Ayn Rand and the VIP-DIPers

Despite persistent rumors, Rand Paul was not named in honor of influential conservative thinker, Ayn Rand. His name is Randall.

It's good he was not named for Ayn Rand because her real name was Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum which she changed honoring her Rand typewriter.

Miss Rand, famously a believer in rugged individualism and personal responsibility, was a strong defender of self-interest. She was a staunch opponent of government programs from the New Deal and Social Security to the Great Society and Medicare.

A Library of Congress survey of the most influential books on American readers, "Atlas Shrugged" ranked second only to the Bible. Rand's influence is encyclopedic ranging from Alan Greenspan to Paul "I grew up on Ayn Rand" Ryan (R-Wis), a "Young Gun" who aims to cut or privatize Medicare and Social Security.

The Right should be commended politically for their ability to develop and stick to a unified message. But close inspection of this unified message reveals a disappointing secret identified by a student of the Godfather of Neo-conservatism, --- the University of Chicago's Leo Strauss. The student, Anne Norton ("Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire") identified what she called VIP-DIP meaning Venerated in Public, Disdained in Private. "Do as I say, not as I do." The list of vip-dipers on the Right runs from Harold Bloom to Newt Gingrich, but certainly not Ayn Rand. Right?

Say it ain't so Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum.

A heavy smoker who refused to believe that smoking causes cancer brings to mind those today who are equally certain there is no such thing as global warming. Unfortunately, Miss Rand was a fatal victim of lung cancer.

However, it was revealed in the recent "Oral History of Ayn Rand" by Scott McConnell (founder of the media department at the Ayn Rand Institute) that in the end Ayn was a vip-dipper as well. An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).

As Pryor said, "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out" without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn "despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help."

But alas she did and said it was wrong for everyone else to do so. Apart from the strong implication that those who take the help are morally weak, it is also a philosophic point that such help dulls the will to work, to save and government assistance is said to dull the entrepreneurial spirit.

In the end, Miss Rand was a hypocrite but she could never be faulted for failing to act in her own self-interest.

 

Comments

[balkan-2]

10:42 AM on 02/03/2011

I found her concept of greedy but highly ethical industrialst wierd, even more so her interviews where she wanted to prove that she lives her life indentical to her writings.
However, to name the few, her mangers run-around and shake-off of responsibility in train delivery part in "Atlas shrugged", and in "Fountainhead" her sculptors "lecture" how Howard Rork should REALY hire him like the rest of the world does or bunch of architects "designing" single project and having fun in the process I have found timeless and striked the cord.
Afer reading her books I have found myself in wierd state of suspension and thought, not that in any way I wanted to be lake main caracters, just state of suspension and thought.

[SpAnKz89X]

10:39 AM on 02/01/2011

What people are forgetting is not that she reclaimed what was "rightly" hers. It was because she paid into the system. Just like everyone else. What people are forgetting is that these programs are successful, popular, and most importantly UNIVERSAL. Everyone can pay into them and receive benefits. These programs can only exist if they were universal, i.e. "collective."

It's not that Ayn Rand is a hypocrite insomuch as her IDEOLOGY is hypocritical if it says you can benefit from a universal, collective system that you pay into while still railing against those programs in theory.

I'm sorry, but in order to not be hypocritical you would need to forgo any benefits from social programs, even if you pay for them. These things exist and work because we ALL pay for them.

[Michael R Brown]

02:54 AM on 02/01/2011

I’ve seen no evidence that she did anything with the government under the name “Ann O’Connor.” Assuming she did, the conclusion as to motive is utterly speculative. Since Rand had publicly stated that opponents of statism should collect benefits as restoration of funds taken from them by force, there would be no reason for her to hide it. She would have been more likely to flaunt it. Then, there is this interesting piece of evidence against the claim:

Social Security Death Index
Name: Ayn Rand
SSN: 571-XX-XXXX
Last Residence: 10019 New York, New York, New York, United States of America
Born: 2 Feb 1905
Died: Mar 1982
State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)

Accuracy helps one’s case. Sloppiness doesn’t. But, then, Rand’s opponents are not always concerned with facts. (N.B.: I’m not an Objectivist/Randian. Too independent for that.)

