I make much money for myself and my investors. I create wealth through sustained thinking and innovating. I trade with others using reason and persuasion. I worship
I have delegated my right to self-defense to the government mandated by the Constitution to secure equal inherent inalienable rights. I await that government to do its noble mandate.”
The Grand Jury ascertained that the evidence presented against Apollo did not warrant trial.
Out of jail and walking to a waiting car, Apollo was asked by a young reporter named Eli Clark, “Mr. Marianto, what happened when you told Mr. Spitzer to get out of your office and the Lisa Jones, Inc. building, or else?”
“King Eliot did not stay to find out.”
“What would you have done?”
“I would have called the police.”
Eliot Spitzer remained very popular. He was called "Sheriff of Wall Street" and "Mr. Clean". Time magazine also named him "Crusader of the Year". He became
A man with the initials AG silently suffered as attorney generals viciously lorded it over Corporate America and then went on to win elections. AG felt deep sorrow as politically ambitious power-lusters conducted press conferences to accuse and convict in the limelight instead of drawing up an indictment for a grand jury.
“I have utterly failed in my mission,” AG lamented. “I have endeavored to persuade several
Thinking of a profound value he had revered for decades, AG saluted her, “To the glory of man!”
A year and two months after Eliot Spitzer became governor, a news item reported, “
In 2008, the irrational, non-free housing and financial industries collapsed. Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac crashed. Top investment banks and the biggest financial institutions suffered billions upon billions of losses.
AG mused, “For decades, spectacular profits have been decried as a symbol of unbridled greed and depravity. Citizens of the world, why then do you fear unbridled losses? Many hailed the destruction of great wealth and job creators while others shrugged in apathy - why then do you fear massive layoffs? If you do not recognize the unknown ideal: capitalism, if you continue to clobber and jail businessmen for their spectacular success – you are doomed.”
AG thought of Apollo. “Young Marianto has the ferocious passion of Patrick Henry, the genius of Thomas Jefferson, and the integrity of George Washington. He will rise to defend freedom.”
After the 2008 elections, Apollo decided to run for the presidency in 2012. He finalized his strategy and methodically carried out his action plans. He was inspired by his heroes. “Good people desire
Apollo formed a political party. He named it in honor of a man he greatly admired: MikeMilkenist Party. Although ignored by many, Apollo continued to work hard to achieve his objectives. He used the Internet effectively.
In a live broadcast, Apollo declared his party’s fundamentals. “A political party based on reason, the MikeMilkenist Party honors the most glorious achievement on Earth: the Declaration of Independence. This party adheres to the philosophy of Objectivism, and holds that religion is a private choice for each individual.
My party’s concretes shall never contradict these fundamentals.
The MikeMilkenist Party salutes the uncommon man. A man of integrated body and soul, the uncommon man esteems his own mind and values happiness. He respects himself no matter how poor he may be and endeavors to rise to the greatest heights. He takes pride in work and achievement. He glories in pursuits of genius and happiness. He reveres
The Declaration of Independence states, ‘We hold these truths …’
The truth is what conforms to reality. Honesty is the pursuit of truth; it is the refusal to evade or fake reality. George Washington said, ‘I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.’
The exalted purity to the pursuit of truth belongs to the field of philosophy. Objectivism advocates capitalism as the consequence and the ultimate practical application of its fundamental philosophical principles. Politics, the fourth branch of philosophy, is based on metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. The political principles of this party are based on the facts of man’s nature and of man’s relationship to existence.
An intellectually honest individual concerned about alleviating human poverty and suffering uses the law of identity and the law of causality to discover their cause. A century laden with proofs, the unprecedented prosperity-explosion after the founding of the
The metaphysically given is the standard of right or wrong. In order to succeed, an individual’s values and actions must conform to metaphysically given facts. Man cannot fly, so the Wright brothers invented the airplane; they found a way to counteract the force of gravity. Man cannot walk on water, so we build boats. Man cannot move a mountain, but we can build a tunnel through it. We can’t prevent earthquakes, so we must erect buildings that could withstand them. Man is a mortal being - doctors and pharmaceutical industries try to save and prolong lives.
The purpose of epistemology is to define a method of cognition that makes a fallible being capable of truth, a method that enables man to gain knowledge of an independent reality. Objectivity requires this method of cognition: logic.
Logic is noncontradictory identification within the full context of one’s knowledge.
Epistemology is a practical necessity – it guides man in the proper use of his conceptual faculty. Thinking, to be valid, must adhere to reality. If man’s goal is knowledge, rather than error or delusion, he must use reason.
Reason is the faculty that organizes perceptual units in conceptual terms by following the principles of logic. Reason is the existence-oriented faculty. It is the faculty of proof.
Knowledge, i.e. knowledge of reality, is contextual and hierarchical. Man’s only direct contact with reality is the data of sense – therefore, they are the standard of objectivity. Reduction is the means of connecting an advanced knowledge to reality, i.e. to the perceptually given, by retracing the essential logical structure of its hierarchical roots. Proof is a form of reduction.
Logic is the means of validating a conclusion objectively. Including the recognition of context and hierarchy, logic is the method of achieving objectivity. Only by using logic could man base his conclusions on reality.
Ayn Rand created Objectivism. It states that there are, in essence, three schools of thought on the nature of the good: the intrinsic, the subjective, and the objective.
