Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged has been among Amazon's top 20 bestsellers for much of the past year. This year she's outsold the Rev. Billy Graham, the Rev. Joel Osteen, and the Rev. Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life combined! There's even a new Atlas Shrugged movie playing in 300 American theaters. But that's not why Democrats should be boning up on their Rand...in fact, don't waste your time with her books. Democrats should be reading what Ayn Rand has said and taught her followers.
Why? Well, for starters, as the famous general Sun Tzu said, "Know your enemy." Ayn Rand's disciples are filling the halls of power in D.C. as the Tea Party rises in the GOP ranks. Sen. Ron Johnson said Atlas Shrugged was his "foundational book." Sen. Rand Paul is not surprisingly "a fan," and Limbaugh called her "brilliant." Fox and Friends declared her movie, which Boehner watched in a private screening with Andrew Breitbart, a "victory for capitalism." Even Sp. Ct. Justice Thomas broke his vow of silence to say he "tends to be really partial to Ayn Rand." [click here for all cites].
But perhaps her greatest acolyte is Rep. Paul Ryan -- the Republican choice to address the nation following the State of the Union and author of the Republican budget -- who credits Ayn Rand as the reason he got into politics, and he requires all his staff and interns to read her books.
Rep. Ryan has a Facebook video where he says:
Ayn Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism...it is the morality of what is going on right now and how it offends the morality of individuals working toward their own free will...It's that kind of thinking, that kind of writing that is sorely needed right now.
So what is that kind of morality? Let's hear how Ayn Rand defined it in an interview with Mike Wallace:
Ayn Rand: "I am the creator of a new code of morality... a morality not based on faith."
Uh oh.
Rand: "It must be either reason or faith... I am against God."
Danger Will Robinson!
Mike Wallace: "You are out to destroy almost every edifice of the contemporary American way of life, our Judeo-Christian religion, our modified government-regulated capitalism, our rule by majority will. Other reviews have said you scorn churches and the concept of God. Are these accurate criticisms?"
Rand: "Yes."
Abort... Abort... Abort!!!
I wonder how most of rural America and the religious right base of the GOP might react to such "morality"? And I'm just scratching the surface here. Now do you see why Democrats should be reading Rand?
Ayn Rand has PLENTY to say against faith, majority rule, and love of neighbors that will send folks running for the hills in most of Red America. It's almost too easy. So let's try something a little more extreme. I wonder how her "morality" and "kind of thinking we so sorely need right now" might view the character and actions of serial killer, William Hickman, who was executed for raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl?
Ayn Rand:
[William Hickman's trial] is the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul... A strong man can eventually trample society under his feet. He was not strong enough. But is that his crime? That he was not able to serve, when he felt worthy to rule; to obey, when he wanted to command? He was superior and he wanted to live as such - and his is the one thing society does not permit.
I'm not making this stuff up. And I don't think I'm overstating the point to say this could be a complete game-changer if we can get enough attention focused on what this patron saint of the Tea Party and author being praised by Fox and GOP leaders really believed and taught her followers.
As I have been arguing for over a year, the Tea Party and religious right should be at each other's throats. One of the main reasons they are not is because we keep treating them as the same entity instead of driving the wedges in that would split them apart.
Rand's total rejection not only of faith and God but of everything Jesus stood for is anathema to Christians, and especially to more conservative and evangelical Christians. Forcing this discussion and calling GOP leaders who praise her on what she actually taught would sow deep discord in GOP circles because the Tea Party libertarians will defend her, which will be impossible for the Christian right to stomach.
But almost as important, the Rand connection lifts the veil on GOP motives and creates a narrative for their actions and budget priorities that most Americans -- regardless of their faith -- will rightly find appalling. It helps explain the GOP rush to default on the debt as well (Rand taught that any U.S. interference in the economy was dangerous and it was better to destroy structures than allow broken ones to continue). We have their leaders on record saying she is their inspiration and a great thinker and moralist. If we help Americans understand Rand, they will have a narrative and the WHY that explains the GOP actions.
If Americans understood Rand and her influence on Paul Ryan, think of how much harder it would be for the GOP to defend their budget priorities in the heartland. Rand shows the true motivation behind what the GOP budget is about. She allows us to move from an argument over policy to a more fundamental debate about who we want to be as a nation. With Rand exposed and hanging around the GOP necks, that is an argument we can't lose.
Sure, some GOP leaders will try to say that their ongoing praise of Rand wasn't for all the stuff she really believed and claimed was the goal of her books... they'll say they are good Christians and just liked some of her ideas but clearly don't agree with her on this other stuff. And if we're smart we'll say that excuse is just as hollow as a politician who'd go around praising Hitler as a great teacher and inspiration and then try to come back and say, "Well, of course I wasn't talking about the whole genocide/fascist/warmongering part... I've just always thought his prioritization of education and the need for society to invest in its children were really important, and that's why I make all my interns read Mein Kampf"!
