The economy is in shambles. Productive entrepreneurs, fearing that they will only be penalized for commencing business, have either cut back on their operations or have outright closed them down. And while the government repeatedly attempts to soothe the public by spreading the message that its worries of an economic crisis are exaggerated and that prospects are already improving, those in the business community see through all of this, knowing that the situation never significantly improved.
Worse still, those who dare to loudly point out that it is the government’s strangling red tape that hampers any improvement in the economy will find themselves the victim of reprisals from the very state that claims to be their protector.
The paragraphs above describe two things -- the setting of Ayn Rand’s
classic 1957 novel “Atlas Shrugged,” and the state of Hawaii’s economy for many years, long before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
I hope that no one will resort to blaming only the terrorist attacks in New York for Hawaii’s current economic plight, since it is very obvious that our state was already in a desperate situation from mid-nineties hence.
And while all of the United States experiences financial uncertainty at the moment, it is likely that the states of the mainland will eventually find recovery while Hawaii will not. This is because, even though the government’s regulatory power is increasing throughout the whole country, Hawaii’s government is more hostile to commercial development than that of any other U.S. state, with its heap of regulations, taxes and wealth-redistribution schemes.
Among all 50 states, Money magazine rated Hawaii as “the number-one tax hell.” Furthermore, local small businesses that fail to make considerable campaign contributions to the dominating Democratic Party will find themselves under the conspicuous subject of HIOSH inspections and of tax audits, while those that do tow the usual party line are not subjected to the same scrutiny.
Hawaii, like the America of the future as portrayed in "Atlas Shrugged," has retrogressed into an atrocious combination of socialism and fascism. No wonder that Hawaii, like the world of "Atlas Shrugged," experiences a “brain drain” in the workforce. In the novel, geniuses go on strike against the world, retiring and disappearing. In real life, many bright youths have gone on strike against Hawaii’s system in their own way -- by migrating to other states where they find greater opportunity.
The solutions to Hawaii’s problem can actually be found in the
philosophy of Atlas Shrugged's protagonist, John Galt. Near the end of the book, as the world descends into chaos and poverty, he states that America can only save itself by embracing a philosophy of reason and its logical consequence, economic freedom.
In stressing the importance of reason, Galt says that people must learn of the inextricable link between cause and effect. It’s only logical, for example, that, if the government restricts businessmen in producing goods and services and prevents them from profiting for it, then businessmen will eventually quit or not work as hard. If it’s not halted, this process will create a cycle that makes society poorer over time.
Such a lack of freedom is what caused the privation of the former
Soviet Union, of the Third World (including Afghanistan and Iran), and, on a lesser (but still significant) scale, Hawaii. In asking its people to sacrifice their property rights for the “public good,” the state has sacrificed the material prosperity of everyone.
When any local politician wonders aloud on how Hawaii came to its
current condition, any concerned businessperson should reply to him as John Galt did: “We [entrepreneurs] required that you leave us free to function -- free to think and work as we choose ... -- free to earn our own profits and make our own fortunes ... Such was the price we asked, which you chose to reject as too high.”
To save our state, Hawaii’s government must reverse its course -- cut
back on taxation and spending, privatize its many social services, and allow business to commence freely, stepping in only to protect life, liberty, and property. As Atlas Shrugged's hero pointed out decades ago, that is the only way our islands can secure their long-term survival.
Stuart K. Hayashi is the president of the Reason Club of Honolulu and an undergraduate in Entrepreneurial Studies at Hawaii Pacific University, though his opinions do not necessarily reflect that of either institution. He can be reached at radical_individualist@hotmail.com
