Individual Rights and Objective Law

 

". . .the source of man's rights is not divine law or congressional law, but the law of identity. A is A—and Man is Man. Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for his proper survival. If man is to live on earth, it is right for him to use his mind, it is right to act on his own free judgment, it is right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational being: nature forbids him the irrational."

["This Is John Galt Speaking," Atlas Shrugged, 976.]

"Man's rights can be violated only by the use of physical force. It is only by means of physical force that one man can deprive another of his life, or enslave him, or rob him, or prevent him from pursuing his own goals, or compel him to act against his own rational judgment."

["The Nature of Government," The Virtue of Selfishness, 126.]

"Since the protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of a government, it is the only proper subject of legislation: all laws must be based on individual rights and aimed at their protection."

["The Nature of Government," The Virtue of Selfishness, 128.]

Op-Eds

3 crucial lessons Ayn Rand can teach us today [FoxNews.com]

I'll Buy My Own Contraception, Thanks [Townhall.com]

The 'On Your Own' Economy [Forbes]

Why Rent Control is Immoral

Elena Kagan: Could She Defend the Constitution's Purpose?

The Meaning of the Right to Vote

California Children Still Considered State Property

Retire Social Security

From Flat World To Free World

Set Yahoo! Free

Life And Taxes

Your Child Is Not State Property

War On Free Political Speech

Too Big to Bail

"Net Neutrality": Destroyer of Internet Freedom

To Save Lives, Legalize Trade in Organs

The Right Vision Of Health Care

Predatory Legislating (Forbes.com)

The Injustice of "Doing Something" about Subprime

Deep-Six the Law of the Sea

Don't Save Social Security

After Ten Years, States Still Resist Assisted Suicide

"Open Access" and the Tyranny of the FCC

Be Healthy or Else!

Why Businessmen Love Atlas Shrugged

"Single-Payer" Health Care Is Anything but Free

Message to Presidential Candidates: Income Inequality Is Good

Celebrating Income Inequality

No Right to "Free" Health Care

The Right to Assisted Suicide

Rachel Carson's Genocide

Say "No Way!" to "Say on Pay"

Jamestown: Birthplace of America's Distinctive, Secular Ideal

The Radicalness of Atlas Shrugged

The Religious Right's Culture of Living Death

In Defense of Income Inequality

Who Is Gouging Whom?

Pay Is Company's Prerogative

"Racial Balance" Programs: The New Racism

The Anti-Life Movement

The Conservatives' War on Birth Control

The Indispensable Condition of Peace

A Victory for Big Tobacco--and the Rule of Law

Bush and Congress Should Lift Environmental Restrictions on Energy Production

Catholic Leaders Need to Show a Little Respect for Freedom

Why Are CEOs Paid So Much?

Drop the "Windfall Profits" Smear

Freedom vs. Unlimited Majority Rule

The Myth of "Price-Gouging"

The Fear to Speak Comes to America's Shores

Religious Terrorism vs. Free Speech

The Twilight of Freedom of Speech

The Cartoon Jihad: Free Speech in the Balance

Who Will Defend Industry from Eco-Terrorism?

The Injustice of Saddam's Trial

To Save Lives, Legalize Trade in Organs

The Advent of Freedom?

The UN's "Virtue" Is Its Vice

"Muslim Opinion" Be Damned

Presumed Guilty

The "Animal Rights" Movement's Cruelty to Humans

The Need for an Active Supreme Court Justice

The Faith-Based Attack on Rational Government

The Anti-Life Opposition to Embryonic Stem Cell Research

A Culture of Living Death

The Ten Commandments vs. America

Supreme Court Should Uphold Rights, Not Majority Sentiment in Ten Commandments Cases

The Tyranny of Eminent Domain

Drug Safety vs. the FDA

Free Speech on Campus

Bush's Betrayal of America: The Iraqi Elections

Social Security is Immoral

Faith and Force

The Meaning of the Right to Vote

To Outsource or to Stagnate?

