1.30.2011

Statism or Individualism

The political expression of altruism is  
collectivism or statism, 
which holds that  
a person’s life and work belong to the state
to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation
and that the state may dispose of them in any way it pleases 
for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good.

The human characteristic required by statism is docility, 
which is the product of hopelessness and intellectual stagnation
Thinking people cannot be ruled; 
ambitious people do not stagnate.

A statist system, whether of a 
communist, fascist, Nazi, socialist or “welfare” type,
is based on the government’s unlimited power
which means: on the rule of brute force. 

The differences among statist systems are only a matter of time and degree; 
the principle is the same. 

Under statism, the government is not a policeman, 
but a legalized criminal that 
holds the power to use physical force 
in any manner and for any purpose it pleases against 
legally disarmed, defenseless victims.


Government control of a country’s economy, 
any kind or degree of such control, 
by any group, 
for any purpose whatsoever
rests on the basic principle of statism
the principle that an individual’s life belongs to the state.

A statist is a person who 
believes that some people 
have the right to 
force, coerce, enslave, rob, 
and murder others. 

To be put into practice, 
this belief has to be implemented by 
the political doctrine that the government
the state
has the right to  
initiate 
the use of physical force against its citizens. 
How often force is to be used,
against whom,
to what extent,
for what purpose
for whose benefit, 
are irrelevant questions, 
to the state
The basic principle and the ultimate results of all statist doctrines are the same: dictatorship and destruction. The rest is only a matter of time.

The term “statism” designates concentration of power in the state 
at the expense of individual liberty, 
It does not represent a new approach to government; 
it is a continuation of the political absolutism
which has characterized most of human history.


The ideological root of statism (or collectivism) is 
the tribal premise of primordial savages who, 
unable to conceive of individual rights
believed that the tribe is a supreme, omnipotent ruler, 
that it owns the lives of its members and 
may sacrifice them whenever it pleases to 
whatever it deems to be its own “good.” 

Unable to conceive of any social principles, 
except the rule of brute force
they believed that the tribe’s wishes are limited 
only by its physical power 
and that other tribes are its natural prey, 
to be conquered, looted, enslaved, or annihilated. 
The history of all primitive peoples is a succession of 
tribal wars and intertribal slaughter. 

That this savage ideology 
now rules nations armed with nuclear weapons, 
should give pause to anyone 
concerned with mankind’s survival.

Statism is a system of institutionalized violence and perpetual civil war. 
It leaves no choice but to fight to seize political power
to rob or be robbed, to kill or be killed. 
When brute force is the only criterion of social conduct, 
and surrender to destruction is the only alternative, 
even the lowest of beings, 
even an animal
even a cornered rat
will fight. 
There can be no peace within an enslaved nation.

The degree of statism in a country’s political system, 
is the degree to which 
it breaks up the country into rival gangs 
and sets people against one another. 

When individual rights are abrogated
there is no way to determine who is entitled to what
there is no way to determine the justice of anyone’s claims, desires, or interests. 
The criterion, therefore, reverts to the tribal concept of: 
one’s wishes are limited 
only by the power of one’s gang.

Statism, in fact and in principle, 
is nothing more than gang rule. 

A socialist state is a gang 
devoted to controlling the effort 
of the productive citizens of its own Nation. 

The first choice,
the choice of every thinking individual
and the only one that matters is: 
freedom or dictatorship,  
capitalism or statism.

That is the choice which 
today’s statist political leaders 
are determined to evade 
as they attempt to put statism over by stealth
statism of a semi-socialist, semi-fascist kind, 
the 'socialist welfare state', 
without letting the Nation realize 
what road they are taking 
to what ultimate goal.

Thinking people cannot be ruled; 
ambitious people do not stagnate.
Ayn Rand ... Capitalism The Unknown Ideal