Polylogism
My intention is to enlighten my fellow guys and gals in the Ron Paul movement because I believe we are involved in a battle of ideas, an ideological struggle.
There are basic premises underlying every policy and every program and every law on the books. I believe that we have been raised to believe in those premises which are rarely if ever made explicit in political discourse. The politicians count on most of the votes agreeing with them on certain issues without identifying or talking about them explicitly. They cash in on the fact that the society has perpetuated certain basic ideas in the realm of ethics which then remain unspoken but are nevertheless profoundly influential.
I want every Ron Paul supporter to be aware of the ideas which are at the root of the policies which are in place and to understand those ideas and the more rational alternative. As long as those ideas remain unchallenged and unquestioned they will continue to prevail in society. Politicians of the ilk which hold positions of power in the Congress and the Senate and the state legislatures and the White House have been indoctrinated with certain beliefs and it is those beliefs which are the ruination of our society as we see today.
Even those who are supposed to be competent in such matters are shooting from the hip with no idea what has gone wrong or what needs to be done. Having no clear concept of how an economy in a free society should be structured or what role the government should or should not take in such a society, they do what they hope will work somehow.
Ron Paul has read enough books written by Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard to know better, but they will not listen to him. He is a voice crying out in the wilderness as far as those in power are concerned. He has told them as we have seen in the youtube videos. He spoke to Greenspan and to Bernanke but they answer to different masters. And they haven't read the same books.
I simply urge my fellow Ron Paul supporters to take the time to go to a handful of websites, www.aynrand.org www.mises.org www.fff.org www.fee.org
Explore them. For example you can read online all that Ayn Rand has had to say about everything from A to Z . It is an education! I have named this post Polylogism which is just one of her discussions to be found in a book entitled Ayn Rand Lexicon and it is all online at :
http://www.aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/polylogism.html
Enjoy!
Well said
I like how you're using the term "polylogism". It's very characteristic of someone who has read Mises' work.
We are in a battle of ideas. We're fortunate that people like Mises, Bastiat, Rothbard and Hayek have done the intellectual heavy lifting, much like Newton cleared the way in calculus and classical mechanics.
However, Mises already recognized that the problem lies not with the people who lack knowledge, but with the people who don't want to see the truth. There's a huge segment of the population who has already decided what they want to believe, and will reject arguments involving reason or reality.
Like C.S. Lewis said, the doors of hell are locked from the inside.
This is a tough website..
The topics keep coming and a worthwhile, at least worthwhile to me, topic can scroll right down and out of sight.
I see that in order for it to remain in view enough people must also find it valuable and post a response to get it up to the top of the scroll again.
So this is just a bump.
I have been looking up a number of words at the site I linked to:
abortion, altruism, epistemology, foreign policy, isolationism, war
and realize how all this crucial insight is available online for all to see.
Exploring this site from A to Z could raise your awareness and knowledge if only you would go there ad see for yourself. It might crystallize your own thinking on a subject or make you aware of something new, or provide a different perspective, or even change your mind!
See for yourself.
WM
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine" Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged p731
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine" Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged p731
Did you catch this?
Someone posted it earlier this evening. It's a film with the relevant dialogue to your quote above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30NL_iDna9E
ajwyoming, yes I have seen Gary Cooper as Howard Roark...
Ayn Rand's words are powerful and keep in mind that Ron Paul includes Atlas Shrugged in the bibliography of The Revolution: A Manifesto.
An individualistic theme runs through all of her works. Atlas Shrugged dramatizes the contrast of her rational code of ethics with the irrational one which prevails in the real world. IT is not just worth reading, it is important that we all become conversant with these ideas as they are at the root of the problems we face today and there is no way we can attain a free society unless the premises which are perpetuated by parents, the churches, the schools and the media are identified, made explicit and challenged. Ayn Rand's ideas may just provide the perspective we need to understand what is happening.
Now someone will suggest you start with Ayn Rand's novelette, Anthem, because Atlas Shrugged is so long and there are long speeches in it. The longest speech deals with the moral crisis of our age.
Wm
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine" Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged p731
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine" Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged p731