The Injustice of Insider Trading Laws

Bush's Faith-Based Initiative Is an Assault on the Wall Between Church and State

Exploiters vs. Victims in the Grocery Strike

Campaign Finance Reform Attacks Victims of Corruption

Cloning Is Moral

Ban on Partial-Birth Abortion Would Be a Blow to Women's Rights

The Cost of the "Ethical" Assault on Honest Businessmen

Why Rent Control Is Immoral

Thought Control

Capitalism Is the Cure for Africa's Problems

Paralyzing America's Producers

No Conflict Between Liberty and Security

What Is Killing the Stock Market? Government Regulation

Prescription Drug Benefits Violate the Rights of Drug Companies

The Threat of the Paternalistic State

Capitalists vs. Crooks

The Virtue of "Playing God"

Drop the Antitrust Case Against Microsoft

Bush's Un-American and Immoral Call for "National Service"

Unlimited Liability

Liberalism vs. Individual Rights

Shame on Casey Martin

Deregulation--Or Reregulation?

Animal "Rights" vs. Human Rights

Whose Children Are They?

The Tobacco Industry Surrender

A Supreme Court Overview

11th Circuit Court Rejects the Rights of Elian Gonzalez

The Moral Menace of Proposition 103

Compulsory Service for High School Students

Special Topics

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Press Releases

The Resurgence of Big Government

Let Doctors Protect Conscience by Contract

Beware the Obesity Alarmists

Medicare's "Free Market" Facade

Congress Should Not Dictate Mental Health Benefits

Property Rights Go Up in Smoke in San Francisco

New Law Trashes Genetic Science

Brigitte Bardot Punished for Political Opinions

Supreme Court's "Retaliation" Decisions Raise New Obstacles for Employers

Blame Big Congress, Not Big Oil, For High Prices

Fish vs. Men in the Supreme Court

The Morality of Capitalism

Tax Code Should Not Be Used to Dictate Our Values

And You Thought It Was Your Room

Abolish Campaign Finance Laws

The EU's $2.5 Billion Theft from Microsoft

Religious Constitution Invites Blasphemy Death Sentence

Global-Warming Authoritarianism

The Obesity Police Are Coming

"Retaliation": Another Job Security Weapon

"Retaliation": Another Job Security Weapon

Exxon's Lonely Battle

Memo to U.S. Editors: Reprint Muhammad Cartoons

Memo to Gates: The Cause of Third-World Poverty Is Not Capitalism, But a Lack of Capitalism

Poor Countries Don't Need Climate Change Welfare, They Need Capitalism

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Liberate, Don't Stimulate, the Economy

The Deadly FDA

Making Money in Medicine Is Moral

Bush Signs Automobile Fatality Act

The Enemies of Energy

The Government Makes Mortgage Lenders an Offer They Can't Refuse

Predatory Legislating

Bailouts in Disguise

Should We Save Social Security?

Ban Belmont's Smoking Ban

Should Businessmen Go on Strike?

The Influence of Atlas Shrugged

Iraq's Failing Government

Supreme Court Docket Features Petty Disputes

Reject the Latest Push for Net Neutrality

Congress Should Not Dictate Mental Health Benefits

Bush Gets Rights Wrong at UN Speech

Reject the "Values Voters'" Culture of Living Death

Congress Should Not Dictate Mental Health Benefits

Make TV Free

Message to Presidential Candidates: Income Inequality Is Good

Stop Appeasing the Jihadists' War on Free Speech

EU Has No Right to Punish Microsoft

What Not to Do about Subprime Failures

HillaryCare 2.0: More of the Poison that Is Killing Our Healthcare System

End, Don't Extend, the Persecution of Microsoft

Don't Regulate Toy Safety

End Government Licensing

End, Don't Mend, the World Bank

How to Truly Defeat OPEC

Blame the Government, Not the Market, for Exorbitant Health-Care Costs

Be Healthy or Else!