[Lynn G]

09:54 PM on 01/31/2011

Republicans and Libertarians forget that Ayn wasn't born here and wasn't kept here by force. She made her fortune here, enjoyed the freedoms of this great country and ultimately, the benefits of our social services as well as the MANY other benefits of living here.

No one forced her to stay and no one forces anyone else to stay here. Taxes are in the constitution and are not a theft, but a just payment for the many benefits that you receive by living in this country. Many of us appreciate all the benefits and are willing to sacrifice an ipod or a dinner out or even a new car as opposed to a used car for the privilege of living here.

Those who abhor the "thugs" who "steal" your taxes are free to leave and enjoy the privileges afforded in a country who will let you keep your tax dollars. Stop forcing the rest of us to live in your libertarian nightmare.

I, personally, appreciate a country that has a sense of community; that is willing to create a social safety net and that believes in good government. There are plenty of countries that will let you live your ideal. Ayn Rand may not have wanted to support the values of the country she chose, but she sure was willing to suck up the benefits.

[Jason Eriksen]

07:34 PM on 01/31/2011

For the sake of factual accuracy, a couple of corrections:

1. Ayn Rand died of heart failure, not lung cancer.

2. Ayn Rand did not get her name from her typewriter. The exact origin of her last name has not been unequivocally proven, but research now suggests that Rand is actually an abbreviation of her given last name.

3. Ayn Rand was financially capable of paying for her own medical expenses but made use of the Medicare and Social Security systems as this was in her rational self interest. She did not say "it was wrong for everyone else to do so." She addresses the issue here:

http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/government_grants_and_scholarships.html

[ZMW29]

09:26 PM on 01/31/2011

What does Ms. Rand mean when she says "oppose all forms of welfare statism"? If she doesn't mean refuse to take advantage or payments from any aspect of a welfare state, what forms of opposition are left? I suppose a scientist could vote against, and campaign against and speak against and spend money campaigning against the funding they receive, but that would not be in the scientist's rational self interest to try and eliminate the source of funding for their research. So would Ms. Rand expect those scientists receiving grants and scholarships to ignore their rational self interest, or is there a form of opposition to the welfare state they could take not included in my comment?

[wolysoly]

05:20 AM on 02/01/2011

Expanding the role and scope of the wealthfare state would be the main opposition, I would say. And as many other commenters have noted, she did not consider accepting government assistance to be necessarily immoral considering that she had already paid into that system via taxation. If she had her way then she would have abolished the welfare state but since she did not have that power, she did not see it wrong to claim on a system that she had been "forced" to enter into.

[Gary Dates]

04:35 PM on 01/31/2011

As usual there is much more to this entire issue than most people on either side of this argument are willing to recognize. The simple fact is she paid into the SS system. Whether or not she agreed to it is irrelevant since she had no choice. She was confronted with a life-threatening illness. I, and no doubt y'all, would do ANYTHING to stay alive....that's human nature. In this case, she took money back from a system into which she paid. I don't see a problem there, despite her absolutist ramblings against such a system. Her real mistake was to ignore the clear warnings that cigarette smoking causes cancer. In that sense she failed herself and her objectivist philosophy by being unwilling to accept the evidence. Lucky for her, she was forced to pay into a system that she was then able to collect from!

Hooray for a country that can allow for such contradictions! Hooray for a country that allows for the free flow of ideas that we can all debate. Hooray for a country that created a system whereby you can pay into it and when you find yourself in need, regardless of the disdain you feel for it, you can get something back. No system is perfect, no human being is perfect (not even Ms. Rand), but our very imperfect system is way better than the others.

[wolysoly]

05:16 AM on 02/01/2011

From what I have read, she eventually stopped smoking once the evidence had gathered momentum and when her doctor recommended she stop. She did not stop smoking up until this point because the large majority of evidence was based on statistics and epidemiology, Ayn Rand considered these to be unconvincing forms of evidence. So while it seems fairly absurd to us today, with the huge amount of evidence, it was not instantly convincing for her back in the 50's. I think this also illustrates that she was not simply ignoring reality like some of the commenter's here suggest, she acknowledged the link but just didn't find it convincing until later in her life.

[northbronxdem]

09:47 AM on 02/01/2011

What was to stop her from moving to a country without a social security system. If she really wanted to live by her principles, she could have lived in Mexico, which, I believe, did not have any social safety net at the time. There, she would have been free to write and express her opinion, with very little government interference.

