I recently wrote on why Democrats and progressives need to take some time studying Ayn Rand to fully understand the political significance of all the GOP leaders lining up to praise her. The GOP has a huge problem if their conservative religious base finds out what Rand really believed and how influential she is within senior GOP circles.
Amy Sullivan published a piece in TIME last week highlighting this disconnect and American Values Network's (AVN) memo on it. There is a great piece in the Louisville Courier-Journal. Rev. Jen Butler at Faith in Public Life (FPL) did a piece last week pointing out the problem Rep. Paul Ryan has trying to reconcile Catholic social teaching and Rand. And FPL affiliate, Faithful America, just put up a Rand vs. Bible website.
But perhaps the most damning of all was the statement put out by Conservative Christian icon, Chuck Colson. Chuck Colson is one of the lions of the Christian right and the head of Prison Fellowship, which, all politics aside, is the best thing coming from the Christian right and a powerful ministry to a segment of society even progressives often ignore. But Colson condemned the strong support of Rand in Republican and conservative circles and urged his followers not only to stay away from the new film of Rand's book Atlas Shrugged, but to "stay away from anyone who intends to watch the film." Colson goes on to say Rand and her followers were precisely the types of "cranks" and "crypto-cultists" that his friend Bill Buckley had fought to purge from conservative ranks. He says the "real problem with Rand is the world view her novels and other writings sought to inculcate in her readers... it's hard to imagine a world view more antithetical to Christianity."
So what is Colson talking about? A week before his statement, American Values Network released a damning memo with a large number of Rand quotes where she says she is out to destroy the Church and Judeo-Christian morality. She argued that people had to choose between following her teachings or those of Christianity and other religious traditions. Rand said religion was "evil," called the message of John 3:16 "monstrous," argued that the weak are beyond love and undeserving of it, that loving your neighbor was immoral and impossible and that she was out to undermine the idea that charity was a moral duty and virtue.
She must have been a real joy at cocktail parties, huh? And that is just a sampling.
So what was the GOP response to this attack on Judeo-Christian and family values, not to mention on Christ himself?
"Ayn Rand, you've got to love Ayn Rand. She's great." -- Glenn Beck
"Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism... It's that kind of thinking, that kind of writing that is sorely needed right now." -- Author of the GOP Budget, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
"I am a fan of Ayn Rand, and I've read all her novels." -- Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
"The brilliant writer and novelist, Ayn Rand."-- Rush Limbaugh
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Atlas Shrugged is his "foundational book." [click here to read more quotes and find citations].
And despite Colson's warnings, FOX spent weeks promoting Rand's new movie and encouraging viewers to go see it... advice most every member of the GOP leadership took to heart!
Hard to reconcile leaders of "God's Own Party" praising someone who is about as anti Christ as one can get, huh? That is exactly what we thought, and so AVN created a video highlighting exactly that contrast.
You really need to watch the video. Trust me...it's damning. Tweet it (#randvsjesus). Like it. Blog it. And spread the word.
This is issue could be a game-changer. It uncovers the heartless GOP and Tea Party wolves who've been parading around in sheep's clothing among the Christian flock, leading them astray. Christians, especially conservative ones, know what to look out for. We need to expose it.
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http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/movie/atlas-shrugged-part-1.html
This movie is pro capitalism... and that's it. Of course the left doesn't want anyone to see it.
http://www.morgancountycitizen.com/?q=node/17340
2) Carla Marinucci broke a "no cameras/no video" rule. Dumb rule, sure. However, the White House didn't prevent her from reporting on the protest.
3) How gullible can some people be? If I was running a large business and assigned a team to review contract bids, I would darn well want to know if any of the competitors were wining and dining one or two members of the team. Why shouldn't all members of government know exactly who is living in the contractors' pockets? Why should corruption be protected by secrecy?
4) EPA. Environmental Protection Agency. Fred Johnson is apparently utterly clueless about how important wetlands are in the environment and why they need protection. Wetlands are natural drainage systems, water filters, nurseries for hundreds of species from fish to frogs to waterfowl.