The intrinsic theory holds that the good is inherent in certain things or actions as such. If a man believes that an action is good in, by, and of itself, he will not hesitate to force others to perform them. Like Robespierre, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, he will regard wholesale slaughter as his moral duty in the service of a “higher” good.
Extreme subjectivism does not recognize the concept of identity. Moderate or middle-of-the-road subjectivism is the belief that metaphysical reality is not a firm absolute, and thus can be altered by the perceiver’s feelings, wishes, or whims. This doctrine holds that man needs no objective principles of action, and that he can, somehow, live, act, and achieve his goals apart from and/or in contradiction to the facts of reality, i.e. apart from and/or in contradiction to his own nature and the nature of the universe.
Subjectivism negates reality and advocates the arbitrary and the blindly emotional. Today’s moralists claim that ethics is a subjective issue and that the three things barred from its field are: reason — mind — reality.
The existential monument to subjectivism is the present state of our culture. Subjectivists advocate pragmatism and altruism. Pragmatism is the philosophy of the Progressive movement in this country.
Objectivism further states that the two points central to the pragmatist ethics and politics are: a formal rejection of all fixed standards – and an unquestioning absorption of the prevailing standards. The subjectivist denies that there is any such thing as “the truth” on a given question, the truth which corresponds to the facts. He claims there is no truth, even of a statement he accepts, only truth relative to an individual or group.
By itself, as a distinctive theory, the pragmatist ethics has no content. It preaches “practicality”, but does not specify any “rigid” set of values that could define the concept. So, it appropriates value codes formulated by others without acknowledging them. In politics, pragmatism presents itself as opposed to “extremes” of any kind, whether capitalist or socialist; it avows that it is relativist, “moderate”, or centrist. Without its own standards, it names a political principle imported from
Objectivists say:
An honest man does not desire until he has identified the object of his desire. He says: “It is, therefore I want it.”
Acting on whim and not on principle, subjectivists say: “I want it, therefore it is.”
Objectivity is both a metaphysical and an epistemological concept pertaining to the relationship of consciousness to existence. Metaphysically, it is the recognition of the fact that reality exists independent of any perceiver’s consciousness. Epistemologically, it is the recognition of the fact that a man’s consciousness must acquire knowledge of reality by means of reason in accordance with logic.
Objectivity holds that in matters pertaining to human knowledge, metaphysically - reality is the only authority; epistemologically – one’s own intellect. Reality is the ultimate arbiter of the mind. In all aspects of human existence, man achieves his values only by making his decisions consonant with the facts of reality.
Axiomatic concepts are the foundation of objectivity. Objectivism has three axioms: existence exists, consciousness, and the law of identity: Aristotle’s A is A. Axioms are perceptual self-evidencies. They are the starting points of cognition, on which all proofs depend.
A is A, and contradictions are impossible. Every entity has a specific, noncontradictory nature. It is self-evident that an entity can act only in accordance with its nature. The law of causality is the law of identity applied to action. Causality is a corollary of identity. All actions are caused by entities. The nature of an action is caused and determined by the nature of the entities that act; a thing cannot act in contradiction to its nature.
A fundamental principle to the metaphysics of Objectivism is the primacy of existence. Existence comes first. Things are what they are independent of consciousness. Consciousness is a dependent – its function is to grasp that which exists.
Many people think that a personal interest is an agent of distortion. But “personal” does not mean “nonobjective”. The more passionately personal the thinking of a man who knows that reality is not the enemy, that truth and knowledge are of crucial, personal, selfish importance to one’s life, the clearer and truer.
Ethics, i.e. morality, is an objective, metaphysical necessity of man’s survival. Man needs a code of morality for the purpose of self-preservation. Ethics is a code of values to guide man’s choices and actions in determining the purpose and the course of his life.
The standard of good is exalted in the Declaration of Independence: man’s life!
Man’s life is the standard of value – and his own life is the ethical purpose of every individual man.
The Declaration of Independence states, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. …’
A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. It is the sanction of an independent action. It is that which can be exercised without anyone’s permission. Freedom of action means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion, or interference by other men.
There is only one fundamental right: a man’s right to his own life. The right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action for the support, furtherance, and enjoyment of one’s life. This right is the source of all rights – and the right to property is their only implementation. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, he has the right to the product of his efforts. Like all rights, the right to property is a right to action – it is the right to the action and the consequences of producing or earning material values.
The very right upon which an individual acts defines the same right of another man, and serves as a guide to tell him what he may or may not do. What forbids an individual to kill another man is not society, but the inalienable right to live. This is not a “compromise” between two rights nor a limit arbitrarily set by society, but a division that preserves both rights untouched. Within the sphere of one’s rights, one’s freedom is absolute.
The principle of political freedom, i.e., an individual’s freedom from physical compulsion, coercion, or interference by the government, is the first consequence of the principle of individual rights. The next is the economic implementation of political freedom: capitalism.
Capitalism is a social system based on the principle of individual rights. The MikeMilkenist Party exalts Ayn Rand’s words:
‘When I say "capitalism", I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism - with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.
There can be no compromise between freedom and government controls; to accept "just a few controls" is to surrender the principle of inalienable individual rights and to substitute for it the principle of the government's unlimited, arbitrary power, thus delivering oneself into gradual enslavement.’
