What Do You Owe Society? – A Capitalist Answer
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## Capitalism and Coffee (or Wine) – An Objectivist Meetup
### 🗓️ Topic: “What Do You Owe Society? – A Capitalist Answer”
📍 Location: La Scala Restaurant, 169 Unley Road, Unley
🕕 Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, Wednesday 12 June 2025
🍷 Please buy a meal to support the venue
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### What do you owe society? Your time? Your income? Your life?
Join us for a bold and unapologetic discussion that challenges one of the most widespread moral assumptions in today’s culture—the idea that you were born with a duty to serve the collective.
We’re told from an early age that we must “give back,” that personal success carries an obligation to others, and that society functions best when we put the needs of the group above the rights of the individual.
But what exactly is this “society” we’re said to owe? Who decides what the payment should be? And what happens when you refuse to comply?
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### At this meetup, we will explore:
- Why society is not a mystical entity, but a collection of individuals
- How capitalism is the only system that protects your right to exist for your own sake
- Why voluntary trade, not coerced sacrifice, is the moral foundation of a free society
- And how collectivist guilt and altruist premises are used to rationalise looting through government policy
This is not a forum for debating the pros and cons of capitalism as defined by those who seek to justify wealth redistribution. We are not here to validate socialism in disguise. This discussion is grounded in capitalism as a moral system, one that upholds individual rights, reason, and voluntary exchange.
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### 📚 Please read before attending:
To ensure an informed and principled discussion, we ask that you read the following articles beforehand:
- 📝 “Before Capitalism: Debunking the Myth of Prehistoric Paradise”
- This short essay dismantles the false idea that humans lived happier, freer lives before capitalism, and clarifies what capitalism actually made possible.
📚 Recommended Additional Reading List: Capitalism as a Moral System
These works are not chosen to argue over capitalism’s “practical benefits,” but to help you understand why it is the only moral social system—one rooted in reason, rights, and voluntary exchange.
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### 1. Ayn Rand – Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
Especially:
- “What Is Capitalism?”
- “Man’s Rights”
- “The Nature of Government”
> Ayn Rand defends capitalism not as an economic mechanism, but as the only system consistent with man’s nature as a rational being. Her essays form the philosophical foundation for understanding individual rights, the role of government, and the moral defense of profit.
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### 2. Mark Koyama & Jared Rubin – How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
> A historical and empirical look at why human societies stagnated for millennia—and what changed. This book debunks the myth of tribal utopias and shows how economic freedom, secure property rights, and innovation created the modern world.
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### 3. Thomas Sowell – Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
> Clear, jargon-free explanations of how economies function—and why government intervention distorts incentives, undermines production, and leads to unintended consequences. Sowell’s writing is logic in action.
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### Optional Bonus Reading:
- Johan Norberg – Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future
An uplifting, fact-rich overview of how free markets have improved every measure of human life—from health to literacy to longevity. - Steven Pinker – Enlightenment Now
A data-driven defense of reason, science, humanism, and capitalism as drivers of progress.
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What Do You Owe Society? – A Capitalist Answer