Global Capitalism: The Solution to World Poverty and Oppression
Thursday, February 16, 2006 at 7:00pm
UCLA Campus: De Neve Plaza Rooms A & B
The opponents of global capitalism overlook the key points in the debate. The capitalistic nations of Europe, North America and Asia are by far the wealthiest societies of history--with per capita incomes in the range of at least $20,000--$30,000 annually. But capitalism is not merely the system of prosperity; fundamentally, it is the system of individual rights and freedom.
Capitalistic nations protect their citizens' freedom of speech, of the press and of intellectual expression. Similarly, their citizens possess economic freedom, including the right to own property, to start their own businesses and to seek profit. By stark contrast, the pre-capitalist systems of history, and the non-capitalist systems of the present, are politically oppressive and economically destitute; their citizens have no rights and, consequently, little or no wealth.
What deeper principles make possible the freedom and wealth enjoyed under capitalism--and lacking in its political antipodes? How has capitalism already greatly enhanced the lives of millions of human beings in formerly impoverished Third World countries? What can the men of the free world do to further promote the spread of capitalism into the repressed nations of the globe?
The speaker, Dr. Andrew Bernstein, is a professor of philosophy at Marist College and also lectures at the State University of New York, where he was selected as Outstanding Teacher in 2004. He has given addresses at Harvard, Stanford, West Pont, Northwestern, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, USC, among others. He is a frequent contributor to several major newspapers as well as a frequent radio and TV commentator. He is also affiliated with the Ayn Rand Institute, where he is a Senior Writer and Speaker. He has published several books, including his novel Heart of a Pagan, his recent The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic, and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire, and Cliffs Notes for Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Anthem. He is among the utmost experts on Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism.
The lecture will be followed by a questions and answers period.
The event will also take place at USC the following evening (Friday the 17th) in SGM-123 at 6:30pm. Visit http://www.uscobjectivistclub.com/capitalism.htm for the USC Objectivist Club's Official Page.
