As its title suggests, Power to the West! Is a book devoted to support the Western values, in this case, the promotion of the individual as a subject of the inalienable right to property. This goal, obviously, is not alien to other cultures, but it has been most cherished and made a specific aim of society only in the West, with the advent of the modern capitalist system. At the heart of the above is the belief that everyone must be given what he deserves, and that the measure of merit is what everyone gives of himself as assessed through free interchange. This, however, may neglect important contributions, such as the constitutive support we all give to society, which cannot be evaluated by the market process, and thus must be recognized according to higher cultural parameters. This, in turn, does not entail rewarding laziness, much less endorsing arbitrary controls by the state, nor any form of socialist design, but rather the validation of the two polar units of right in a society: that of the individual, and that of the whole. Such a structure constitutes nomocratic capitalism or nomocracy, a socio-political system, whose roots can be identified in the fundamental sense of justice that has prevailed through the ages in the teachings of the great masters and thinkers of mankind.
Within such a context, and most importantly, this work shows beyond any doubt, something often neglected: that the principles and commandments of religions, are not only akin but endorse capitalist tenets and practices, although to be sure, not unrestricted mercantilist and laissez-faireist ones, leading to exploitation of the sector with weak trading power. Bringing religious doctrines and individualist philosophies together, is a major achievement of this book, and that which provides us with a powerful weapon to counter left-wing theologies, which have become influential on many sectors of society.
Through enlightening insights on moral rules, Gómez-Zimmerman develops three principles of right to which any legitimate form of social life must conform, thus uncovering the genuine political expressions of Natural Law, a task only halfway done until now, thus going beyond the standard defenses of the system of free enterprise. Accordingly, this work could not fail to warn about a threat progressively taking shape in our times against the natural values: that of unrestricted democracy. One of the ways this threat takes shape, is by excluding minorities from the people—as least within the sphere of establishing the principles of the political systems in regard to the distribution of socially significant goods—thus considering as legitimate and consensual any arbitrary decision or rule as long as it is backed by a majority of the population. In such a vein, the establishment of a communist totalitarian regime is seen not only as acceptable, but as object of respect, as long as it has been voted into power through free elections.
Power to the West! demonstrates how such a thing contradicts objective moral values, and poses that such a thing is the result of the loss of moral values, and poses a threat to freedom. For in such a vein, the establishment of a communist regime---or a totalitarian socialist one, if all-out communism was no longer viable---is seen as legitimate as long as it has being voted into power through free elections. Within a more general sphere, this work will bridge once and for all the alleged conflict between society and the individual, by means of a new notion of the dialectical dynamics of the group. This necessary complement of the classical capitalist thought provides a definite rebuttal of Marxist and neo-Marxists tenets—still in fashion among intellectuals—and in addition, the will to fight that comes along with the true idea of freedom. This is in part why the historical framework in which the book was initially written has been kept: for it was prophetic, as it envisaged that although communism may become a thing of the past, at least for a while, alternate political ideologies will be brought into actuality through democratic ways. Keeping the said historical framework---when communism was spreading all over---is a most usefut means to foster the correct attitude towards the anti-individualist notions, principles and systems that are taking shape today, and might take shape in the future. The following outline has been designed to provide a tool for approaching the book. Its reading is highly recommended.