[Scott Connery]

11:38 AM on 01/31/2011

http://www.rationalpublicradio.com/was-it-hypocritical-for-ayn-rand-to-accept-government-benefits.html

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

05:57 PM on 01/30/2011

Even architects laugh at Howard Roark.

[Mentlegen]

06:33 PM on 01/30/2011

He was based off of Frank Lloyd Wright. Do you think architects laugh at him?

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

06:37 PM on 01/30/2011

Well, I can't say that I knew Frank Lloyd Wright but I can say that Howard Roark was no FLW.

[Nagarjuna]

10:18 AM on 02/01/2011

Howard Roark is a cardboard cutout in a fifth-rate pulp novel. Frank Lloyd Wright was an architect. See the difference?

[Caleb Owens]

03:20 PM on 01/30/2011

It amuses me that it is seldom remembered that she was an avid cocaine user. Ever know someone that used cocaine on a regular basis? Paranoid as a mofo, 'They're coming to get me, they're coming to get me,' type paranoia. Yeah, I think her entire philosophy is rooted in mass hysteria paranoia and PTSS from her escape from Russia.

[wolysoly]

05:06 AM on 02/01/2011

I think this is misleading. From what I have read, she used a weight loss drug that was prescribed by her doctor. Yes, apparently it contained an amphetamine compound but I dont think that classes her as an "avid cocaine user". Additionally, from listening to interviews with Dr Peikoff, apparently she was a non-drinker too.

[Nagarjuna]

10:18 AM on 02/01/2011

Heck of a smoker though.

[Caleb Owens]

03:01 PM on 01/30/2011

No surprise there. As a novelist, fantastic. As a philosopher, mmm... I'd say she suffered a little from PTSS after her escape from Russia as a child. Is it at all surprising that she went to the opposite extreme from Communism? There are other options.

[PinkySprinkles]

01:10 PM on 01/30/2011

No doubt many of the comments here are as a result of following Keith Olbermann on Twitter. Just goes to show his range of influence....

About Ayn...Although she certainly deserved to utilize the government benefits she rallied against since she, no doubt, paid her share of taxes into them, it just illustrates how human beings fall short in living up to the principles they so vigorously champion. What caused her to wave her beliefs in exchange for those that diametrically opposed them? What realizations did she succumb to in the end? Was she ever swayed on the scientific findings that cancer is linked to smoking? Were there any writings to explain her later actions? Those are the questions I would like to have answered. Wouldn’t this make a great a movie?!! All you screen writers out there, start your research!!!!

[snesich]

12:41 PM on 01/30/2011

Remember, if "Ayn" Rand had her way, and society ran "According to Queen Ayn":

-There would be no schools.
-There would be no roads.
-There would be no bridges.
-There would be no parks.
-There would be no health care.
-There would be no libraries.
-There would be no police.
-There would be no firefighters.

UNLESS, of course, each person paid "privately" for each of those things.

So, in "Ayn's Perfect World", things would work like this:

Caller: Help, help, my house is on fire!!! Come quickly!!!
Fire Department: Your Account Number Please.
Caller: I don't have an account, I'm just a person who needs help putting out this fire!!!
Fire Department: I'm sorry sir. But if you'd like, I'm happy to open an account for you now. Do you have a valid credit card?

The "Beautiful" world of Ayn Rand and her Libertarian Devotees. Ah, if only...

[LindyLu]

06:26 PM on 01/30/2011

It's already happened
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39516346/ns/us_news-life/

[Patricia Beal]

11:02 AM on 01/30/2011

I despised her when I read her books. She was a faker and yes she was a hypocrite like most of the "rugged individual person(s). who preach the unwashed masses to pick themselves up by their collective bootstraps. How many old Republicans now get SS, SSI, and Medicare or Medicaid when they need it. Plenty. I am LOL at all of them.

[liberalOrgonian]

10:31 AM on 01/30/2011

Sounds like the current repubs who are holding tight to their health Insurance
while telling the public they can't have that coveted
"government run (Not really) Insurance".
When the elderly find out about the double talk, the house of cards will fall.

[Dragon22]

09:59 AM on 01/30/2011

Another case of do as I say, not as I do. If you cut social security, then I want a refund on all the money I have been paying into it for my entire life. Get it?