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There are many heroic defenders of capitalism: courageous historical figures who knew that freedom along with the rule of law generated prosperity but maybe only partly grasped the underlying morality of liberty or the deeper philosophy it's based upon; leaders in various fields including business and industry, political statesmen, the arts and sciences who may not understand the philosophical roots, but pursued their vision with passion; there are academics today who, though in a small minority, are teaching the truth about capitalism - the history, the intellectual foundations and the morality of capitalism and individual rights....and there are those emerging leaders in the Leadership Program of the Rockies who take on the title, Defender of Capitalism, and work toward cultural and political change in their communities and beyond. Defenders of Capitalism - Award Winners
The purpose of the Defenders of Capitalism Project, in working with the Leadership Program of the Rockies, is to produce and influence leaders who can articulate the principles of the American Republic and a moral defense for Capitalism. Those that excel in this program win the Defender of Capitalism Award: 2011 Rich Bratten
2010 Cole Pfeiffer
2009 Laura Chartrand
2008 Eric Weissman
 History's Greatest Defenders of Capitalism
Because "capitalism" is a fairly new phenomenon as a social-economic system in the scope of human history, there are few who have explicitly defended capitalism and fewer still that did so consistently. The greatest defender of capitalism is Ayn Rand as she is the one who discovered and made clearer than any other thinker, the morality of capitalism - it was Ayn Rand who celebrated the rational, joyous individual. In her novel, Atlas Shrugged, Rand shows the consequences of capitalism as opposed to collectivism. John Galt is the man who loves his life and the man who can and does stop the motor of the world by removing the men with minds. Francisco d'Anconia, through his “money speech” teaches that making money holds the essence of human morality because it symbolizes man's virtues of rationality, productivity and pride.
Rand had many other original contributions to philosophy beyond her political and economic views and it's probably such contributions that allowed her to build such a thorough and consistently case for capitalism.
But, there have been many ancestral thinkers to Ayn Rand who paved the way, some at times more effectively than others. Such intellects as Adam Smith, John Locke, Jean Baptiste Say, the Founders of the American Republic, the Austrian School of Economics especially Ludwig von Mises, Carl Menger and Frederic Bastiat, and to a lesser degree the Monetarists , including Milton Friedman and Frederick Hayek. Henry Hazlitt, Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell are also among the most effective defenders of capitalism.
Champions of Capitalism
There are many individuals who don't really understand capitalism and often undermine the very ideas of freedom, property rights, even self esteem, while being exemplary innovators, producers and movers of the world. Given the history of the world and the state of philosophy it's no wonder that there are those who have such a seemingly split between their day to day actions and their consciously held philosophy.
But there is also that rare achiever who is an integration in the sense that they excel in their field and have a conscious and explicit understanding of what it takes, what kind of environment - of freedom from coercion, which is an environment of freedom or capitalism - to succeed...the kind of environment that is proper to humans. It is this kind of individual that we call a Champion of Capitalism, someone who walks the talk.
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