Folks, let's spread the word. Eleison and American Values Network teamed up to create a powerful memo of some of Ayn Rand's most disturbing statements and quotes by GOP leaders praising her. Post it on Facebook. Send it to your friends. We need to spread the word in progressive circles and into the broader community. This is a game changer. Your voice -- not Ayn Rand's -- is what is sorely needed right now.
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I am a rural person. I drive a pick-up. I want government out of my life.
I also have a PhD in Physics and have enough smarts to know that I don't know best for everyone because I am trained in reason. I am humble enough to know that there is a power or an order greater than me.
The most respected scientists in the world respect God. Steven Hawking recently said there is no creator and that the world is comprised of people afraid of the dark and those that are not. Hawking's statement is far deeper than the left can fathom. You see, courage IS faith. There is no difference.
I would suggest that rather than playing these games of deception, you take a large humble look at yourselves and determine whether you actually are part of the solution. We need you.
The religious right in this country who also support the extreme Tea Bag movement and get behind libertarians like the Pauls will rationalize away even Ayn's own "anti-christian" and "anti-religious" words because they can just drop a simplistic view of the world into the empty slots in their minds that has everything make sense without doing any real thinking on their part.
Perhaps most tragic of all is that the left and the right in this country probably want the same things (e.g, US to remain a world leader based on democracy, safe place to raise families, good jobs and above all, optimism about the future, etc.) -- we differ in our basic views about how things actually work, so we'll never completely agree on "the paths" toward a common American view.
Yes, read, or reread AR; she was an excellent writer as I recall -- all fiction!
Ayn Rand exposed this contradiction and has paved the way for a truly free society that is not shackled by the caveman morality of altruism.
However, you might get into trouble with the suggestion that she admired William Hickman's actions as an unrepentant killer. Here's why...anyone who goes to the source material for this quote will find a pages-long personal journal entry that condemns Hickman as a monster for what he did, but is also analyzing why the response of society is so much worse to him than to other criminals who have committed worse crimes. Rand is condemning society for flipping out over the fact that someone exhibits pride, and suggesting that society should be focused on the heinous crime, instead. She's saying there is something very wrong in a society that is vastly more angered by a display of pride than by a heinous crime. If you suggest that she's an *admirer* of Hickman's actions, you stand to appear discredited to any person who reads the source material.
A good summation of what she actually said there, finally.
Thank you for pointing out how this article completely misrepresents Rand's position on Hickman -- something easily disposed of by going to the source.
I would extend that point to all of the other issues raised in the article above. Whether you are approaching Rand from the left or the right, if you are an independent thinker, you should not take anyone else's interpretation of Rand as necessarily accurate, but should go to the source material and read her for yourself. Yes, Rand was an atheist, and she abhorred the concept of self-sacrifice embodied in the philosophy of altruism. But if you do not understand her reasons for having arrived at this position, then you really know nothing about her or Objectivism. So by all means, please to follow Eric's sound advice. Read Rand and really get to "know thy enemy." You might be surprised to discover something interesting in the process.
Yes, of course I'm kidding.
The better approach is to make a general attack on her, like you have done in your article. However, do not encourge anyone to actually study her on their own. It's too big a risk.
The imdb score has been artificially inflated recently - my warning stands as written. King Vidor couldn't work miracles, it seems - the source material is too weak.
Yes, the individual should be the master of his/her fate.
No, selfishness is not a good general principle, except insofar as a person who takes care of themselves can then take care of others.
Sometimes, the welfare of everyone, including the atlases, is based first in the welfare of the least among us. A society with great numbers of poor does not enhance the few who are rich - the longer view says all will go down together.
I remember watching Rand many years ago commenting on the high price of oil. She said that they could raise their prices as high as they like and if people didn't like it they could stop buying it.
Obviously, the vast profits and vs the vast suffering are not beneficial to society, nor are they beneficial to any economy.
huh? what kind of essoteric philisophical non sence is that? sounds orwellian to me, war is peace...bla bla blaaa. but i concer with most of the rest of your post. rand was just an unabashed continueation of fredrick neitche and his "god is dead" teachings. except neitche didnt think, or teach or write that the individual was master and thru selfish greed we can elavated the human race. he mostly blathered on about the slave menatity and how it was an effectual survival technique for the jewish people. which cause most people to say he was an anti-semite except he always praises the jews for being one of five cultures that has existed for that last couple thousand years. the others being egypt, china, india and a generalization of western civ, or rather white male domination. rand is gross but as the article says her teachings should be brought to the forefront. but do you really think if R's knew abouther teachings that would cause a rift in thier party?? no it wont because they are intellectually dishonest and will cherry pick her teachings just as they cherry pick the bible. people like her are the enemies of humanity.
The Teabaggers', Thumpers, and Tighty Righty's fawning allegiance to this has been whackjob fictionalist is in keeping with their pursuit and defense of the latter. Ego run amok.