I just finished Nathaniel Branden's The Objectivist Ethics in an Information Age Economy. He ended with:
However, should the Objectivist ethics ever gain widespread social acceptance, you may be sure of one thing-it will not be called "the Objectivist ethics." It will be called, "Well, of course. It's obvious. Wake up, man, don't you realize this is the twenty-first century? What we're talking about-it's only common sense."
He is right. Part of the reason why I like Objectivism is that it is common sense. I didn't have to read all of Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism to grasp where it was going. I pretty much already knew it. Though my public education taught me about most of the topics, no teacher ever said "this is right".
Take capitalism for example. It was covered in my economics class, but my teacher didn't say "capitalism is right" though there was some condemnation of communism. He taught how the US's economy was a mixed economy, but did not denounce it. He should have since it is a compromise with socialism, or communism, which basically equates to the US economy being socialistic. He merely taught it as a fact without judgement. A judgement that I would have at least stressed had I been teaching.
I would have to do a deeper historical and sociological study to determine what is and was common sense. I am willing to say that Objectivism may actually be on track to being renamed as common sense as Branden concludes, at least here in America.
