About Humanism: Only humans feel; collectives do not feel.
About Isolation: Feelings of other people can be judged only by their acts.
About Insatiability: It is impossible to overcome all needs.
About Tastes: People value powers differently.
About Egoism: Strangers' needs are not important.
About Love: Loved ones are only few.
About Justice: The worse the offense, the more offender is hated.
About Envy: The richer the person, the more he is hated.
Today it is turn of the axiom about egoism: strangers' needs are not important.
In our behavior we don’t take into account needs of the most of other people—and they number billions. These are alien needs of alien people and we do not rush to satisfy them. We ignore them. They are not actual for us: they don’t prompt us to action. And other people don’t get insulted because of that, since they—in their turn—do not take into account and do not rush to satisfy our needs.
We can immediately feel only our own needs. But it doesn’t mean that needs of all other people are alien to us. What feelings are those that turn the needs of other people into our needs, and who are those people, whose needs can be actual for us?
At first, it is love. Love turns the needs of our beloved ones into our needs, and love turns their joys into our joys.
Secondly, it is debt. Debt turns the needs of our creditors into our needs, and debt turns their joys into our joys.
We spend our scarce powers, including time and money, on ourselves and on those few people, who are not alien to us—our beloved ones and our creditors. We leave other people—billions of them—unattended, since we can’t possibly have enough powers for everyone in need.
Axiom of egoism can be stated differently—through the value of your and others’ powers: own powers are valued more than powers of others. This rule embraces all powers, including property. Own dollar and other’s dollar are completely different dollars. Value of the first one is greater than it is of another. Value of someone else’s dollar tends to zero, when this someone is an alien to you. Value of someone else’s dollar may even be negative in case that it belongs to a competitor, to an enemy.
Altruistic fairytales. Scholars draw rose-colored pictures describing purely non-egoistic people, who act as if there were no alien needs. Many social projects are designed for people unfamiliar with egoism—people, who care about everyone.
Communists and socialists assume that egoism (when each one cares only about his private affairs and doesn’t care about others) is caused by social structure or, in other words, established order. Moreover, the only egoists are exploiters, slave-owners, feudalists or capitalists, but not in any case the exploited ones—slaves, serfs or proletarians. This is why authority of egoistic and parasitic exploiters needs to be overthrown and be given to altruistic exploited workers, free from private affairs and devoted to common good. Liberated from economic exploitation by egoistic capitalists, altruistic workers would bravely direct their efforts towards common wealth. Now that egoistic capitalists do not absorb these efforts, it is surely possible.
Soviet scholars described modern to them and especially future socialist society as a society of altruists, where rare cases of egoism are just relics of the dark past. They said that in socialism “man is to man a friend, comrade, and brother” [Third Programme of The Communist Party of The Soviet Union], while in capitalism “man is wolf to man”. Songs were written: “First think about you Motherland, then about yourself” [Rus. Раньше думай о Родине, а потом о себе—Komsomol Tradition (Rus. Комсомольская традиция). Lyrics by Igor Shaferan]. Addressing to each other people said “comrade”. These traditions turned naïve people away from their private affairs. And these people were successfully exploited by those who never forgot about themselves.
Laws against egoism. Not only communists save the world from egoism. Modern lawmakers do too, however not that radically. It seems to them that egoists working for themselves and not for society become more rich, successful and powerful than altruists, who forget about themselves. This is not fair, so situation needs to be improved by government.
Sellers concerned about profit are more egoistic than retail buyers. That’s why retail customers should be protected from sellers, for instance by consumer protection laws. If it isn’t done, then egoistic sellers will reduce costs decreasing quality of commodities, thriving on defenseless retail customers.
Employers concerned about extorting profit are more egoistic than employees living paycheck to paycheck. That’s why employees should be protected from employers by labor law. If it isn’t done, then egoistic employers would increase working day, decrease wages and ignore occupational safety and health of their workers.
Big entrepreneurs are more egoistic than smaller ones. That’s why small business is an object of governmental care. Amongst big entrepreneurs the monopolists are the most egoistic. That’s why many governments ban monopolies. United States code provides imprisonment for violators of Anti-Trust Law. If small business is not supported and big capital is not restrained, then small enterprises would be swallowed by big capital, which can go all lengths for profit.
Private persons are more egoistic than government people. This idea is the core concept of social, or welfare, or in other words—altruistic state. It is commonly accepted that, privately, people would help each other much less than altruists wanted them to. With no help of government it is much harder for altruist to become a wealthy man because of his reduced attention to himself, unlike for egoist, who is concentrated on his own interests. That’s why politicians organize governmental help, obliging egoists to help altruists more than egoists want to, so that altruist won’t become extinct, won’t die off.
Egoistic altruism of social state. But if altruists vote for politicians, who promise to help them for the account of egoists, then altruism of such “altruists” is quite doubtful. Forcing to help altruist at egoists expense is beyond the frames of altruism. Altruists organizing care for themselves look egoistic. The more so that such help should be forcefully demanded from egoists. It appears that social state is an authority of egoists claiming to be altruists.
Profit of demonstrating altruism. People, including politicians, often demonstrate their altruism, their willingness to solve other people’s problems. Masses admire altruism of others. This is why those who better demonstrate their altruism often win political elections amongst naïve masses. Those who honestly confess to their egoism do not win such elections. Masses do not like open egoists, although difference between open egoists and other people is just that first ones “came out”. It has not been proved that politicians are more altruistic than any other people.
Not encouraged one will not be discouraged. Sober-minded glance at human’s properties, including inherent to people egoism, frees from illusions, which may lead to absolutely non-illusory “bumps on the head”. It becomes as clear as daylight that responsibility for your wealth lays on your own shoulders, and it is strange to get insulted by alien men and women from government, who wouldn’t solve your problem with the same level of insistence as they do solving their own problems.
A thought of personal responsibility for own fate is unpleasant for many people. One may become their enemy if he tells them that their misfortune is their own fault. But one may become their idol if he is able to find external and convincing causes of their misfortune: unfair social structure, uneven income distribution, government inattention to their needs, greediness of rich people, wild capitalism, imperialism, globalism…
Political idols are just the same people and same egoists as everybody. As all other people they primarily care about their own wealth. And once we allow them to collect taxes to care about us, first thing they do is satisfy their needs. Government care about the poor helps the best to those who are in charge of caring.
There is no soul without egoism. Egoism, self-interest is an essential attribute of any soul. Those, who do not have own interests blindly obeying other’s will, do not have soul. It’s not “someone” anymore, it’s “something”. Arm or leg is a very valuable body part, but it is soulless, it doesn’t have its own interests, it just follows the will of its owner. Perhaps without egoistic people around us with their different interests, the world would be much less interesting thing itself. To Lillebror egoistic Karlsson-on-the-Roof was much more attractive than a toy dog.
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