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LOVE IS EXCEPTION MAKING 229
Her critique had little to do with colonialism, fascism, imperialism,
or the other evils leftists laid at the feet of the United States. Rather,
she argued that the only justifi cation for war was national self-defense,
and Vietnam did not meet this criterion. Although she was opposed to
Communism, Rand did not buy the domino theory that guided policymakers,
whereby any nation that became Communist was seen to
potentially topple its neighbors in the same direction. In the fashion
of the prewar right, Rand saw hostilities in Vietnam as unrelated to life
in the United States. To her, the more potent threat lay at home, where
statists and socialists disguised as liberals might destroy the freedoms of
America.
Rand saw the draft as a sure sign that freedom was already in grave
danger. She was deeply opposed to the draft and its implications for
society. “Of all the statist violations of individual rights . . . the military
draft is the worst,” she told her audience. “It negates man’s fundamental
right, the right to life, and establishes the fundamental principle of statism—that
a man’s life belongs to the state, and the state may claim it by
compelling him to sacrifi ce it in battle. Once that principle is accepted,
the rest is only a matter of time.” 35 Rand coupled her attack on the statist
draft with an impassioned defense of young lives wasted by the war. If
potential inductees turned to drugs or “the beatnik cult” in response to
state enslavement, who could blame them? She was incensed that none
on the right had joined her offensive; instead, she observed incredulously,
it was only “the extreme left” who had demanded repeal of the
draft. Rand argued that opposition to the draft should be the province
of conservatives, “the alleged defenders of freedom and capitalism.” 36
Framed as a statist violation of rights, conscription fi t seamlessly into
her larger opposition to coercion and the initiation of force.
Before long, opposition to the draft became a key part of the Objectivist
worldview, despite Rand’s active discouragement of draft resistance. She
had little sympathy for those who publicly protested the draft, favorably
quoting Persuasion, a magazine published by NBI students, “One
does not stop the juggernaut by throwing oneself against it.” 37 Her position
was nuanced, or some might say contradictory: against the draft,
and against the war, and against the protestors too. Some of this was
merely cultural. Raised in the high European tradition, Rand viscerally
objected to the messiness of the bohemian student protestors. Their
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