The Declaration of Independence explicitly states the only function of government: ‘ — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — …’
A government could interfere with the economy through the initiation of force, and/or through socialized industries. Neither is compatible with the sublime function of government. The recognition of rights, specifically property rights, creates an economic system in which production and distribution are privately or corporately owned: capitalism. It is the only moral political system because it is the only system dedicated to the protection of rights, which is a requirement for human survival and flourishing.
The signatories to the Declaration of Independence, their constituents, George Washington, and his men, thought it practical to have a social system based on individual liberty. The result of their philosophy is individual rights, freedom, and capitalism. History has proven them right. Their philosophy brought about a century of international peace, and the rise of the business mentality, leading to the magnificent growth of industry and of prosperity.
A proper philosophic system is comprehensive and integrated. A principled man has firm fundamentals which dictate his ethics and politics. All his choices, goals, and actions proceed from his principles.
The MikeMilkenist Party is grounded in the Declaration of Independence and the philosophy of Objectivism. My party holds that practical politics is based on objectivity – it proclaims that practicality can be based only on reality, reason, and logic.
I will never impose my values on any respecter of Rights. I will champion a government that protects and preserves Rights.
Individuals who seek a government job must be dedicated to the protection of Rights which could only mean equal inherent inalienable individual rights. Like Thomas Jefferson, I am of firm conviction that the political principle based on the recognition of Rights and a government whose sole function is to secure Rights is the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern.
One who holds that self-interest or individual liberty clashes with public interest fails to recognize that barring coercion from human relationships is the only way to promote the general welfare. The alternative is a society of masters and slaves, of thugs and victims.
My campaign heeds the words of the exalted political beau ideals. ‘Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light,’ declared President George Washington. ‘Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day,’ proclaimed President Thomas Jefferson. He also avowed, ‘I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.’
I will do my best to reach the mind of every man.
On the carrying of arms, I agree with these revered Presidents: ‘The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.’ ‘Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes ... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.’ Dr. Benjamin Franklin added: ‘Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
President Thomas Jefferson said, ‘It is an insult to our citizens to question whether they are rational beings or not, and blasphemy against religion to suppose it cannot stand the test of truth and reason.’
During the founding of our nation, many were deists. A deist is one who believes in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation. A deist thinks, ‘It is evident in man’s possession of free will that the Creator does not pleasure in robots, zombies, or yes-men; God does not want to impose on men. The brilliant intricacy of the human mind and body, coupled by the vastness of the challenges presented by the universe, is evidence of God’s respect and love for man. A religion that imposes does not share that love – it is a tyrant using God as a front. A religion that damns happiness and glorifies suffering is a sadist using God’s name. A religion that enters the political realm – the realm of coercive power - is a tyrannical sadist.’
One who does not hold that religion is a private choice for each individual is paving the way toward the worst scourge of mankind: theocracy. The MikeMilkenist Party strongly rejects and is eternally vigilant to pulverize any footholds to theocracy.
I echo Thomas Jefferson: ‘Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone.’
The MikeMilkenist Party stands for a coercion-free society.
I will discuss detailed plans by which I will steer the existing mixed economy back to capitalism. But first, to foreign policy: after the founding of our nation, a century of free trade liberated the world. The essence of capitalism’s foreign policy is free trade among the private citizens of all free countries dealing directly with one another, the opening of the world’s trade routes to free international exchange and competition, the abolition of trade barriers, of protective tariffs, of special privileges.
My party respects every country that respects Rights. It does not recognize any organization of nations that include dictatorships. No one, no nation, has the right to enslave or to infringe Rights. Individual rights are not subject to a public vote. The right of “the self-determination of nations” does not apply to a slave society, regardless of whether it was enslaved by force or by vote. My party advocates an economic boycott of slave pens.
I stand for a foreign policy based on individual rights and self-interest. Indeed, these are wise words: ‘Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.’
A free nation is not obligated to liberate other nations at the price of self-sacrifice, but a free nation has the right to do it, when and if it so chooses. If ever the
Terrorists exist only through the sanction and support of a government. Mr. Paul Wolfowitz said it best: the
Several foreign governments and some men from
“The MikeMilkenist Party is earnestly dedicated to the defense of
For decades, the foreign policy of the
Apollo’s declarations sparked global tsunamis of anger and hatred. ISARGES’s blood boiled. Many wished Apollo dead. Cognizant of the extraordinary shock waves created by the presidential candidate’s words, the US Secret Service assigned more resources to his security detail. The FBI and the CIA increased their efforts to thwart any threat to Apollo Marianto.
Apollo radiated pride and moral certainty.
“In the domestic front, my party calls for two constitutional amendments: the separation of state and economics and the recognition of absolute property rights. The latter will obliterate eminent domain, and end, not only property and estate taxes, but all taxes!
The government should be supported by funds raised through lotteries, voluntary donations, and other fundraisers that do not infringe rights.
The principle of individual liberty dictates that a man cannot be burdened with the debts of another. It follows that the debts of previous generations cannot be imposed on living individuals. Thus, it is rights-infringement for the government to borrow money. The government must live within its means.
The principle of individual liberty dictates that the federal government must not intervene in state affairs unless the state government violates Rights. The states are responsible for their own security and needs. The federal budget, that is, the budget for the offices of the President, Vice President, cabinet members, US Supreme Court, Secret Service, CIA, and the FBI, as well as the budget for national security, must be set by the US Congress and borne by the states in proportion to their number of US House representatives.
