Britain, by Ayn Rand

Smell the coffee

Precisely. This is going to be the backdrop to the Obama presidency. Tax, spend, tax, spend, tax, spend.

Here's Nancy Thorner on American Thinker:

'The giant $1 trillion stimulus package - this seems to be the spending floor - that Obama wanted on his desk by his swearing-in on January 21, but whose date could be postponed until mid-February, is nothing more than a giant Ponzi scheme marketed as a way to spend ourselves out of this economic downturn. It will involve money that this nation doesn't have to spend. It would be the biggest government spending bill in world history, charged to this nation's credit card for our children to pay without safeguards and appropriate hearings to scrutinize how the tax dollars are being spent. The money will either have to be borrowed or printed (unbacked paper) which could cause double-digit inflation in 6-to-18 months, as it is not possible to raise enough taxes from people or businesses in a down economy.'...

'This nation stands on the brink of a socialist abyss which could very easily morph into a full-blown socialist society, minus a despot. We are becoming a "government with people" instead of a "people with a government" as envisioned by our founding Fathers and set forth in our nation's Constitution. Its people are becoming like sheep.'

All together now: "Baa. Yes, we caaaan."

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/01/obama_displayed_ignorance_whil.html

Tom Burroughes

It is not really a book that influenced conservatism - since Rand was an atheist - as the book that helped drive the revival of classical liberalism and libertarianism. The late Miss Rand loathed many so-called conservatives for their compromising over the Big State juggernaut.

The book is one of the most important books written over the past 100 years.

Pete Hoskin

"Pete claims to have finished it in a week"

A particularly sleepless week...

Arbie

It is an awful, awful book in literary terms. It has some merits as a philosophy but also gaping holes. And the premise is fundamentally different - in the book the government takes over institutions deemed as too successful, over here we are taking over banks that might otherwise fall. Yes, there is a lot of unfortunate populism coming along with it but this time it's the state saving the market rather than looting it.

Eris

It is never a good time to read Ayn Rand. She is a terrible, terrible writer and a worse philosopher.

Far better is 'Telemachus Sneezed' by Atlanta Hope.

Bishop Hill

Does anyone know the way to Galt's Gulch?

Paul

There are so many parallels between Atlas Shrugged and where we are today it makes me weep.

But one I wish to highlight is the legions of interfering bureaucrats who control every aspect of life and who, bit by bit, take on the role of a military force who force the citizenry to comply at the end of a gun.

In Britain this can be seen everywhere, from the searches of innocent people at train stations to the arresting of MPs who take pictures of cycle paths to the continual pseudo-PC bleating of how everything is for the public good.

In Atlas Shrugged the system collapses under the weight of its own corruption. Were we so lucky.

Jud

‘The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time’
- Ayn Rand

‘Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent value is the equal sharing of misery’
- Winston Churchill

‘Socialism prevents the living body of the nation from breathing’
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I see a pattern forming here. Not sure if I can put my finger on it though…

Dominic Allkins

Atlas Shrugged is one of the best... no the best book I have ever read (writing as a Libertarian). As you did over Bolivia, I have had an awful feeling over the last few months as the bail outs have been announced about how prescient Atlas Shrugged seems in the modern context.

The looters, typified most perfectly by the EU and European Commission but evident in so many of the world's national governments are slowly and insidiously taking over and have perfected the technique. Lots of small steps so that the people (maybe that should be sheeple) don't see it happening until it is too late.

Thank you Fraser for this post.

ps. I read Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and We the Living in a fortnight. Keep up Pete ;-)

Lance Grundy

“…when companies start to be run to bureaucratic priorities rather than the profit motive.”

Apparently, Lord Mandelson has said that as a result of the job losses announced by Nissan he wants to visit the plant “as soon as possible to start work with Nissan on plans to bring manufacture of its new family of electric vehicles to Sunderland.”

