Ayn Rand suitable for teens and Greenspan only
Thank you for your attention on Ayn Rand, however apologetic it might have been. [September 13 essay: "Ayn Rand: Her detractors miss her stellar vision"]
If you want proof of Rand's pathos, just look to the scene in Atlas Shrugged where she praises the wealthy playboy kingpin as he calmly murders striking mine workers. Forgive the paraphrase: Oh what good aim he has, proof that rich people have achieved the ubermensch!
If you look at the what's left of the conservative movement and its message, you can see Ayn at work. So far, the only thing resembling argument from the GOP is the question on which they try to snag Obama: "Are we better off than we were four years ago?"
Of course they mean money-wise. Good Christians, intellectuals, unionized workers and all but the richest of the rich are not better off under these criteria. But to take a stand against Randianism, there is much that matters more than money. The question that conservatives should be asking is, "Are we better off ethically, politically, internationally, spiritually?"
Unfortunately, these concepts don't even register to the Rand-infused conservative cult-of-the-dollar (not kidding!) ideologues trying to "drown the government in a bathtub," as Grover Norquist has said.
Ayn Rand is a nuisance to parents of teenaged boys, and she is the pseudo-economist who inspired Alan Greenspan's free-market train wreck. And that is all she is.
Evan Knappenberger
Harrisonburg
13 comments
Ayn Rand never advocated murder. This is just a lie.
I had to submit my full name and county of residence to get my letter published. And it's wrong to compare the crony capitalism we've had since Clinton repealed the glass seagull act to free market capitalism, which is crony capitalism's scapegoat and whipping boy.
Of course it was the repeal of Glass Seagull that made things the way they were back then, and the way they are now, while Clinton brags " a strong middle class was what happened while I was president" as if you're so stupid you don't realize that Clinton knew exactly what he was doing wrecking the American economy on purpose to later take credit for it booming immediately after he set it up for destruction. Of course, he was just doing what Greenspan told him. And he's Nelson Rockefeller's bastard child. Side issue.
Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged Part 2 will be in theaters October 12th, 2012.
Ayn Rand was a traumatized young Russian Jewish girl of no particular consequence when she landed on these shores and felt a sense of deliverance. Having latched onto America after the loss of her family's emoluments in St. Pete, she fixed on the capitalist spirits of the twenties and never looked back. Never truly a woman of the world, her writings have an adolescent intensity that appeals to the schoolboy mind, perhaps best typified in Yukio Mishima's "The sailor who fell from grace with the Sea", and her "philosophy" continues to resonate with the callow.
She has much in common with another mid-century con-job, L. Ron Hubbard, and for similar reasons. It is dangerous folly to attempt to model the affairs of the world on the solipsistic ideology expressed in "Atlas Shrugged".
I'm all for Capitalism, but, just like Football, it needs rules and referees...
But unfortunately the referees just end up rigging the game for the owners who control the betting
@Angel Eyes: You summed up well the "quality" of Ayn Rand's ramblings..."adolescent intensity that appeals to the schoolboy mind."
@ Somebody: The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act was, in fact, singed into law by President Clinton. But the origin of the repeal was almost purely Republican. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act, was sponsored by Sen. Phil Gramm, a conservative Republican from Texas, Jim Leach, a Republican from Iowa, and Tom Bliley, a conservative anti-regulation Republican from Virginia (snarky Eric Cantor now hold Bliley's seat). Moreover, the Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan, an Ayn Rand acolyte, had already largely undermined Glass Steagall in 1998 by giving a waiver to Citicorp when it merged with Travelers.
Sorry...but your denunciation of Clinton on this issue has as much merit as the false claim by conservatives that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were responsible for the mortgage and financial meltdowns.
oops..."signed into law"
Hemingway, my favorite novelist never developed a philosophy in his writings as did Rand which elevates her writings to a more intellectual level though hard to grasp by our liberal Clinton worshipping pundits. Her writings may suffer from the fact that English was not her native language but this does not take away from the overall message that she imparts upon those willing to receive it. Those that would condemn Rand would be the same as those that would not approve of the bible and take it apart word by word. Clinton is their demigod and choose to ignore his immoral behavior with Lewinsky and others unreported and the fact that he used his position to rape the system for 100s of million of dollars following his presidency as did his associate Al Gore. Unfortunately for this country, the minority liberal dependent entitlement minded voters like Democracy have the 47% blood sucking parasite voters who are living off the real workers and doers that made this country great (but will be no longer) that will control its destiny. With entitlement minded big government crushing debt liberals in
control maybe Hemingway had it right, live for today then blow your brains out.
Guess you missed the part where I said Clinton was only doing what Greenspan told him to do. He did sign it though, and if you wish to pretend he isn't responsible that's up to you.
This comment by @ County Farmer is exactly the kind of thing wrong in the world.
"Objectivism" is not a philosophy, and has been laughed at by any philosopher who made it through freshman year.
Rand was a staunch atheist and called believers "mystic" and "scum" and "dolts" and so on. She is one of those who took the bible apart!
As to the 47% "blood-sucking parasites" I have to say that many of those are disabled veterans who fought "to make this country great," whatever that means.
The disturbing part of the above comment is the nihilism at its core. Take all you can, use up the earth, seize political power and call it capitalism, then "blow your brains out."
Ubermensch anyone? Shickelgruber?
This is conservatism. It is not compassionate or religious.
Ayn Rand did advocate murder. Her heroes are executive-class terrorists who "want to stop the motor of the world" and attack infrastructure and murder US soldiers.
In "the fountainhead" Rand's main character literally rapes a woman in great detail, and she sadly but truly advocates that relationship as her ideal.
Hello people! Ayn Rand's writing promotes terrorism. If she were alive today she'd be living in Abottabad watching dirty movies.
"Atlas Shrugged, part 2", to be in theatres next month. I don't think so beyond a few fringe venues. I found part 1 online and watched the whole thing. It was produced, directed, and acted in, to about the same quality standards as "The Innocence of Muslims". This is to say that the movie "did justice" to the book.