The government is a loaded gun, and we’re all at point-blank range. At least that is what Dr. Harry Binswanger, the editor of The Ayn Rand Lexicon, said.

Binswanger presented his case Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union. His speech was titled “Laissez-Faire Capitalism: The System of Freedom and Justice.”

He said there is one thing that sets apart government from other organizations — “If you disagree with the rules of these organizations, you can simply quit the group. If you disagree with government, you are arrested.

“The government should not tell anyone what to do,” he told the crowd of nearly 60 people. “It’s immoral, it’s outrageous … to assume the role to dictate to you how you are to live.” He said government should exist only to keep the peace.

Binswanger said laissez-faire capitalism is “let-us-alone capitalism.” That means no one can use force to persuade others. He said today’s system does not fall under this description because the amount of government control has been growing.

To make today’s system one of laissez-faire capitalism, he said 90-95 percent of today’s government systems would have to be eliminated. The first thing to go, he said, would be the “alphabet” regulatory agencies. Programs such as Medicare and welfare would also be abolished. “It’s hard to believe, but societies can exist without Medicare.”

With today’s system “you can’t make a contract to be paid in the form you want to be paid,” he said. For this reason, dollar bills should be eliminated, allowing “private banks to operate on the currency of their choice.”

One major change which would have local repercussions is that there would be no Iowa State University. Binswanger explained since ISU is funded by taxes, it forces people who disagree with the ideas the school teaches to pay taxes which fund the ideas.

The main theory behind laissez-faire capitalism is that of objectivism begun by Ayn Rand, which states “no man has the right to initiate the use of physical force against others.”

Binswanger explained the “ultimate base” of this theory is that “existence exists. The reality that we perceive around us is real.”

This means there is no supernatural realm, no god, no “mystical other dimension.” There is also no such thing as society, which Binswanger called the substitute for god.

“Society is just a bunch of other people like yourself.” He said that society’s collectives such as race, gender, and economic status are “… nonsense. You are the only real thing, you are the person that lives. If your skin color happens to be the same as someone else, so what?”

The second major theory behind laissez-faire capitalism is that of free will, which states you are the only one who determines your actions.

“If you are a victim, you made yourself a victim unless someone used physical force.” He said just because you weren’t offered a better role model as a child is no excuse for calling yourself a victim.

Overall, he said, the keys to survival are ration, thought and reason. “Anything that destroys reason is the ultimate evil.” He said the only thing that can actually destroy reason is physical force.

Binswanger is the director of the Objectivist Graduate Center at the Ayn Rand Institute.

The speech was sponsored by Students for Objectivism, The Ayn Rand Institute, and the ISU Committee on Lectures.