Eh, but why try to confuse a libertarian with facts?
Humongous Flaw #1 -- How much of US infrastructure is actually maintained by private companies? It's a widely-documented fact that railroads have been taxpayer subsidized since the beginning.
Linguistic gymnastics
"Free will" is an important fundamental aspect of Christianity... and guess what? Also with Rand.
"Individualism"... same as above.
These are basic beliefs of both... it's not possible to choose one or the other in regards to these fundamental beliefs.. and it's not necessary.
I reject Rand's anti Christian beliefs but I strongly agree with many of her political beliefs.
Same with Glenn Beck ironically. He continues to be my political "hero" but his religious beliefs
are, I believe, anti Christian. Just because you disagree with a person on some of their views, doesn't mean you must then disagree with ALL their views. cont.
And that is what the author here is insisting.
Yes, Rand claimed that her views cannot be shared by Christians but, she was wrong... some can. And others can be condemned for the sheer hatred based views that they are. Being "choosey and discerning" is a great example of utililizing that "free will" thing...( ironically for Rand and also for the author here).
Not if you believe in predestination. As the first settlers of the US did. (Frankly, Calvinism is still a major force in America.)
They were also big conformity, specifically with regard to holding to strict religious doctrine. So individualism is out for them as well.
As to religion, she didn't believe in any form of mysticism, because to act on things that are outside of the evidence is to act without reason. Nobody has ever met this god guy. Nobody has ever provided evidence for him, let alone proof of his existence. It is highly irrational and immoral to then expect people to live their whole lives by something for which there is no evidence. It's illogical, and when you do that you make *reality* your enemy. The real world is what you are up against. This is why it's evil, because you do yourself in by believing in arbitrary nonsense.
Ayn Rand believed that people should *think* for themselves and draw their own conclusions by a process of reason.
Also, I should correct you. Objectivism is not anti-gay or anti-abortion. Objectivism is pro-choice and there are a lot of gays who are Objectivists. I would say a higher percentage than in the general population. In politics her ideas are very much in line with *individual rights* and the founding fathers. This is why her philosophy is so pro-American.
Btw, many conservatives know that Ayn Rand was an atheist. Rush Limbaugh knows it full well, for example. He said it in the 1990s, when he first became aware of her work. What guys like Rush see is the strength of her arguments. That's what appeals to them, I'm sure.
Christianity is a FAITH. Protestantism and Catholicism are religions. Protestantism and Catholicism are historically diametrically opposed to one another, to put it mildly. If politicians begin to demand that the U.S. be declared a "Christian Nation", folks WILL NOT let it go at that.
They will ask, nay...they will demand to know which Christians these people are talking about. There can be only one State Religion. Anyone who does not belong to that religion will run the very, very,very,very,very,very real risk of being treated as a potential enemy of the state.
We are not a Christian nation. We never were and the founding fathers never intended that we should be. Nor were they Capitalists. Capitalism, as we know it today, didn't exist in the 18th century.
The founding fathers were Mercantilists, as was most of Europe at that time. That was back in the days when "trade wars" were quite literal.
Pat Robertson is one of the leaders of those who constantly declare that the US is a "Christi-an nation," rolling the word Christian off his tongue in his peculiar, unctuous manner. This is the man who received a law degree but then could not pass the bar, for what are now obvious reasons. That he has no understanding of the truth regarding the ideas and principles guiding the founders of this nation matters not a whit to his followers. In this example you can find the perfect paradigm for the entire GOP and the so-called Christian right.
Again, the GOP/TP cabal constantly asserts that capitalism is the bedrock of the American experiment, as if it is as much an element of the forging of this country as the separation of powers, representative government, or the Bill of Rights. One needs only to do a word search in the Constitution to ascertain that that word, let alone any similar concept, is entirely absent from that document.
It would be good if the American public was educated enough to recognize all these sham assertions of the right for what they are. I'm not optimistic that this is the case or that it is likely to get any better.