| | I'd like to address Dean's dislike of the dollar sign as a symbol that we can all justifiably embrace. In Post 36, he wrote, I think objectivism would greatly benefit from having symbols like the cross or Jesus/evolution fish. I'd love to have some symbols for freedom, capitalism, individualism, objectivism, etc. I don't like the Atlas Shrugged image for Objectivism. I like skyscrapers, and other great things produced by men through capitalism. The dollar sign is too tainted by dirty government money and it's incompetent protection against fraud-- and it only concretes an insignificant portion of the meaning of Capitalism.
I'd like a symbol that made the Objectivist's understanding of Capitalism concrete. Hmmm... Capitalism... the system of behaviors developed to maximize the ability for each individuals to live as they themselves see fit; by means of maximizing freedom from initiation of force; potential opportunities to be productive; and monopoly over the use of one's own body, that which was acquired through consensual trade, one's own work, and donation. I'd wear it on my cloths, I'd put it on my car. Here is what Rand had to say about the dollar sign in her Playboy interview:
[T]he meaning of the dollar sign is made clear in Atlas Shrugged. It is the symbol, clearly explained in the story, of free trade and, therefore, of a free mind. A free mind and a free economy are corollaries. One can't exist without the other. The dollar sign, as the symbol of the currency of a free country, is the symbol of the free mind. More than that, as to the historical origin of the dollar sign, although it has never been proved, one very likely hypothesis is that it stands for the initials of the United States.
Also, money originated as a more efficient alternative to barter. A common unit of currency made it much easier to satisfy the double coincidence of wants that underlies the free exchange of goods and services. So the symbol of any currency--be it the British pound, the Swiss franc, the Japanese yen, or the Islandic krona--could theoretically serve as an appropriate symbol of free trade. But since the U.S. has historically been the freest country on earth, what better monetary symbol of free trade is there?
It is true that the dollar (as well as all other currencies in today's world) has been tainted by governmental manipulation and devaluation, but the essence of money is still its function as a medium of exchange, an exchange which by its nature is necessarily voluntary, since prices are a function of supply and demand--of the willingness and ability to buy what others are willing and able to sell. The fact that money has traditionally been maligned as a symbol of greed and corruption, as "filthy lucre," and "the root of all evil," is no reason to abandon it as a symbol. Just as Rand sought to rehabilitate the word "selfishness" from an unjustly tarnished reputation, so we, as Objectivists, should not be reluctant to restore the honorable status of money to its rightful place as a symbol of capitalism and freedom.
- Bill
(Edited by William Dwyer
on 1/18, 11:00pm)
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