My administration will endeavor to remove all government limits to an individual, so that the only limits would be the equal rights of others. I will unleash wealth and job creators.
Politicians who clamor for a function other than the protection of Rights, as well as citizens who lobby for such, defile
When a politician promises, or is petitioned for, an alleged right, ask ‘At whose expense?’ If it is at the expense of another citizen, it is not a right – No one has the right to coerce!
When a politician promises – ask if he is giving away that which he does not own. If so, then he is for serfdom. It is a crime for a citizen to traffic in stolen goods - it follows that a government is taking on the role of a criminal, a rights-infringer, when it redistributes extorted wealth. One who declares for individual liberty but supports any government welfare program is a fraud.
Speaking highly of pragmatism and compromise, many approve of centrists. These people are essentially saying: it is moral to be unprincipled - it is virtuous to accept a mixture of contradictions – it is practical to wallow in illogic.
My party says: Centrists are spineless – they are no defenders of the Land of the Brave.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, ‘The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.’ It is not the government’s function to provide sustenance to a citizen, nor to protect him from himself or nature. The government’s sublime mandate is to ensure his freedom.
Reason and logic compels me to follow Thomas Jefferson: ‘A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.’”
Ian and the British royals admired Apollo’s speech. Princess Diana voiced their thoughts: “It’s great to see a man extol values and virtues that are often roundly misrepresented or demonized.”
CHAPTER 4
On his way to
Ian read Facts and Contradictions, the column of Cielo Monroe:
Quotes about the MikeMilkenist Party’s presidential candidate:
From President Barack Obama: “A billionaire advocating selfishness - Mr. Apollo Marianto is out of touch.”
From Vice President Joe Biden: “Mr. Marianto is so out of the mainstream – his party’s values are impractical.”
From Republican presidential candidate Governor Huckabee: “A presidential candidate whose party is named after a felon cannot be taken seriously.”
From Governor Huckabee’s running mate: “Apollo Marianto is an extremist of the most dangerous kind.”
Mr. Marianto disregards the personal comments about him. He doesn’t say – “I don’t think of them” – but that is the impression he makes. He has said, “I will talk about my principles and my party’s platform. I will answer all questions about them. I won’t comment about any personal criticisms.” Asked why, he answered, ‘I prioritize.’
Many members of the press continuously rehash what they said about him years ago when he was arrested on orders of then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer:
“Apollo Marianto is the resurrection of the decade of greed!”
“The unbridled greed and arrogance of a self-confessed selfish man merit extreme punishment!”
“The selfish speech – evil knows no bounds!”
“Pure evil – unbridled selfishness!”
Apollo Marianto provokes great hatred.
Cielo was twenty-one years old, six-foot tall, and athletic. Her red hair matched her sanguine complexion. She was a lawyer, math wizard, and polyglot. She had a passion for history and philosophy. Her website named Facts and Contradictions became famous during the 2008
Ian was in his last year at
Traveling to
In her three years as a freelance reporter, Cielo covered US military offensives and reported on child prostitution. She investigated slavery, using several disguises, in
Her colleagues and readers marveled at her intrepidity, resourcefulness, and cold precision. She turned down employment offers from big news organizations. This was no surprise to many. They thought, “Cielo Monroe is her own person and wants to remain so.”
As Ian arrived at
The orders of ISARGES invigorated Dione. “Duty calls,” cheered the member of the British Royal Family security. ISARGES also communicated with an agent codenamed Milady.
Milady decoded a posted comment on the latest Facts and Contradictions online article.
Cielo pondered her new mission. She thought up how to infiltrate the security of the British royals and the presidential candidate of the MikeMilkenist Party.
CHAPTER 5
The Next Tuesday
The young Prime Minister was on his way to
Tabloids had energetically reported that the bachelor
Apollo, Ian, and the British royals were in grave danger.
The Prime Minister arrived at the Prince George Office. He would discuss capitalism and his denationalization action-plans with King William.
Ian greeted the king and said, “Sir, I have a hundred British pounds in my wallet. If I don’t share it with you, I am not infringing your rights. No one has a right to it except me. A law mandating its disposition is a stick-up. A government could call it taxation or nationalization, but any honest man recognizes its nature: it is legalized armed robbery. Honesty shines light on the fact that as it is a crime for an individual to rob or loot, it is a crime for a government to expropriate the property of any of its citizens.”
King William responded, “It is logical for people to flee a country that evades the self-evident truth that state-run generosity bleeds productive citizens dry. The brain drain has not jolted the minds of people willing to accept government-stolen goods. The Queen and I will actively support your endeavors to resurrect freedom and capitalism.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.”
Ian’s use of the verbal address was so unexpected that King William was unable to hide his surprise and thoughts: “
Ian Washington’s eyes openly said, “You have earned it.”
The king continued, “I will speak out that people deserving of generosity must rely on the benevolence of others. Royalty stands on the side of reason and sacred honor: there is no exception to the truth that no one has the right to regulate actions within the sphere of individual liberty.”
King William pointed to his computer. “Queen Aryanna and I read the historical facts you’ve presented to the country: the freest and greatest period in our history was the nineteenth century.
Ian mentioned what he would announce in a month’s time at the Prime Minister’s Question Time in Parliament. King William was astounded.