Reject the Un-American Call for "National Service"

The Deadly FDA

"Open-Access" vs. Freedom in the Wireless Industry

Pharmaceutical Price Controls: A Prescription for Disaster

The "Alternative Energy" Farm Bill Fiasco

Income Inequality Is Good

The Flavor Police

Don't Revive the Fairness Doctrine

Embryonic Stem Cell Research Is Ethical

Punishing Wal-Mart's Greatness

Unions Have No Right to Force Non-Members to Pay for Political Campaigns

Compulsory National Service Is Anti-American

The Unjust Imprisonment of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Free Speech vs. Anti-obscenity Laws

Study of Troops' Mental Health, Ethics Indicts Bush's Selfless War

Don't Extend the "Hate Crime" Law--Abolish It

Chavez Steals American Property, Bush Does Nothing

Government Should Not Force Companies to Hold Shareholder Votes on CEO Pay

California to Energy Producers: Not in Our State

Partial Birth Ban Is a Step toward a Culture of Living Death

Abortion Ban Should Have Been Overturned

The U.N. Human Rights Council's War on Human Rights

The Enemy of Prosperity

Paper Over People: The Ban on Plastic Bags Reveals Environmentalists' True Colors

Government Must Not Tighten Lending Standards

End the Assault on Private Property

The Endangered Species Act Should Be Revoked

Manufacturers Should Be Free to Set Their Pricing Policies

End, Don't Mend, Sarbanes-Oxley

Legalize "Price-Fixing"

Punishing Wal-Mart's Greatness

Abolish the SEC's Investor Wealth Requirement

Bush and Chavez: The Two Amigos

"Shareholder Democracy" vs. Shareholder Rights

EU Has No Right to Fine Microsoft

Are Businesses Slaves to Consumers?

Preventing Mergers Destroys Competition

The Un-American Opposition to "Income Inequality"

UCLA Penalizes Student Group's Exercise of Free Speech

India Should Protect Pharmaceutical Patents

Airlines Should Be Free to Merge

Senators' Letter Is a Violation of ExxonMobil's Freedom of Speech

Indecency Fines Are an Ominous Attack on Free Speech

The Media's Mistreatment of Jeff Skilling

Restrictions on Internet Gambling Are an Infringement on Our Rights

Eminent Domain vs. Property Rights

New York Has No Right to Force Restaurants to Cut Trans Fats

Western Governments Must Protect Right to Free Speech

"Universal" Health Care Is Immoral

Hurricane Katrina's Villain-ized Victims: Insurance Companies

Medieval Sexual Morality at the FDA

The Immoral Opposition to Cloning

Opponents of Embryonic Stem Cell Research Are Opponents of Human Life

Bush Vetoes Medical Progress

Victory for Big Tobacco Is a Victory for Rule of Law

Media Ownership Restrictions Should Be Abolished

Net Neutrality vs. Internet Freedom

House's Decision to Keep Ban on Oil and Gas Drilling Is a Disgrace

"Indecency" Fines: An Ominous Attack on Free Speech

Massachusetts Bill Mandating Universal Health Insurance Violates Rights

Borders Capitulates to Islamic Threat

NYU Caves in To Muslims' Pressure

NYU's Surrender Underscores Need to Display Danish Cartoons

Why Conservatives Are Anti-Business

Letters to the Editor

Free Market Policies Needed to Solve the Crisis

Repeal the Endangered Species Act

Taxpayers Shouldn't Be Forced to Subsidize Farmers

Minimum Wage Violates Rights

Colombia Doesn't Need a Free-trade Agreement to Get Rid of its Self-destructive Tariffs

Is It Fair to Charge More for Better Service?

McCain-Feingold Violates Right to Free Speech

Exxon vs. Chavez

Supreme Court Rejects Right to Life of the Terminally Ill

Concern for Whales Should Not Stop Navy from Using Sonar

The Price of Labor

"Net Neutrality" Has No Place in a Free Market

To Save Lives, Legalize Trade in Organs

FCC Should Eliminate All Restrictions on Media Concentration

Rent Control Has No Place in a Free Society

Don't Violate Verizon's Right to Free Speech

Bush Gets Rights Wrong at UN Speech

Caps on Fossil Fuels Would Be Devastating

Do Not Ban TV Ads for Toys

Don't Forbid Fast Food

National Service Is a Recipe for Destroying the American Republic

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Experimental Drugs

Government Should Not Interfere with Whole Foods' Acquisition of Wild Oats

Court Rejects Right to Life of the Terminally Ill

Taxpayers Have NO Obligation to Provide Health Coverage for Uninsured Children

Walter Reed Shows Danger of Government-Run Health Care

Building Restrictions Violate Property Rights

The Unjust Imprisonment of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Sword of Damocles

