From the Editor, Summer 2007

Welcome to the Summer issue of The Objective Standard. I find myself writing this brief note on Memorial Day, the holiday dedicated to remembering American soldiers who have lost their lives in defense of American interests (or the supposition thereof). This somber day is made all the more somber by the fact that Americans have learned so little from the wars in which so many Americans have died needlessly. Since each of the articles in this issue of TOS speaks (directly or indirectly) to the principles that Americans must grasp if we are to put an end to the needless deaths of Americans in general and American soldiers in particular, I dedicate this issue to the day when the life of one American—soldiers included—is regarded by our government as more valuable than the lives of all non-Americans combined.

Here is a brief overview of the articles at hand. “The False Promise of Classical Education” by Lisa VanDamme examines the allure of classical education, considers both its religious and secular forms, and shows that—although its advocates claim it to be the solution to today’s educational wasteland—classical education only contributes to the crippling of children’s minds. “Neoconservative Foreign Policy: An Autopsy” by Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein surveys the manifest failure of neoconservative foreign policy, which is alleged to be in America’s “national interest,” zeros in on the fundamental reason for that failure, and calls for the only moral and practical alternative to it: a foreign policy of genuine American self-interest. “‘The Balm for a Guilty Conscience’: Moral Paralysis, Appeasement, and the Causes of World War II” by John David Lewis shows how altruism and egalitarianism—combined with guilt caused by these same factors in regard to World War I—led to British appeasement and compromise in the late 1930s, which, in turn, enabled the rise of Nazi Germany and necessitated World War II.

Finally, for those who might be interested, a note about advertising in TOS: True to our selfish, capitalistic convictions, we now carry advertisements. If you would like to “coerce” the minds of our affluent readers and “force” them to purchase your products or services, we would be happy to enable you—for a nominal fee. For information on advertising in the journal (or on our website), please contact us at ads@theobjectivestandard.com or 800-423-6151.

—Craig Biddle
Editor and Publisher

About Craig Biddle

Craig is cofounder and editor of The Objective Standard, cofounder and director of education at Objective Standard Institute, and executive director of Prometheus Foundation. He is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It; Rational Egoism: The Morality for Human Flourishing; and the forthcoming Moral Truths Your Parents, Preachers, and Teachers Don’t Want You to Know. He is currently working on his fourth book, “Thinking in Principles.”

View all articles by Craig Biddle →