After the meeting, Queen Aryanna and Princess Diana talked to Ian outside the Prince George Office. Then, the queen kissed Ian and proceeded to the Music Room with the king.
The princess asked, “May I have a quick word with you, Mr. Washington?”
“Sure.”
They entered the Prince George Office. Princess Diana closed the door and embraced the Prime Minister.
Ian lovingly caressed and kissed Diana’s hair. She pressed closer as she felt Ian’s kisses on her hair. Suddenly, she broke the embrace. Rage momentarily blinded her. With clenched fists, she stepped back. When she regained sight, the contempt in her eyes flayed Ian. He understood Diana’s violent reaction and calmly accepted the virtual excoriation.
Diana rushed out of the Prince George Office.
The following two Tuesdays, Princess Diana was not at
“Mr.
“No.”
“Not even for a day?”
“Not even for an hour.”
“I understand. What you are is your own pleasure. There are no boundaries to what you will be. You are free; whereas, I am a royal serf.”
“Not if you choose otherwise. Your life and future are in your own hands.”
“I can’t be the cause of my parents’ unhappiness.”
“They desire your happiness; they love you.”
“Many hurl – ‘Selfishness is evil’ – at the desire to pursue one’s own happiness without rights-infringement. I now fully grasp their souls. They are essentially saying – ‘How dare you desire to be free.’”
Ian radiantly smiled at Hari.
The young prince glowed with triumph. “It’s great to wallow in reason and logic.”
CHAPTER 6
On a fair Wednesday morning, Ian arrived early at
The Prime Minister’s Question Time started. After being asked to list his official engagements for the day, Ian spoke.
“Before I list my engagements, I am sure that the whole House will want to join me in welcoming our fellow citizens here in this august chamber and those watching and listening, including the hundreds of guests at the
After the usual Prime Minister’s Question Time wherein I answer issues raised by Members of Parliament, I will stay here for two more hours to answer questions from the press and our guests in the public gallery. I will also reply to phone-in questions from all over the country.”
Everyone listening realized that something earthshattering was coming.
“This morning, I had meetings with law enforcement officers and the heads of the British armed forces. Following the radical national change that I am about to announce, questions are encouraged, peaceful protests will be protected, but the policy towards any acts injurious to others is zero tolerance.
Members of the media and fellow citizens in the public gallery who would like to ask questions must orderly and silently get a number from those assigned to give them out today. After the radical national change announcement, two minutes will be allowed for outbursts after which everyone must wait for their turn to speak. Otherwise, you will be escorted out of this august chamber.
In Parliament and in every corner of the
Picture a five-storey building. The fourth floor is politics, where how man should treat other men is determined. Politics, the fourth branch of philosophy, defines the principles of a proper social system. The politics floor rests on the third floor, ethics or morality, the code of values to guide man’s choices and actions in determining the purpose and the course of his life. The third floor rests on the second floor, epistemology, which is also called the reason-and-logic floor. In turn, the reason-and-logic floor rests on the first floor and the building’s foundations: metaphysics - the study of existence, nature, metaphysical reality.
A political principle that does not rest on ethics is like the fourth floor of a building floating on air. Ethics or a morality code without an epistemological and metaphysical base is like a table with no legs. The proper code of values is established by means of reason in accordance with logic and in consonance with man’s nature.
A man has to eat or he will die. If a man chooses to live, proper survival is dictated by his nature. Like every existent, man has a specific nature - an existent cannot act in contradiction to its nature.
A right is that which can be exercised without anyone’s permission. The source of rights is not a Constitution nor a Declaration of Independence. A legislature could recognize rights – it cannot confer rights. Rights are based on man’s nature that in order to live he has no other choice but to act in order to further his life. By his nature, man must be free to act, and the only limit to that freedom is the equal rights of every other man.
If a man lives alone, he has to find or produce food in order to live. In a society, he can choose to be independent or parasitic.
A right is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. Freedom of action means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion, or interference by other men. Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.
Provided an action does not infringe an equal right, any action a man must do in order that he might not die – in order that he might live the life proper to a human being - is a right. Any action that infringes a right is not a right. Attempted or actual rights-infringement is the only cause of rights-forfeiture.
The first consequence of the principle of individual rights is the principle of political freedom, which is an individual’s freedom from physical compulsion, coercion, or interference by the government. The next is the economic implementation of political freedom: capitalism.
Individual rights are not subject to a public vote. Therefore, every law and government practice in contradiction to Individual Liberty is hereby declared nonexistent.”
Everyone was stunned! There was incredulous silence as minds processed the unthinkable.
“In addition to my responsibilities in this House, I shall spend the whole day answering questions publicly and explaining details to our fellow citizens.”
Uproar erupted. The Prime Minister silently counted down. “One hundred twenty, one hundred nineteen…”
“Dictator!”
“Criminal!”
“Delusional! Crazy! Unfit!”
“Criminally irresponsible!”
“Traitor!”
“Go back to
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“Boo! Boo!”
“No confidence – Resign! No confidence – Resign!”
“Bravo!”
“Freedom!”
Ferocious boos, condemnations, and cheers intensified. Ian observed the public gallery and then studied the faces of the Members of Parliament.
A Member of Parliament said amidst the tumult, “The two minutes for outbursts are up. What actions will the Prime Minister take to negate the laws and government practices incompatible with individual liberty?”
