Ayn Rand would be proud...

[Rasputin_Vol]

NBU: Fish vs. Men in the Supreme Court by Ayn Rand Institute: Thomas Bowden, 5/13/08

“This case requires the Supreme Court to pretend that the welfare of wildlife can be incorporated into a legal system designed to protect the rights of man,” said Thomas Bowden, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute. “The ‘best technology’--for whom? Fish or men? There is no rational way for a court to ‘balance’ a fish’s interest in living against man’s interest in producing electricity.

“The Founding Fathers gave us a constitutional structure of checks and balances, including judicial review by the Supreme Court. But for such review to be rational, the court must apply an objective standard in each case. The highest such standard--the individual human being’s right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness--is implicit in the Founders’ recognition that ‘to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men.’

“By the standard of individual rights, any law purporting to protect wildlife from men would be struck down immediately, as a violation of man’s right to sustain his life by exploiting nature. But America’s lawmakers have sunk to a level unthinkable to the Founders. Through such statutes as the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and a variety of other environmental protection laws, Congress has conferred upon wildlife a legal status equal to men.

“This creates an impossible dilemma for judges. If fish and men are equal before the law, whose welfare should prevail when their interests conflict? There can be no rational answer.

 

[TennTradition]

Oh the Objectivists......

 

[utvolpj]

I will wait to see the fish court's ruling before making a decision.

 

[allvol123]

Unconstitutional!

 

[KB5252]

Wow

 

[TennTradition]

There was a time when Rand's words

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live my life for the sake of another man nor ask another man to live his for mine" (or something pretty close to that)

had a sense of empowerment and independence to it that appealed to me. The words do still seem important in the sense of "for the sake"...which is different than allowing an interconnectedness with others influence your life. But, when you combine those words with the characters in Rand's books (such as Atlas Shrugged where that quote came from) .. you can't help but feel cold... I'm not a big fan of objectivism.