Why Conservatives Are Anti-Business
Thursday, March 23, 2006 at 6:00pm
Hyatt Regency Irvine
Dr. Yaron Brook, the Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute will be giving an hour-long lecture followed by a questions and answers period. The Ayn Rand Institute's official page for this event can be found here.
Conservatives often present themselves as "pro-business" and "pro-free market"--i.e., in favor of an economic system that enables productive businessmen to flourish. Yet, in reality, Dr. Yaron Brook observes, conservatives support many anti-business policies, from antitrust prosecution to "windfall" taxes on profits--policies that hurt this nation's most innovative and successful businessmen.
Conservatives are anti-business in practice, Dr. Brook argues, because they accept an anti-business moral theory--a religious morality that upholds a life of renunciation and sacrifice, and thus advocates a government that shackles, taxes, and punishes the pursuit of material success in this world. What America's productive businessmen need--and, in fact, what all of us need--Dr. Brook explains, is a moral philosophy that regards the creation and enjoyment of wealth as a virtue.