Yeah, right Mandy. People are queuing up around the block to buy electric cars aren’t they? All that pent-up demand just waiting to be supplied. One thing we can be certain of is that if Nissan’s management go ‘Kamikaze’ and start working to implement the Labour Party’s quasi-Marxist ‘green’ agenda -rather than making cars people want to buy, at a price they can afford, then Nissan’s so-called world class car making plant, “the most productive in Europe” will be heading for the same knacker’s yard as British Leyland

David

Superb book. One topical section involved an incompetent businessman successfully suing the Mulligan Bank for refusing him a loan, simply because he needed it and despite his lack of collateral, resulting in the banker declining to be coerced into making the loan and closing down all its trading operations instead. Extreme reaction but symbolic.

Also worthy of note that a film version is rumoured to be in production for 2011 with Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart. Not before time.

Sobers

I read Atlas Shrugged in Australia while watching England get trounced in the last Ashes series. A great antidote to Warne and McGrath I found!
I'm glad someone else keeps getting flashbacks. I too notice stuff on the news and how politicians speak. Its scary, because we can only head one way from here on.......

Mayurakshi

Galt's Gulch implicitly portrays what could be possible in a sane society—and in each new generation of readers, it inspires optimism, and shines like a guiding light pointing to a different world.
If anyone can find the way is really a herculean one.

thomas

I recommend The Fountainhead. It's shorter and less annoyingly melodromatic. There's less 'then she looked into his dreamy masculine eyes and decided they'd save the world by running the eastern railroads better'.

Dave

I found the book by chance in a charity shop. The best £1 I ever spent.
Incredibly gripping and prescient. I almost wept at the train wreck (in slow motion) passage.
Highly recommended.
I'm currently reading through Robert A Heinlein's books. He was another original thinker who foresaw this. (It's not just sci-fi. Starship Troopers isn't about fighting aliens (that's the Hollywood version) It's about democracy and the right to vote.)

cuffleyburgers

I recently re-read the Fountainhead and will follow your recommendation and re-read Atlas Shrugged.

I would tend to agree with those posters who point out that in purely literary terms the books are not absolutely top drawer, but personally I find the force of what she is saying fully makes up for that.

Somebody should pay to have these made available in school libraries, along with Hayek, Orwell...or am I being rather old fashioned, I expect School libraries don't exist any more.

How about a libertarian video game based on Rand-ian charcters and plots?

Mike Kingscott

Atalas Shrugged has been on my "to read" list for ages - maybe 2009 is the year I get round to it ;-) Jud: love that Winston Churchill quote about socialism...

craigdratner

A source of controversy is Rand's view of homosexuality. Asked at the Ford Hall Forum at Northeastern University in 1971 about her position, Rand stated that homosexuality is "immoral" and "disgusting."
Specifically, she stated that "there is a psychological immorality at the root of homosexuality" because "it involves psychological flaws, corruptions, errors".

steveg

"How about a libertarian video game based on Rand-ian charcters and plots?"

It exists. It's called Bioshock.

THX1138

The book spawned the risible but hilarious atlas shrugs blog.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/

Hosted by the high priestess of the wingnuts Pamela Geller, she of the Obama is Malcom X's love child post along with a detailed family tree to prove her wacko theroy.

Probably essential reading for the more loony on this blog.

Max Kaye

Who is John Galt?

I'm not sure if he's out there (yet), but as sure as hell he won't be a member of any of our grasping political parties.

David Lindsay

A profound enemy of Christianity. Having anything to do with her, even more than having anything to do with Leo Strauss or Max Shachtman, would be the point at which the Tories finally abandoned Toryism, or the party of Keir Hardie finally ceased to exist, or both.

S

Oh Eris, aren't you being a bit pretentious, dear. It's not a terrible book at all. You're just being a bit snobby. I teach literature (Oxbridge); you?

oldtimer

I was struck by this quote from the Playboy interview:
"RAND: A dictatorship has four characteristics: one-party rule, executions without trial for political offenses, expropriation or nationalization of private property, and censorship. Above all, this last. So long as men can speak and write freely, so long as there is no censorship, they still have a chance to reform their society or to put it on a better road. When censorship is imposed, that is the sign that men should go on strike intellectually, by which I mean, should not cooperate with the social system in any way whatever."

The signs are all around us from the bank "rescues" to the report today that more and more Bed and Breakfast business are closing down in response to the latest Fire Service demands that they replace their existing fire doors with new, more expensive electronically operated fire doors. Blog censorship will be next.

