Success! (A little anyway)
by Mitchell McLeod Willcox

Our executive director, Mr. Rowlands, stressed activism as the main purpose of Rebirth of Reason when Solo and ROR went separate ways. I have to agree with our director: activism should be a motive of all Objectivists to a certain degree. When I think of his wish for us to promote Objectivism through action I think of two quotes: “Come, my friends, / 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world” from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses”. And a line from a Bob Marley song, “Get up, stand up, stand up for your right.” Standing up for one’s rights and seeking a new and better world should be the fuel and purpose of activism.

            Recently, I have done my small part to seek a better world and stand up for the inviolate rights of humanity. I started to submit guest columns to our campus newspaper here at the University of Montana. So far I have submitted four, two of which have been published. In the case of the second published column I stirred up a little bit of attention (an inevitable thing when the campus is almost completely liberal.) It was about the new political fad, smoking bans, and how they are a violation, not of smoker’s rights, but of property rights.

            Since then I have met many people that agree with my position and are willing to participate in a protest of our university town’s smoking ban. This is something I hope to get going with the leader of the UM Objectivist club. Sadly, I have also talked to many more people who are either unaware of the smoking ban, don’t care about it, or agree with its implementation. But, I have also had positive responses from the faculty. The most notable response came from my Rawlsian philosophy professor. He made my column homework for the class.

            Today, we discussed my ideas and the institution of property and its main principles as well as the government’s reasoning behind smoking bans. Of course this was done with a point of view tinted by Rawls’ philosophy of justice (but, if I was teaching a class about the political philosophy of Objectivism I would have done the same.) The point, though, is that an issue of injustice was discussed in a liberal classroom and Objectivist/Libertarian (that’s what my professor calls me, a Libertarian) arguments were seriously presented. Hopefully, the result was exposure of the students to radically different ideas than the usual swill they swallow on our campus, which may in turn lead to the evolution of mindsets. Perhaps this is a far too hopeful scenario, but I can’t think that there wasn’t any good created. I did receive smiles during the class and positive criticism from a student on the way out the door. What’s more, nobody has been successfully able to refute any of my arguments in or out of class. They can only say “Hmph! Well I like it this way” and walk off with their unsteady frame of mind.

            So, I have found not only that I want to do activism because I wish to “seek a newer world” but that it is rewarding. It has led me to new discussions with people I would not normally talk to about Objectivism (like my professor and some liberals who agree with me on this issue) and it has given me a little bit of recognition. Both of these effects are exciting and rewarding. The ultimate reward, though, would be to create a change. I guess we’ll see.
           

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