Perspective

O'Rourke is disgusted by government, even the "small" government favored by his own Republican party. His perspective is that of a free market true-believer who sees government as restrictive, stifling force. O'Rourke values the individual over the collective, competition over cooperation. He fears that an overprotective government will foster a dull, complacent nation content to live on government support instead of striving for its own betterment.

Although O'Rourke doesn't use the term, his capitalist views are representative of Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism. He sees capitalism as a fundamental truth of the human condition. People have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and capitalism, O'Rourke believes, facilitates this pursuit. He argues that an individual can achieve his dreams through free enterprise, creating something that is uniquely his own, something which no one has the right to deprive him of. Since government can deprive people...