Ian replied softly. “Denationalization. Raze economic regulations. Reduction of taxes and government-welfare programs and benefits. Then, their total eradication.”
The soft voice did the trick. Everyone kept quiet to listen.
The Leader of the Opposition calmly spoke. “May I join the Prime Minister in welcoming our fellow citizens here in this august chamber and those watching and listening throughout our great nation? If I may, I respectfully ask the Prime Minister, what gives him the right to be a dictator?”
“A dictator rules,” responded Ian. “He does not proclaim that individuals have equal inherent inalienable rights. A dictator exercises absolute power to violate rights, while I have requested law enforcement agencies and the armed forces to protect the rights of every individual.”
“Rights impose obligations!”
“Imposed by whom?”
“The Prime Minister must be aware that it is universally accepted that every citizen has an obligation to his country.”
“The honorable Gentleman will want to know that the only obligation of an individual is to respect the equal rights of others. The government cannot claim title to a citizen’s life and livelihood in exchange for protecting his rights. Though citizens must shoulder the expenses of government in its sole function of rights-protection, it is evil to hold that they must buy protection from their government.”
“The Prime Minister’s dedication to protect individual rights is shared by everyone. Pray tell us, Sir, how are you going to protect the rights of society?”
“I salute the honorable Lady for sharing my dedication to protect individual rights. But I beg to differ that society has rights. Society, like the people of the
“The government must respect the will of the majority; otherwise, our democracy would turn into anarchy.”
“Democracy, the system of unlimited majority rule, is the same as mob rule. The majority has no right to consume or enslave the minority. Our government had owned its people’s livelihoods and lives: the tyranny of monarchy had been substituted by the tyranny of government autocrats. The multiplication of despots in government or in majority rule does not change the nature of tyranny. From today, the government of the
The Leader of the Opposition emphasized, “I am proud of our over-a century-old system of government. Ours has the noblest of objectives: the welfare of all individuals, the abolition of poverty and suffering, peace and human brotherhood, progress and prosperity for all. We call on law enforcement, the armed forces, and our citizens: protect and preserve our benevolent system. Do not be deceived by selfish individuals. Make no mistake – this is a battle between good and evil – the selfish must not devour the virtuous!”
“Let us draw the line of battle,” the Prime Minister replied. “I am on the side of the principle of individual rights and the principle that the only proper function of government is the protection of rights. I am proud to be on the side of selfishness because the selfish do not rule nor can they be ruled. The other side glorifies self-sacrifice and negates private property rights. It seeks to achieve brotherhood and the general welfare by human sacrifices and by treating human beings as chattel. Reason and logic radiantly show that the truly benevolent respect every man, while human destroyers vote men into slavery, turning them into property owned by the state.”
The pressure group The Campaign for Public Ownership quickly organized a protest outside
“Re-nationalization of railways and public utilities!”
“New top rate of income tax on the very wealthy!”
“Free care for the elderly!”
“Free National Health Service including the restoration of NHS Dentistry!”
“Protection of the Green Belt and the countryside!”
“Defeat Dictator Ian Washington!”
A sixty-year-old woman at the House’s public gallery stated, “A good government takes care of its people’s needs because dead people cannot enjoy freedom.”
Ian responded, “The government does not produce food or other values needed by citizens. To provide sustenance to some citizens, it forcibly takes from others. Let us use the proper terms for concepts: forcibly taking from others is robbery. The government has no right to legalize robbery. For the same reasons that it is a crime when a citizen robs, it is also a crime when done by the government. It is rights-infringement when a citizen compels another to share his earnings, and it is rights-infringement when done by the government. Robbery and coercion are crimes regardless of the perpetrator. The government of thugs, by thugs, and for thugs, is no more. Today, we proudly proclaim that ours is not a nation of robbers.”
When it was his turn to speak, an angry citizen with raised fists shouted, “You are rich and heartless, Mr.
“I earned my wealth honorably, through hard thinking and hard work. The rich and the poor have equal rights. In freedom, the poor can become rich. I respect dignity, but there is no dignity in dependence, in parasitism, in accepting extorted goods or services. The poor have no right to enslave the rich. The sick have no right to enslave doctors, pharmaceuticals, and the healthy. Senior citizens have no right to enslave the younger generation. No one has the right to dispose of the lives and properties of others. No individual, no group, no government has the right to enslave, partly or wholly. Every citizen of the
“Mr.
“I wish you freedom and happiness. By reason and logic, those who revere freedom are the truly benevolent. Those who think otherwise, I earnestly implore you to check your premises. State-run ‘humanitarian aid’ and collectivized health care are not motivated by benevolence since they clearly destroy the productive. Seek the truth. Do not evade the causes and effects of the brain drain. Our country is perishing from hemophilia; we are losing the best of our economic blood: the middle class and the professions. They are escaping from the reign of tyranny, indignity, and mediocrity. There is no dignity in selling Rights in exchange for free dentures. There is no dignity in living at the expense of another. There is no dignity in robbery, in wealth redistribution, even though the dishonest call it human brotherhood.”
“There is no dignity in a coup d'etat. Shame on you.”
“Asserting and protecting individual rights require self-esteem and sacred honor. By reason and logic, there can be no enslavement by vote. Capitalism is in consonance with Individual Liberty. Because it is good, every citizen of the
The citizens of the
King William’s reaction was broadcast live and then repeatedly replayed by the members of the press covering the event at
The Prime Minister had the support of the King, the Commander in Chief of the British armed forces.