William H Stoddard

For Dave, at least, I'll recommend taking a look at the Libertarian Futurist Society's Web site; we have been giving awards for years to both current and classic fiction in the mode of Rand and Heinlein (in fact, "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" were very early Hall of Fame winners). He'll find lots of other reading material there. Though I should note that our awards are specifically for science fiction; we don't share his dismissal of "sci fi." (I'm tempted to quote Jane Austen's rant about "only a novel" here. . . . ) Take a look at http://www.lfs.org/ .

I like "Atlas Shrugged" quite a bit; I consider it the greatest pulp novel ever written, with the very pulp-style reversal of having the villains (the ones who make the long speeches explaining their plans and motives) turn out to be the heroes. I've been rereading it lately and finding a lot of interesting nuances.

Bruce Crichton

" but this time it's the state saving the market rather than looting it."

The state is looting profit makers to reward loss makers. The state cannot save the market but it can destroy it

"It is never a good time to read Ayn Rand. She is a terrible, terrible writer and a worse philosopher"

She is a great writer and a tremendous defender of capitalism.

Marvelous Marvin Hagler

"David Lindsay
January 9th, 2009 3:15pm

A profound enemy of Christianity"

Ayn Rand was a profound defender of reason and freedom. Those who advocate faith also advocate force, whether they admit it or not.

Offsuit

Three things must be said after reading these comments:

First, Bioshock is not a game based on "Randian characters and plots". The game's designer was quite explicit in his intention to ridicule and discredit Rand, not promote her. His limited integration of her ideas into his game deliberately warps and misrepresents her ideas in order to mock them, in accordance with his low appraisal of them. The only value of the game is the potential to spark interest in her because of the claims of Randian influence, prompting people to read her original material and find out for themselves what she really had to say.

2/ Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs blog has nothing whatever to do with Rand or her ideas, save for her appropriation of the title of one of Rand's books. Geller is a typical hardcore American theocratic conservative (what the poster above and many on the left refer to as "wingnuts", and in this case, the appellation is completely appropriate). She holds ideas antithetical to Rand's in every respect worth mentioning. The blog has no redeeming value what-so-ever.

Finally, it must be said that contrary to the article itself, Rand was never an influence on American conservativism (which has, for the last half century, been influenced by nothing other than the bible), and that despite their earlier relationship, Rand was clearly no influence at all on Alan Greenspan, at least Greenspan the Federal Reserve thug who manipulated markets with government force and wallowed in his role as the "Maestro", the grand conductor of the economy. Greenspan's interference in the economy, without question largely responsible for the mess we find ourselves in today, bears no resemblance to anything Rand would have advocated or approved of. Greenspan himself, during the time he was associated with Rand, advocated (correctly) the abolition the Federal Reserve. For him to take the helm of that very institution a couple of decades later shows him for what he really was... a blatant power luster.

DavidNcl

The rock band Rush lead me to Rand and Atlas Shrugged at 14. Eventually I read Popper, Hayek, Bastiat, Molinari, Herbert Spencer, von Mises and Rothbard and all that great stuff. But the book that made me a libertarian was Robert Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress".

David Lindsay

"Finally, it must be said that contrary to the article itself, Rand was never an influence on American conservativism (which has, for the last half century, been influenced by nothing other than the bible)"

I don't know which Bible they have been reading.

Tedd Potts

"I don't know which Bible they have been reading."

The one that says something to the effect that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven. The conservatives, at least in the US, were behind the recent (and largest) wealth transfer: the "free" prescription drug program. Such a program can only be considered "good" through the eyes of an altruist, and the Bible is the reason altruism is considered the proper ethic.

Craig Strachan

If I may:

www.freestateproject.org

Daniel

Rand is redundant. She was an ignoramous who couldn't cope with criticism and surrounded herself with yes-men. Her philosophical movement called Objectivism is a kind of fundamentalist Aristotelean/Thomist/materialist hybrid and is basically a cult prone to parroting meaningless tautologies such as "A is A" ad-infinitum ad-nauseam.