Smoking Ban vs. Property Rights

Bush Should Protect American Assets in Venezuela

End Rent Control

Lenders Are Damned If They Lend--and Damned If They Don't

Creeping Theocracy

"Net Neutrality" Has No Place in a Free Market

"Racial Balance" Programs Are Racist

Wal-Mart Has a Right to Set Up Shop Anywhere in America

Legalize Trade in Human Organs

New York Has No Right to Ban Trans Fats

Allow Organ Sales

Our Carry-On Luggage Is Not the Real Problem

Oil Companies Should Not Apologize for Their Record Profits

Bush's Opposition to Embryonic Stem Cell Research Is Anti-Life

France vs. Apple's Rights

Minimum Wage Should Be Repealed

"Price Gouging" Can't Be Objectively Defined--and Should Not Be a Crime

Hussein Deserves No Regular Trial

How Oil Companies Use Their Profits Is Their Own Business

There Is No Such thing as Price Gouging by Private Oil Companies

Mob Rule Wins in France

Borders' Capitulation is a Victory for Islamic Totalitarians

France's Proposed New Labor Legislation Illustrates Why Appeasement Doesn't Work

NYU Chooses Appeasement Over Rights

Vital Organs

Wal-Mart Should Not Be Barred from the Banking Business

The French Riots and Rights

Indecency Fines Against CBS Are an Ominous Attack on Free Speech

To the Producer of Friday's "FOX 11 Ten O'Clock News" and the Station Management:

In Defense of My Right to Free Speech

The Cartoon Riots

Western Nations Should Not Tolerate Calls for the Murder of Their Citizens

Muhammad Cartoons

Free Speech vs. Religious Dogma

Spreading Democracy in the Middle East Is Suicidal

End the Jihad Against Free Speech

Do Not Apologize for Cartoons of Mohammad

BB&T Right Not to Lend to Eminent Domain Developers

Smoking Ban on Private Property Violates Rights

Palestinians' Vote Will Not Bring Them Freedom

End the SEC's Destructive Campaign for Disclosure

Supreme Court Right to Uphold Assisted Suicide Law

Maryland Lawmakers vs. Wal-Mart

Oil Companies Have a Right to Their Profits

The Right to Leave the Transplant List

Roche's Patent on Tamiflu Should be Respected

U.S. Should Eliminate All Barriers to Free Trade

Repeal the Death Tax

"Public" Use vs. Property Rights

Supreme Court Deals a New Blow to Property Rights

U.S. Should Welcome Cuban Escapees

Supreme Court vs. The Right to Grow and Consume Marijuana

Oriana Fallaci and Freedom of Speech

An Individual's Income Is 100% His Private Property

U.N.'s Moral Bankruptcy Is Exemplified by Sudan

FDA vs. Freedom

Draft Negates the Right to Life

European Union's Assault on Microsoft Is Immoral

Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act Is Indecent

New Iraqi Constitution Must Separate State and Islam

Pledge of Allegiance Should Make no Reference to God

More Regulations Will Not Prevent Future Blackouts

Antitrust in Europe

Self-Responsibility vs. Fat Lawsuits

Sodomy Laws Are Unconstitutional

Conservatives Are Not Defenders of Liberty

Nike Has a Right to Free Speech

Supreme Court Wrong on Affirmative Action

Sodomy Laws Are an Attack on Freedom

More Evidence that Environmentalism Is Anti-human

What Kind of Government for Iraq?

Faith-Based Initiative Immoral and Unconstitutional

Iraqi Oil Does Not Belong to the Iraqi People

Cloning Should Not Be Banned

Embryos Are Not People

Interviews

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