The Leader of the Opposition promptly petitioned the British Supreme Court to declare the Prime Minister’s acts illegal.
Many protesters gathered at
Apollo lauded his former ward’s performance at the dispatch box and at
The
Terrorism was about to stop Apollo and Ian. ISARGES posted a comment on Cielo Monroe’s latest Facts and Contradictions article. The post was decoded by secret agents: ISARGES had provided new information and instructions.
Cielo’s coverage of Apollo was regarded by some readers as stark and cold. Her latest Facts and Contradictions article contained the following interview:
“Mr. Marianto, why did you name your political party after a felon, Mr. Mike Milken?”
“Mr. Mike Milken is a great hero. In a free world, he would not be a felon. Those responsible for putting Mr. Milken in jail violated his rights - they are the felons in a coercion-free society.
My political party is named after Mr. Milken for three reasons. First, to honor him and everything he represents: heroism of the highest order - the creation of great wealth and millions of jobs through innovation. Second, it is a reminder that the world we presently live in makes it impossible for his kind of spirit and for the values he represents to remain undefiled. Third, Mr. Milken is the symbol of the good that must be protected and preserved from the culture of unreason: the profound hatred of life, of success, of happiness, of freedom, and of all human values.”
“Why do you reject alliances with political parties and politicians that advocate individual liberty and capitalism?”
“Because we differ in fundamentals. The Libertarian Party advocates anarchy while my party advocates the delegation of self-defense to the government in order to remove the use of force from human interactions, limiting the use of force by that government solely for self-defense. Congressman Ron Paul advocates Jeffersonian principles but he is against abortion, which means, he is against rights. Respect of rights is a fundamental political principle. Mr. Ron Paul advocates infringing a woman’s right to her own life.”
“Many politicians and voters criticize you as a fanatic and an extremist. Are you?”
“No. A fanatic is ruled by unreason. I am a radical for reason. I do not compromise my principles. Pragmatists call non-compromisers extremists. Taking pride for being centrists, pragmatists hold contradictory positions. They wallow in illogic. Rejecting reason and reality, they do not grasp what it takes to practice the virtue of integrity. Pragmatists have caused tremendous economic dislocations. Declaring that universal homeownership is good, they forced banks to lend to anyone, evading reason, logic, and objectivity. When the GSEs crumbled and private financial institutions that have existed for around a century collapsed, pragmatists evaded the causes. They blamed capitalism for the devastating effects of their irrationality, regulations, and power-lust.”
“Give examples of their contradictions regarding capitalism.”
“These are examples of contradictory, self-canceling falsehoods espoused by the same pragmatist, as written by Dr. Leonard Peikoff, the intellectual heir of Ayn Rand, in his book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand:
‘Capitalism is the system of coercive monopolies’ and ‘Capitalism is the system of cutthroat competition.’
‘Capitalism debases men by creating hunger’ and ‘Capitalism subverts morality by creating affluence.’
‘Capitalist greed causes inflation’ and ‘The gold standard leads to inadequate supply of money and credit.’
'Capitalism is another name for militaristic imperialism’ and ‘Conscription is necessary because no one would fight even a war of self-defense under a free system.’
‘Capitalism is hostile to inventions; industrialists suppress new discoveries’ and ‘Capitalism leads to intolerable rat race of inventions.’
‘Capitalism is fine for the productive genius, but what about the common man?’ and ‘Capitalism is fine for the common man, like rock stars, but what about the genius, like the physicists?’
‘Capitalism is impracticable in our complex modern world – we are too advanced’ and ‘Capitalism is impracticable in the undeveloped world – they are not advanced enough.’”
Apollo added, “An individual that knowingly holds contradictions is dishonest. Confronted with his illogic, he attacks the Father of logic, Aristotle. Political principles based on illogic could lead only to disasters.”
CHAPTER 7
“Apollo Marianto will cram selfishness and capitalism down your throats,” American politicians told voters. “He is a dictator, like his former ward, Ian Washington.” The Democrats and Republicans were alarmed of a Marianto win because, as Commander in Chief of the armed forces, Apollo might succeed in upholding what he had declared that the principle of individual rights was not subject to a public vote.
After the
The following day, the British Supreme Court handed down its unanimous decision regarding the petition of the Loyal Opposition. Inasmuch as the Sovereign and the Prime Minister were in agreement, the Supreme Court rejected to hear the petition.
Happily savoring the victory, Ian told reporters, “There is much work still to be done. Many more economic shackles and leashes have to be dealt with to ensure the demise of socialism.” He answered questions at
Meanwhile, King William and Queen Aryanna invited a hundred protesters, fifty supporters of freedom, and several members of the press to a meeting at
The King announced, “I have signed an edict for present and future Sovereigns, heirs to the British throne, and members of the Royal Family. The edict mandates adherence and fidelity to reason, individual rights, political freedom, capitalism, national self-interest, and personal selfishness. It stresses that the individual is sovereign – his life belongs to him, not to the state -, that capitalism is the complete separation of state and economics, and that the only function of government is to secure Rights. The revocation of this edict by a Sovereign renders the official functions and privileges of the Sovereign and the entire British royalty null and void.”
The supporters of freedom cheered.