I reccomend Greg Nyquist's critique "Ayn Rand contra human nature", his other articles and Amazon book reviews are also worth reading; he deserves to be more widely read.

http://homepage.mac.com/machiavel/

MichaelM

It is not possible to make a "cult" out of a philosophy that heralds intellectual independence as one of the primary virtues. This is a common characterization made by those who have not mastered the difference between contextual certainty consciously derived by reason and dogma blindly accepted on faith. This cheap shot is never accompanied by any substance showing that it actually applies.

A is A is not a meaningless tautology, it is an axiom that identifies a concept so basic that one cannot even attack it without implying it i.e., identity. Rand explains:

"Axioms are usually considered to be propositions identifying a fundamental, self-evident truth. But explicit propositions as such are not primaries: they are made of concepts. The base of man’s knowledge—of all other concepts, all axioms, propositions and thought—consists of axiomatic concepts.

An axiomatic concept is the identification of a primary fact of reality, which cannot be analyzed, i.e., reduced to other facts or broken into component parts. It is implicit in all facts and in all knowledge. It is the fundamentally given and directly perceived or experienced, which requires no proof or explanation, but on which all proofs and explanations rest.

The first and primary axiomatic concepts are “existence,” “identity” (which is a corollary of “existence”) and “consciousness.” One can study what exists and how consciousness functions; but one cannot analyze (or “prove”) existence as such, or consciousness as such. These are irreducible primaries. (An attempt to “prove” them is self-contradictory: it is an attempt to “prove” existence by means of non-existence, and consciousness by means of unconsciousness.)

...

[The] underscoring of primary facts is one of the crucial epistemological functions of axiomatic concepts. It is also the reason why they can be translated into a statement only in the form of a repetition (as a base and a reminder): Existence exists —Consciousness is conscious —A is A. (This converts axiomatic concepts into formal axioms.)"

Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, 73-78 quoted in the Ayn Rand Lexicon http://www.aynrandlexicon.com

Eris

'S' - if by snobbery you mean the ability to distinguish between well-written literature and coherent philosophy, and a dimestore novel which has been bloated to 900 pages with a sixth-former's approximation of Aristotle, then yes, I am a snob.

I have suspected that the academic standards of 'Oxbridge' have declined in the last few years - however, I didn't think that they had fallen to the point where its teachers defend the works of Ayn Rand. I mean, what next? Will the John Locke lectures be renamed the Max Stirner lectures?

Far better than Rand was Atlanta Hope's 'Telemachus Sneezed', a summary of which can be found here: http://ystig.com/telemachussneezed.html

Erisian

'S' - it would depend on what you mean by pretentiousness and snobbery. If, by these terms, you mean the ability to distinguish between (on the one hand) well-written literature and philosophy, and (on the other) a dimestore novel inflated to a thousand pages with a hysterical sixth-former's approximation of Aristotelianism, then I suppose I am guilty of both of these traits.

Far better than Rand is Atlanta Hope's Telemachus Sneezed, a summary of which can be found here: http://ystig.com/telemachussneezed.html

Fergus Pickering

I always thought Ayn Rand was off her head. Is this a common view? People who go ape at the thought of homosexuals doing it usually are. Nuts I mean.

Ragnar D.

The latest report I have seen is that the movie release date has now been put back to 2011, by which time it might feel like a commentary on the preceding couple of years!

Herbert Thornton

Lance Grundy - I would dearly love to have an electric car, but I certainly share your share your concerns about the sort of shoddy vehicle that will result if one is designed under the direction of bureaucrats with Lord Meddlesome in charge. The last thing I want is an Electric Trabant.

Roger Carr

oldtimer, January 9th wrote: "Blog censorship will be next."
We should all fear that. We should all fight it. Problem is, "those who know best" probably fear the blog even more than we fear losing this electronic wildchild. It is mandatory they hobble it, at the very least.

Martin Berridge

Ayn Rand never worked in a large private corporation. I doubt if Frazer Nelson has either. I think this explains their romantic belief that the typical SP500 or FTSE100 company is free from "arse-covering bureaucracy.

Lou Dacht

"[The] underscoring of primary facts is one of the crucial epistemological functions of axiomatic concepts."

I remember this sketch. Les Dawson at his incomparable best.

