James -- Thanks for posting this. My talk went well and was well received. I gave them the Objectivist view of morality as self-interest and the ripped apart the Corporate Social Responsibility belief that entrepreneurs "owe" something to "society." I pointed out that businesses prosper by creating and selling goods and services to willing customers. Everyone benefits. The books are balanced. No one owes anyone anything. Further, "society" is a number of individuals who benefit from economic transactions. I said that entrepreneurs must stand up for their rights -- and everyone's -- to their own lives, liberty and property and be proud of their achievements.
Here's from the press release:
The Moral High-Ground Against Corporate Social Responsibility
November 2, 2005
Being asked whether an enterprise is acting in accordance with Corporate Social Responsibility is like being asked whether you’re still beating your wife. The assumptions of the question mean that any answer you give is an admission of immorality.
Corporations are associations of individuals that produce goods and services, that is, create wealth, to sell to others in order to make a profit. In such transactions, all parties profit. So my what moral standards should we judge such actions? Here are those principles:
*It is both a legal right and a moral virtue to pursue one’s own survival and prosperity. Our lives are ours to live as we wish, free of guilt, with or without the approval of others.
*We should afford to others the same rights to their live for their own sakes.
*Transactions should be based on mutual consent rather than the initiation of force.
What then are the assumptions of the Corporate Social Responsibility movement?
*That we each live and act only with the approval of others; our lives are not our own.
*That moral virtue is found in living for others rather than ourselves.
*That one individual profits only at the expense of others.
The Corporate Social Responsibility movement uses guilt and moral confusion to force entrepreneurs to apologize for their productive virtues, to apologize for creating the richest country in the world. Entrepreneurs should not accept unearned guilt but, rather, be proud of their achievements. It is those who would redistribute wealth and use guilt and envy as weapons to seek the unjust who deserve our scorn. Only when entrepreneurs take the moral high-ground and stand up for their rights will they be able to hold off the assault of so-called corporate social responsibility.
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