A code of rational self-interest rejects every form of human sacrifice, whether of oneself to others or of others to oneself. It upholds the virtues of rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, pride. Reason is an attribute of the individual. The basic political requirement of Man's Life is freedom. It means an individual's power to act according to his own judgment, while respecting the same right in others.
Force is the antonym and negation of thought.
Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for his proper survival. The Founding Fathers were right about the fact that rights are political, not economic, i.e., that they are sanctions to act and to keep the products of one's action, not unearned claims to the actions or products of others. And they were right about the fact that the proper function of government is the protection of man's rights. A political system based on the recognition of rights is one that guards man against violence. Men therefore deal with one another not as potential killers, but as sovereign traders, according to their own independent judgment and voluntary consent.