John Gaunt

Fergus, in 1971 plenty people said such things about homosexuals. Also, she didn't write this: she just thought it. Is that such a crime?

THX1138

Lance Grundy-"Yeah, right Mandy. People are queuing up around the block to buy electric cars aren’t they?"

Yes they are, in LDN anyway.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23522881-details/Rush+for+seconQ-hand+Priuses/article.do

I bet nobody is offering £1000 over the odds for a Range Rover Sport.

I bet the new electric Smart sells really well.

Martin Berridge

Ayn Rand never worked in a large private corporation. I doubt if Frazer Nelson has either. I think this explains their romantic belief that the typical SP500 or FTSE100 company is free from "arse-covering bureaucracy.

Joseph Kellard

It is always a good time to read Ayn Rand. She was an original, innovative novelist and philosopher. She is largely misunderstood, or, more often, understood and feared and thus vilified.

Rand’s ideas very much changed my life very much for the better. I recommend that you give her books a go.

Wilf Proudfoot one time Tory MP

read it,then bought 50 copies and then for several years gave a £50 prize for the best essay on "Freedom" to my old school I loaned the books to the students to guide them in their thinkingand essay writting

Fergus Pickering

John Gaunt, the anti-homo stuff isn't a crime, it's just a bit loopy. Personally, as the runaway slave said, I am of the opinion a man can put his arse where he wants. Which is just as well, because he generally does. It is unusual for a woman to be so demented about it. generally they're not bothered. Men who are nuts about this are usually afraid of the homo inside them. Who knows - it might GET OUT! I always understood that public schools were veritable sinks of iniquity in this regard. Doesn't seem to have done us much harm, does it?

davidf1412

Why is life so miserable under bureaucratic control? There may be a completely different explanation - that bureaucracies are run by(and positively attract) people with high-functioning Asperger's syndrome. They love bureaucracy but have little grasp of human needs.

"Why do Asperger's individuals gravitate to technology? "Adults with Asperger's have a social naiveté that prevents them from understanding how people relate. What draws them in is not parties and social interaction, but work that allows them to feel safe, to feel in control," explains Steve Becker, a developmental disabilities therapist at Becker & Associates, a private practice in the Seattle suburb of Des Moines, Wash., that conducts ongoing small group sessions for adults with AS, among other services." (http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Management&articleId=9072119&taxonomyId=14&pageNumber=2)

hadrian

Having attempted to plough through her interminable and turgid prose many moons ago I wondered why she didn't just write straight-forward philosophy, as so many of these unwarrantably acclaimed novelists should have done.( I think of the awful dross of people like those French 'existentialists') - but I digress. Anyway for a rapier sharp critique of Miss Rand and her 'obejectivism' I strongly recommend John H. Robbins' book, 'Without a Prayer:Ayn Rand and the Close of Her System.' Robbins most fascinating book is his economic study of the Roman Catholic Church, entitled Ecclesiastical Megalomania.
Marvelous Marvin, your contention that Rand was a great defender of reason and freedom needs clarification. Personal 'morals' from an impersonal universe, 'ought' from what merely 'is'? I call that no reason.
Your coda to this is 'those holding faith' coerce others into it: like in Revolutionary, atheist France or Revolutionary, rabidly atheist Russia?
Remember atheism is as much a faith as theism.

John Gaunt

Fergus, she didnt mention homosexuality in any of her extensive fiction and non-fiction works. So how does this make her "go on" about it? Or demented and loopy? She wasnt some homophobic Mary Whitehouse - she wanted a society where everyone was free to believe what they wanted. Right now, I'd say about a third of the world's population are uncomfortable with the idea of homosexuality. Not yapping on about it, not wanting to ban it, not wanting to even talk about it. But, when asked, would say they find it distasteful. And as long as they are not trying to stop people living their lives as they want, it's loopy to call them loopy. Freedom means freedom to sleep with who you want. But it also means freedom to think what you want. Otherwise its not freedom.

Callum

"Ayn Rand never worked in a large private corporation. I doubt if Frazer Nelson has either. I think this explains their romantic belief that the typical SP500 or FTSE100 company is free from 'arse-covering bureaucracy.'"

