The ISU Objectivists, self-described “radical capitalists,” have made their presence known in the short time they have been on campus.

The ISU Objectivists started about a year and a half ago and now have 25 active members, said Scott Johnson, vice president and spokesman for the group.

The objective of the group is to provide an alternative to the humanities courses taught at Iowa State.

A lot of professors are left-wing, and capitalism doesn’t get “a fair shake,” Johnson, a junior in philosophy, said.

Many objectivists’ ideas are based on the works of author Ayn Rand, who has written two best-sellers.

Most of Rand’s books, such as “Atlas Shrugged,” center around key male and female characters whom Rand portrays as heroes.

Objectivists believe government’s only purposes are to uphold the Constitution and protect people’s rights.

“We want people to see that the government is there to protect you against the right of force agencies and criminals, and they are the ones using force against us,” he said.

“The group is not for anarchy nor are we libertarians,” Johnson said.

The club thinks politics is a way to enforce rules in society.

They also believe Republicans seek economic, but not moral, freedom.

For example, Republicans want to have prayer in school and prevent abortion, he said.

On the flip side, Democrats seek freedom of thought without economic freedom, he said.

“They, Republicans and Democrats, are like Hitler, trying to take away people’s morality,” said Shirley Keller, a senior in computer science and president of the Objectivists.

Doing away with social security, welfare, Medicare and Medicaid is another issue the Objectivists stand for.

“These people need to fend for themselves instead of leaching off other people through the government systems,” Johnson said.

Despite their stands on timely issues, the ISU Objectivists consider themselves a philosophical, rather than political, group, Johnson said. It is a way for people to implement what is right, he said.

The ISU Objectivists have a meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the Black Engineering Building.

GSB President Adam Gold said, “They have as much right to say their opinions as anyone else and no one should hold that against them.”

The following is how the ISU Objectivists stand on many campus issues:

GSB money distribution

Johnson said he agrees to an extent that money should be given to clubs and religious groups, but Government of the Student Body should stop allocating these funds so that people could not complain about discrimination.

GSB should get rid of all club money so student fees would be reduced, he said.

Deantrious Mitchell issue

Keller said Mitchell, an ISU student security guard who filed a false assault report last semester, should be condemned.

She said if a white male cut himself and claimed someone else did it, the university would have labeled him as a “liberalist and trouble- maker.”

“It was a very immature act, and I was appalled that the university told us to forgive him for his actions. I think he should have been expelled,” she said.

Johnson said minority groups have a tendency to fall into the victim mentality and, because of this, are given more attention.

“Some black people think was a big conspiracy, but I am not that paranoid,” he said.

“There are more things being done in their behalf, and the thing nowadays is to make yourself out to be a victim and get money,” he said.

Religion

“The Objectivists are strong atheists, but we don’t advocate it,” Keller said. “The reason the group believes in atheism is because you can’t prove that something is real; therefore, you cannot prove that God exists.”

She said people who want power can make organized religion work to their advantage by scaring people and controling their minds.

Johnson said, “The whole concept of religion is wrong, and it is a mistake that is responsible for a lot of pain and suffering that has happened in the world.

“People should believe that you can achieve your goals and values here and now instead of an afterlife. I think people who believe in an afterlife are death worshipers.”

The Objectivists believe people should guide their lives by reason and by what one sees, hears and feels, Keller said.

Diversity on campus

Keller said the university could be doing a better job with diversity. She said she doesn’t like the diversity requirement for engineering students.

“Why do you need to take a course that is supposed to represent a broad array of different parts of the world?

“It should not be an objective of the university because difference is not a value,” she said.

Keller said she is upset that a Western civilization book has been changed to include Asian and Indian culture.

She said the main reason this was done was so students could pass the history class off as a way to meet the diversity requirement.