Ayn Rand and Understanding the Kochs and the Right

Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorite books; I have read it at least three times. It’s a mystery and an adventure story. It’s about struggle and failure and success. It’s like Harold Robbins' popular novels (you won’t know him) where the protagonist has a particular vision or drive, works hard, and finally, against all odds, succeeds. They are, in a sense, uplifting. But they are pulp fiction. The society that Rand presents does not represent the real world. It is totally black or white; extreme selfishness or extreme, unrealistic, altruism; producers or parasites. Even the young me, not yet the liberal socialist pinko I am today, could see, and be put off by, the exaggerations. It would be interesting to explore the psychology behind the attraction to her.

I often talk about my sense that the great American failure is that we lack any appreciation for collectivism; that “American individualism” as it is represented by some is an impediment to building a better society. I had forgotten the strong role that Ayn Rand’s work played in providing a "philosophical" basis for right wing thought. If we want to understand the Kochs, we need to read Atlas Shrugged. Given the importance, as shown in Falter, of Rand’s thinking to providing a foundation for the thinking of the Kochs and their giant influencing projects, all of us should read Atlas Shrugged. We cannot effectively challenge their thinking unless we know what they are thinking. Read it, just skip the long multi-page diatribes where her “philosophy” was expressed. Find out “who is John Galt.”

And then read real philosopher’s writings on individualism and collectivism. Just start with the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy or the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. We need to know more about this if we are to get out of our partisan paralysis. The ideas of Ayn Rand are at the very heart of right wing thinking, and understanding your opposition is necessary for any successful negotiation.

Ayn Rand’s philosophy strongly condemns government “theft” of an individual’s money and its redistribution to unworthy parasites (like you and me). But the Ayn Rand Institute recently took PPP money. Watch the explanation why that was okay for them to do. I think he is saying that if you protest that taking money from the individual is theft, it’s okay to take a distribution of that money from the government, but it you don’t protest the taking, it is not okay to take the money, or something like that. I couldn’t watch the whole thing, but it gives you the idea. And the Mike Wallace interview gives you an introduction to the great philosopher herself.

 

Weekly Participation Summary

10/12 This post

10/14 Comment on DQ on how much better off CEOs are now

10/08  Speaking of Dark Money

Week Eight Point Total – 5

Eight Week Cumulative Point Total – 40