A most welcome announcement from Lin Zinser:

Dr. Lewis will be the first speaker of the Front Range Objectivist Supper Talks on Saturday, January 31, 2004. FROST is planning to host these supper talks six times a year.

It will be hosted at the West Woods Golf Club at 6655 Quaker, Arvada, Colorado (a suburb of Denver, Colorado) and will cost $45.00 per person. (The price is $35 for students.)

There will be a social hour beginning at 6:00 pm, followed by buffet dinner at 7:00 and Dr. Lewis’ talk at 8:00.

Anyone is welcome (even non-Objectivists who you think might be interested). Please contact Lin Zinser for details at [email protected] or snail-mail your reservation and check to 8700 Dover Court, Arvada, CO 80005. You may also call her at 303.431.2525. Below is a lecture abstract prepared by Dr. Lewis.

*** Important Note: Please RSVP to Lin Zinser by January 25th, as she needs to order the dinners in advance. ***

The Failure of the Homeland Defense: Lessons from History
Dr. Lewis
Jan 31, 2003
Lecture Abstract

With the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Defense, America has accepted a permanent, institutionalized state of siege on its own soil. But is this the correct strategy? This lecture examines several cases from history, asking what has happened when great nations, facing attack, have turned to defense rather than offense. The results are unequivocal: the only defense is a good offense. America should project her military beyond her borders, into the enemy’s homeland, and should leave her cities free and open, as demonstrations of the power and success of freedom.

But this strategic lesson depends upon deeper factors. A nation must understand, and focus on, its self-interest; the military must then be allowed to win. A nation under attack must not exempt those who start a war from its consequences; the psychological will of the enemy to continue the fight must be destroyed along with its physical resources. There is a deep connection between intellectual clarity, moral certainty, and the offensive strategy needed to defeat a ruthless enemy. Only Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism provides the moral foundations needed to succeed against the threats we face today.