Inertia makes the world go ‘round. The world is already going ‘round, so it keeps on going ‘round. This is excellent physics, but crummy ethics. 

Ethics? What on Earth does this have to do with ethics? Well, in the 4th century BC, the last word on the world’s rotation was that love makes the world go ‘round.^1. This turned out to be crummy physics, but it’s excellent ethics. 

Love does make the human world go ‘round; it moves human actions. Love of what? Of whatever the action aims at. Whose love? The love of whoever acts. Human actions are moved by an individual’s love for his own goals. 

This is highly favorable for egoism. We can roughly re-state it as selfishness makes the world go ‘round! It puts nihilists, those who oppose selfishness, in the cheerless position of opposing the human world’s motive power. 

This led old-fashioned nihilists to despair. Committed to a morality of anti-selfishness, they abandoned the world. They just sighed, “Morality has no chance. Virtue’s only reward is in heaven.” 

Among modern nihilists, the less corrupt^2. simply deny the power of self-interest. Hence such goofiness as the mantra that “punishment does not deter,” the absurdity that production will grow even when the profit is taxed out of it, and the jest that the “social safety net” is not a hammock! 

But most modern nihilists follow Kant.^3. He was more cunning. He conceded that selfishness was inescapable, but stripped it of moral significance. He granted its power, but not its glory. 

He introduced something new in the world: hypocrisy on principle. By regarding self-interest as a non-moral factor like a force of nature, he gave those who oppose self-interest an open door to use it. So they do, brazenly and systematically. 

To steal a line from the spy business, they “turn” selfishness to betray its master. Statists lavish handouts, subsidies and “incentives” on businesses and the public. They shower patronage on their supporters. So they get praised and re-elected—even while their schemes undermine everyone’s interests. 

Hypocrisy has been called the tribute which vice pays to virtue. This nihilist hypocrisy is the tribute impotence pays to power! 

The statist trend of the last century or so led many egoists to despair; it seemed to prove that there was some mysterious power greater than self-interest. There isn’t. The statist trend was caused by the gimmick of perverting self-interest, of using it against itself. 

The buggers have been biting us with our own teeth! 

Egoists have sole rightful title to the greatest power on Earth. For us, self-interest is no sleazy, hypocritical gimmick; it is the essence of morality. Self-interest and a moral code are both formidable powers. In combination, they’re unbeatable. Egoists combine them! 

Egoists honor self-interest as the material of morality itself. So morality and self-interest can no more be separated than the iron of an anvil from the anvil made of it. Men seek goals; the moral question is only: which ones? 

Egoists choose values as goals. But a value is that which supports and strengthens you, which makes you better able to live and to act. Knowledge and wealth are obvious examples. They enhance your power to live. 

For an egoist, virtue is method, a systematic course of action for achieving a value. Rationality and thrift are obvious examples. So an egoist is mightily interested in perfecting his virtues, and acquiring new ones. 

Thus, egoists grow in power in the normal course of living. We may not yet have enough allies, but we have powerful allies. 

And we will have more allies. Egoism is contagious! It’s spreading! Everyone who is infected by our ideas is both recruited to our side and made more powerful. It’s a good combination! 

Better yet, none of these advantages is a matter of dumb luck. They are logical results of our basic premises. We planned it that way! 

So the right frame of mind for an egoist is radical optimism! Optimism feels good; we’re entitled to it; and there’s nothing like it to spur you to greater efforts, and to sharpen your wit. 

Optimism is good for you—if you’re an egoist! Optimism is no exercise in self-delusion for those who seek real goods by valid methods. Facts are friends for those whose policy is to get on the right side of them. 

The clouds of gloom which darken the world come from the cultural establishment with its nihilist premises. Nihilists deserve pessimism; we don’t. 

Oh, yes. About those pesky nihilists and statists. Permit me to recommend a couple of virtues for dealing with them, one that’s ridiculously easy and another that’s tougher. 

The easy one is quackgrass activism: fax, copy, and spread good articles. Help to create more egoists, capitalists, and activists. The more the merrier! 

The tougher virtue is strategic thinking: review nihilist/statist schemes, and figure out how they work. That will point the way to defeating them, separately and in detail. 

This means analyzing the schemes in terms of interests. Who expects to benefit? Why will they be disappointed? Who gets stuck with the bill? What can the victims do to defend themselves? Is there a way to profit? 

Strategic thinking can put self-interest back on the side where it belongs! It will also unearth evidence to help build your optimism. 

Harry Browne is a model of strategic thinking. He taught a generation how to profit while defeating statist money-printing. He didn’t end the inflation of the 70s single-handedly, but he sure helped! 

He credits the germ of the idea to one Jerome F. Smith, who observed that “if the government is wrong in what it’s doing, there must be a way for an individual to profit by betting against it.”^4. This is strategic thinking of the first order! 

How can we lose?