MARINA DEL REY, CA--On the six-month anniversary of the September 11 attack on our way of life, we should pay tribute to the creators of that way of life, said Dr. Onkar Ghate, resident fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute.
      "Businessmen are the creators of the American way of life--a life of prosperity and progress made possible by freedom," said Dr. Ghate. He noted that by targeting the symbols of commercial success, businessmen in the World Trade Center, the terrorists deliberately struck at the heart of the American way of life.
      Ironically, observed Dr. Ghate, we ourselves often lose sight of the value of businessmen to our way of life. For instance, we habitually cast businessmen as the villains in our TV shows and movies, and we routinely smear all businessmen for the dishonesty of a few who want to get rich not by production, but by fraud.
      What we need to do is remind ourselves, said Dr. Ghate, that it is the businessman "who invents assembly-line production and turns the automobile from a curiosity into a necessity. It is the businessman who coordinates and directs vast amounts of capital and labor in order to build transcontinental railways, colossal dams, ocean-hopping passenger planes, and electrical generating stations. It is the businessman who is among the first to recognize the value of innovations, patiently waiting for others to see what he has seen--and so creates a product which raises everyone's standard of living."
      "The attacks of September 11 have made people more acutely aware of the value of the American way of life--and of the policemen and soldiers who defend it," said Dr. Ghate. "But the many businessmen who perished on that date, and their thousands of brothers-in-spirit who survived, are the men who make our way of life a daily reality--and deserve to be honored as well."

ARI resident fellow Dr. Onkar Ghate is available for interviews on this topic.