Have you actually read Atlas Shrugged, Martin? Can you find any quote of hers supporting that claim?

It is a common fallacy, propagated by left and right alike, that Rand had a "romantic belief" in big corporations. If so, please explain her portrayals of Taggart Transcontinental and Associated Steel in Atlas Shrugged. Both were big -and heinous.

What the book is ultimately about is the prevalence of the good companies over the bad. Elsewhere, Rand talked about the two types of entrepreneur; the one who builds his business off his own effort, and the one who survives (like The Big 3) on govt handouts.

Your claim is absolutely unfounded.

Tom Burroughes

Daniel writes:

"I reccomend Greg Nyquist's critique "Ayn Rand contra human nature", his other articles and Amazon book reviews are also worth reading; he deserves to be more widely read."

I have read this guy's website and some of the early blurb for the book. His criticisms seem to be a mix of ad hominem attacks on Rand, or are just plain wrong, or accuse her of holding views she did not hold. He also says that despite all this, he thinks Rand was a great philosopher.

There are flaws in Rand's philosophy but in terms of essentials, she hit the nail on the head. The idea that she was an "ignoramus" as one commenter said, is well, ignorant.

Nemo

"Even though it's deemed America's second most influential book,"

Actually this is a canard that is wittily debunked, along with an insightful analysis of Rand's fans, here:

http://www.violetbooks.com/aynrand.html

aslak

I don't know why everybody talks only about Atlas Shrugged all the time. Ayn Rand wrote several other (smaller) books like The Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal or New Left: the anti-industrial revolution which are really worth reading.

Dr Dave

You might have a point if we hadn't reached this stage because of a lightness of touch for regulating the financial markets that I'm sure Ms Rand would have approved of.
Rand isn't the solution to anything here. Her ideas were the problem.
(And it's a terrible book. And the bits where she applies her ideas to relationships are just creepy)

BFU Rector

Bishop Hill, I have a picture of the emergency exit to Galt's Gulch if that will help.

Dr. Dave, fixing interest rates and over-regulating small to support big is not a light touch. They do not become a light touch just because bureaucratic ownership says they are.

I stand by what I wrote years ago:

"Unless your natural joy of discovery was destroyed by compulsory schooling, you will still find a great deal in Rand's works to challenge you. Isn't that one reason honest people read good literature, to open our minds? If that has not been you; here is a chance to take back your life." - Allan Wallace

Tom Burroughes

Dr Dave, it is not the private banks that were the primary cause of the crunch, it was central banks, which are state-created institutions, that caused the main problem by printing cheap money for so long, encouraging a total mispricing of credit risk and the sort of nonsense we have seen in the mortgage markets. Rand and her associates have warned about this for decades.

The mainstream economics profession, on the other hand, has only recently woken up to this. I'd say the "Randian" perspective, which supports a return to things like a gold standard, holds up pretty well, in fact. it is a monstrous shame that her one-time admirer, Alan Greenspan, abandoned his youthful views and became complacent about the sheer growth of the money supply.

Jim

"Rand never worked at a large private corporation..."

Rand was born to a Jewish family in Russia under the czars, and then witnessed the takeover by the Bolshies. Her family nearly starved to death in it wake.

She fled to the States, and later worked in (and soon, as head of) the wardrobe department at RKO Studios, and in various other jobs through the state-caused Great Depression of the 1930s. Researching her novels, she toured and inspected some of America's biggest foundries and factories, worked in the office of a leading New York architect, interviewed the inventors of the first atomic bomb, and learned to operate (on her own) the engine of the Twentieth Century Limited locomotive. In the course of all this, Rand became a friend and admirer of factory and railroad workers, and her great respect for them shines through in her work. Yes, Cambridge Univ. Press has recently published a serious academic volume on Rand's ethics, but multiple Rand biographies have cited Rand's unique ability to relate with and communicate her ideas to the Average Joe. And many of Rand's admirers, myself included, have actually worked in factories.

It is worth noting that when the flawed movie version of her novel 'The Fountainhead' (starring Gary Cooper) was released in Britain more than 50 years ago, contemporary news reports indicated that it's only real popularity was among the British working class.

Go figure!

