The Altruist in Politics

A commencement address that argues political altruism and communism are impractical and potentially harmful, contending that idealistic equality misunderstands self-interest and the difficulty of measuring disparate labors. It critiques communal experiments such as Owen's New Harmony, doubts education alone can remake human motives, and warns that enforced equality would blunt individual energy and the instinct of expansion, substitute state power for personal initiative, unsettle family roles, and risk producing deeper inequalities and diminished enterprise while promising short-term relief.