The king continued, “Only the Sovereign will receive government salary set by the Parliament. The other members of the Royal Family are entitled to a private life supported by their own efforts.”
The discussions lasted two hours after which the invitees were escorted out of the gates. Another batch of campers and newly arrived members of the media were invited in. The security detail at the palace thoroughly checked each invitee.
That pleasant day, Prince Hari and Princess Diana hosted many youngsters from all over the
It was time for lunch. The children were brought to the camping grounds deep into the lush, well-kept Balmoral woods. A fourteen-year-old boy and a thirteen-year-old girl lunched together with four other youngsters at a picnic table.
A twelve-year-old boy asked, “How can I know whether the King and the Prime Minister are right or wrong?”
“Think,” the thirteen-year-old girl answered. “In the case of individual rights, even our parents do not own us. When we become adults, we have the right to make all the decisions concerning our own lives. This is self-ownership. It comes with responsibility since our parents will no longer be responsible for us financially.”
A ten-year-old girl whispered, “Those scared to leave their parents must be scared of individual rights.”
A boy her age replied, “When you are afraid, use your mind. The Prime Minister explained that the principle of individual rights and their protection by the government translate to coercion-free relationships. Coercion sucks and it is not effective. Even parents should not coerce their children. When our parents forbid us to do something, explaining why works while coercion doesn’t. Coercion leads to lying and doing the forbidden behind their backs. A coercion-free existence is the best!”
“Why do I have to think whether the King or the Prime Minister is right or wrong?” a young girl asked. “Why can’t I just follow them?”
The fourteen-year-old boy smiled at the little girl. “Two reasons: knowledge and self-esteem. If you don’t understand why the King or the Prime Minister is right or wrong on an issue, you don’t have knowledge on that issue and everything that depends on it. Not knowing is like living in the dark. Knowing is like living in the sunlight or in a well lit place. If you are in the dark, you will need guidance every step of the way; else, you could stumble or meet an accident. Knowledge makes us understand things more clearly. It makes us grow mentally. It enables us to make good decisions, to avoid mistakes that could make us unhappy. It gives us courage to be independent. If we do not understand something, we would have to blindly follow or copy. That is boring! It is also the attitude of losers. Losers do not have self-esteem. Self-esteem is liking yourself. You have to like yourself in order to be happy.”
Prince Hari and Princess Diana separately greeted each group having lunch. The two-hour creativity event was scheduled next. The children were excited to engage in activities of their choice. A half-hour into the event, two girls explored beyond the camping grounds. They sighted Prince Hari and Princess Diana having lunch in a secluded gazebo laden with flowers. The girls hid but continued watching the royals from afar.
One girl said in a hushed tone, “When I grow up, I’d like to marry Prince Hari.”
“Why?” asked the other girl.
“Because he is the Crown Prince.”
“If he abdicates, would you still want to marry him?”
“Why would he do that? Why would anyone refuse to be a prince and one day become king?”
“Answer my question. Would you still want to marry Prince Hari if he were not a prince?”
“No. I want to marry a prince because I want to be a princess.”
“Why do you want to be a princess?
“Because I want to be rich, famous, and happy.”
“You can achieve all three even if you are not a princess.”
“Do you want to be rich, famous, and happy?”
“Rich and happy – yes! But I don’t want to be famous.”
“Why? It’s great to be famous!”
“It’s great to have privacy.”
“Oh. Look! Prince Hari and Princess Diana are arguing.”
“Princess Diana is very angry.”
“I wonder why? Can you read her lips?”
“Let’s go. We should not spy on them.”
The girls went back to the camping grounds and joined the other youngsters. An hour passed.
The creativity event was over. The youngsters looked forward to the next event: sports. Five minutes into the first sports activity, Prince Hari had not appeared. It was very unusual. His security detail searched for him. When they couldn’t find him, Princess Diana called his cellphone. There was no answer!
King William and Queen Aryanna were informed that Prince Hari was missing. Emergency security procedures were activated.
The Prime Minister was notified that the Crown Prince was missing. Ian asked his Chief of Staff to assemble the British Security Council. He ordered a red alert in the entire
Twenty minutes after, Ian received a top-secret message from Balmoral: Prince Hari had been found severely mangled at the bottom of a deep ravine. He had multiple injuries including massive facial injuries, and possibly life-threatening internal injuries.
Ian was transfixed. Pain coursed through his whole being. He gave instructions to his Chief of Staff and then hurriedly left for the hospital where Prince Hari had been taken. Ian was airborne when he received another bombshell: Princess Diana had been arrested. She was seen arguing with Prince Hari before the accident, and she was the one who found him.
Ian deliberated. “The well-being and happiness of Prince Hari and Princess Diana are not divorced from mine. It’s decision time. I am living the life that I desire and mightily strived for. My soul is my own. I am a free man – free to choose my responsibilities. I enjoy the freedom to choose the values and actions that give me happiness. But Hari and Diana come first because I love them more than myself.”
Ian thought of his grandmother, Diana Washington. Their life together was not dictated by tradition, duty, or public opinion. They were their own persons. “Grandma, you and I enjoyed freedom.”
Ian focused his mind on
Before Ian reached the hospital, he made a decision.
Near the hospital entrance, Ian was met by Mark Hill, once a bodyguard of
The American accent was gone. Mark Hill was awash with admiration and love for the Prime Minister, his prince.