Jim

BTW: in Rand's novel it is not "too successful" businesses which are "taken over" at all. First, the failing companies are "bailed out," and then, to the extent that firms are "taken over," it happens to whole industries at a time, and then, entire economy.

Most literary criticism of Rand qua novelist is just as mistaken as that comment.

Holly

Mr. Burroughes,

Despite Rand's atheism, President Ronald Reagan described himself in private correspondence as "an admirer" of Rand. Reagan's first chief domestic policy advisor was a disciple of Rand's, Martin Anderson, the man now so involved in the publication of Reagan's letters and papers. Popular radio conservatives like Rush Limbaugh quite frequently cite Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" on their programs. The recent article mentioned above, from a member of "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board, is also worth considering.

Jim

Still, Holly, there's no doubt that her influence on libertarian thought has been significantly greater. Truly, she is the mother of this movement, and, along with Mises (whom Rand knew and admired) and Hayek, one of its towering figures. Professor John Hospers, the first U.S. LP candidate for President, was converted away from socialism by discussions with Rand herself. Murray Rothbard, sometimes called "Mr. Libertarian" and author of the 'The Libertarian Manifesto' forty years ago, was converted to his belief in natural rights by Rand, although the two fell out over Rothbard's anarchism. The leading libertarian magazine in the world, 'Reason: Free Minds and Free Markets' cribs its title straight from the hero of 'Atlas Shrugged,' and a recent history of America's libertarian movement takes its own title from Rand's famous self-description, 'Radicals for Capitalism.' It is recognized that most rank-and-file members of the early LP were first moved in this political direction by reading Rand's novels. And all of this is still merely a taste of her influence here.

Rand herself denounced the LP in America for its association with anarchists, its starkly non-interventionist approach to foreign policy, and, most importantly, its lack of philosophical substance.

But the whole movement still thinks, writes and and lives under her considerable shadow.

Holly

The current economic mess was the result not of "a light touch" by the regulators, Rector, but because the natural "regulation" of the free market -- for which no bureaucracy is needed -- had long been destroyed. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created by the U. S. government precisely in order to extend credit where the free market would never have extended it in the first place. Under pressure from the Left to "make housing more affordable for the poor," Congress passed legislation in 1979 and in 1999 to require the lowering of mortgage credit standards across the board. The heavily-regulated banking industry has also been jaw-boned and pressured to extend credit to riskier and riskier terms in lecture after lecture from politician after politician.

Today's mortgage crisis led to the general banking crisis, and this has led to the economic problems now faced in America.

In fact, it was a failure of the Welfare State.

When the constraints of the market are abolished, it makes little sense to blame a lack of state regulation when the result is (inevitably) a disaster, even if the state could have pulled back from the edge itself by tightening their own rules -- just as President Bush had asked them to do a few years back -- and just as the Democrats in Congress refused to do.

Kyle Haight

With regard to the homosexuality issue, it may be worth noting that Rand's heir, Leonard Peikoff, has stated quite clearly that he does not consider homosexuality to be necessarily immoral. If I recall correctly, he recently came out in support of gay marriage.

Jim

Rand stated even in the comment which is so controversial that there should be no legal discrimination against gays, and, in her published writing, that no person should be morally evaluated for his emotional reactions, his "psychology," as Rand put it. Seeing the contradiction, the Objectivist movement has moved from Rand's remark. It was not a topic Rand ever wrote about, after all, and she made this one comment off the top of her head during a Q & A following a lecture. According to one biographer, Rand got on well with her homosexual brother-in-law. There are a number of homosexuals who are admirers of Rand, notably Lindsay Perigo, the New Zealand talk show personality. Today, there are homosexuals working at the Ayn Rand Institute.

Jim

The critique of Rand's philosophy by Greg Nyquist has been recommended in one of the comments, but, like Prof. Nozick, Whittaker Chambers and William Buckley, all he succeeds in doing is displaying his perfect ignorance of what Rand actually said.

Joe

Yes, indeed, Jim.

Recommended for a better understanding of Rand thought are:

1. 'Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand,' Leonard Peikoff, PhD;
2. 'Atheism: the Case Against God,' George H. Smith (1979);
3. 'The Evidence of the Senses,' David Kelley, PhD (1986);
4. 'The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts,' Harry Binswanger. PhD (1990);
5. 'Viable Values,' Tara Smith, PhD (2000);
6. 'Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: the Virtuous Egoist,' Tara Smith, PhD (2006);
7. 'The Capitalist Manifesto,' Andrew Bernstein, PhD (2005);
8. 'Objectivism in One Lesson,' Andrew Bernstein, PhD (forthcoming);
9. 'What Art Is: the Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand,' Lpuis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi (2000);
10. 'The Psychology of Self-Esteem,' Nathaniel Branden (1969);
11. 'Capitalism: a Treatise on Economics,' George Reisman, PhD (1996);
12. 'Essays on Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead,' ed. Robert Mayhew, PhD (2006);
13. 'Essays on Ayn Rand's We the Living,' ed. R. Mayhew (2004);
14. 'Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem," ed. R. Mayhew (2005);
15. 'Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged,' R Mayhew (forthcoming); and,
16. 'Ayn Rand,' Jeff Britting.

It's a start.

Joe

I should add that the work of scholar Charles Murray, African-American sociologist Prof. Anne Wortham, the late journalist Edith Efron, psychologist Prof. Edwin Locke, and many others, are also deeply influenced by Rand, if their work is not a direct explication of her ideas.

Nozick's critique was refuted by Prof. Douglas Rasmussen and Prof. Douglas Den Uyl in 'Reading Nozick,' ed. J. Paul (1981); other critics of Rand have been addressed in 'The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics,' by James S. Valliant, JD (2005); Chris Matthew Sciabarra, PhD, has much to say about still other critics in 'Ayn Rand: the Russian Radical.' (1995); and, I would also be remiss if I did not recommend Prof. Allan Gotthelf's 'On Ayn Rand.'

I should also mention the Academy Award-nominated documentary, 'Ayn Rand, a Sense of Life' (1997), which at least avoids the errors and unfairness of the Emmy-winning movie 'The Passion of Ayn Rand.'

Cass Hewitt

You can also find excellent writings about and around Rands philosophy by someone who truly understands it here : http://theautonomist.com/home/
It is written in a clear, easy to grasp and understand style, and where the author disagrees with Rands philosophy, he does so with clear reasoning.

Burke Chester

I first read Atlas as a freshman in college in 1959. Her philosophy has been a passion of mine for over half a century.

There is one piece of advice I give everyone:

Don't start out reading *about* Ayn Rand. Virtually everything written about her by her detractors is malicious nonsense. Read The Fountainhead first, then Atlas Shrugged. The Fountainhead is easier reading and there is a logical sequence in the two books.

Meanwhile, you may like looking at the web site of the Ayn Rand Institute at:

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index

There is a suggested reading list on this site.

If you really care about the world of ideas, you are in for the treat of a lifetime. Or, more precisely, a lifetime of treats.

John W

'Atlas Shrugged' has got more ideas than the complete works of Orwell, Huxley and H.G.Wells combined.
Ignore the silly criticisms - just read the book.
Three of Ayn Rand's novels, 'Atlas Shrugged,' 'Anthem' and 'The Fountainhead,' are currently available as MODERN CLASSICS from Penguin:

http://tinyurl.com/5qopmo

http://tinyurl.com/5oqvcs

http://tinyurl.com/5cwmsr

Check them out.

SteveG

Offsuit - interesting that you state that Bioshock's intended to discredit Rand's thinking, 'cause the game's designer clearly thinks otherwise:

http://objectivistcenter.org/cs/forums/318/ShowPost.aspx

Roberto Sarrionandia

The parallels are striking: and with good reason. Remember that Ayn Rand was not just a fiction writer, she devoted her life to the study of ideas, she scientifically examined the roots and premises of ideas, and followed them to their logical consequences: this is how she painted such an accurate picture.

With regards to homosexuality, Rand herself was in favour of gay marriage, although she did not approve of homosexuality. Though later in her life, she is said to have stated that we do not know enough about it, psychologically, to make moral judgement. Rand's philosophy holds that you cannot make moral judgement over the unchosen: so Objectivism does not hold that homosexuality is immoral, as Dr. Peikoff has confirmed.