Posted on 01/21/2015 4:06:39 PM PST by iowamark
Many of my fellow conservatives love Ayn Rand. And many of my liberal friends love to hate her.
You can understand why progressives enjoy blasting Rand's presumably nefarious influence on the conservative movement. She makes for a convenient punching bag for progressives, because she embodies the caricatured version of what progressives imagine conservatives really think: that egotism and greed are good and that the parasitic weak deserve to be trod upon by the capitalistic powerful.
And then there are people like me: Conservatives who view themselves as Christians first. To us, Rand's worldview is repellent, and the fact that her works are so widespread on the right is beyond annoying.
I hate nearly everything Rand stands for. I find her prose unbearable. But I also, unlike Rand, believe in the virtue of empathy, and have decided to apply it to people who like her work. To that end, here are a few different perspectives on why so many conservatives like Ayn Rand.
1. It's a wish-fulfillment fantasy
In Ayn Rand's books, the main character is typically an implausibly awesome version of the person many conservatives would secretly like to be. Wish-fulfillment fantasies exert a powerful influence on us. There is something in our souls that tells us that we are inadequate, that reminds us of our many failures and the ways the world fails to appreciate our precious gifts. Works of fiction in which the main character unleashes our fantasies touches something deep.
For me as a geeky, bullied preteen, Ender's Game fulfilled this need. Here was a book about a supersmart, supertalented kid who is recognized for it, whose skills are groomed and appreciated, and who eventually goes on to save the world. (Dune was also great for that.) Even now, as I find all sorts of inadequacies with the Ender books, I can't help but retain a deep fondness for them, and will probably recommend them to my teenage kids.
Ayn Rand's fantasy stories work the same way for young conservatives. A figure like John Galt reaches into deep places inside yourself, and produces intense feelings.
This type of fiction is the ice cream of art: Harmless enough if we don't mistake it for a nutritious meal but, if we're honest with ourselves, we probably recognize that we're a bit too attracted to it. And remember, there's almost certainly a piece of schlock that does for you the same things that Atlas Shrugged does for many conservatives, so cut them some slack.
2. It's possible to dissociate a book from its politics
According to my totally nonscientific sense of things, the singlemost popular work of fiction among Silicon Valley geeks is The Lord of the Rings. (And even if it's not the MOST popular, it's still undeniably popular.) Much has been written about the techno-utopianism of Silicon Valley culture. But Lord of the Rings is profoundly and explicitly anti-technology; Tolkien clearly associates the forces of evil with industrial modernity, and his picture of Eden, whether the Hobbits' Shire or the Elven realms, is pre-technological. Peter Thiel, who may be the most techno-utopian futuristic billionaire in Silicon Valley, has also named not one, not two, but three companies after items or characters from Lord of the Rings. How does he reconcile these contradictions?!?!?!?!?!
It's probably very easy for him, because you don't have to love a piece of art's politics to love the piece of art itself.
In the case of conservatives and Ayn Rand, then, if you combine this with point one, a narrative falls into place: A young conservative finds an Ayn Rand book; because it is a wish-fulfillment fantasy, it exerts a powerful pull on her and she starts to love it, perhaps a bit too much; as the conservative grows up and reads more (and better) conservative books, her politics hopefully separate a bit from Rand's extreme and insane Objectivism, even as she retains a great fondness for the books.
3. There are too few works of art in popular culture that have conservative values
More Perspectives Marc Ambinder
For Republicans, might makes right is back in fashion Ryan Cooper
The mind of a climate change denier Progressives often obsess over the notion of "checking your privilege," and I believe by and large it is a healthy instinct, because many of us are indeed beneficiaries of privilege. But here's one type of privilege I wish progressives would check: The privilege of growing up in a world where the vast majority of culture, both high and low, reflects your worldview.
I was amused when the blogosphere collapsed in a heap of disbelieving LOLs when it was revealed that Paul Ryan (also frequently indicted for his love of Ayn Rand) loves the band Rage Against the Machine. I too love RATM. Tom Morello is a musical genius, and Zack de la Rocha indisputably has a gift from God.
To grow up as a conservative with an omnivorous yet discerning aesthetic palate is to get a never-ending, and I mean never-ending, education in the sometimes-difficult process of appreciating works whose political (if not metaphysical) worldview is deeply at odds with your own. This is an education that progressives (especially if they don't study the classical liberal arts) by and large don't get.
I think the shock that so many progressives experience when they find out a conservative can love RATM and, conversely, the implicit notion that if someone likes Ayn Rand that automatically makes them a Randbot, is due to this form of privilege. There remains a deep strain in left-wing aesthetics of judging a work's value by the politics it promotes. (Case in point: the Academy Awards.)
This dearth of conservative values in popular culture, then, doesn't just mean that conservatives will latch onto comparatively inferior cultural works that reflect their worldview, although it surely plays a role. But even as a conservative's politics deviate from Rand's, she will be more able to maintain her enjoyment of Rand's works, to an extent that may seem inexplicable to a progressive.
4. Rand's work does get at a crucial truth that almost everyone misses
Again, as a Christian and as a conservative, I find Rand's Objectivism, to use a word she so liked, despicable. But I still must recognize that Rand's work emphasizes one crucial truth about the world that almost nobody else does: Free enterprise is key to human flourishing, not just because it enables the most material prosperity, but because it encourages human creativity.
Most defenses of free market capitalism are typically made in a utilitarian lens; partly because it's such an easy case to make and partly because that is the lens of most academic work in economics. And it is most certainly true that, yes, with some important caveats, the freer the markets, the more prosperous the polity.
But that is not the whole truth. The whole truth takes into account that part of our human nature is a deep drive to find meaning through work, productivity, and even creativity, and that the free enterprise system enables this. That makes free enterprise morally, not just empirically, superior. From the Etsy merchant and the blogger to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, the free enterprise system, more than any other system that has ever been tried, enables people to express their creativity and flourish by producing work that other people want and makes their lives better.
This means that, much like democracy, capitalism is a deeply morally righteous system.
This discourse is almost never heard in contemporary society, certainly not in the realm of culture. And yet, for all its many shortcomings, it is found in 500-proof form in the works of Ayn Rand. And I think this is a key reason why so many experience her books as a revelation, despite all their shortcomings.
That’s right.
Well said.
Yes, that was her fatal flaw right there, you pinpointed it. It’s quite understandable the mistakes she made, once you realize that.
Imagine if you were smart enough to detect the truly heinous forces at work in the world and what would happen, but still blind to the truth and hope offered by God. Well, you might search for worldly solutions to fight back with, but you cannot fight the world with the tools of the world and win.
It would either drive you to hopelessness and desperation, or to some pretty far out precipices in search of a “novel” solution to the problem. That’s where she ended up.
I re-post...but with a small correction:
If atheist Ann Rand libertarian types were to gain the upper hand, we’ll have limited government and free markets, in a Sodomite supreme court and immoral Christ-less country...its SCOTUS justices appointed by Ann Rand libertarians.
I shudder to think what kind of supreme court justices someone like (Ann) Rand Paul would appoint.
When a country surrenders the moral high ground they’ve lost it all.
There are people who simply cannot understand Objectivism. They simply cannot.
I’ve read Atlas Shrugged four times. Like a fine wine, it just gets better with age. People who hate her, fear her.
Most self proclaimed Libertarians are not Libertarians at all, thank God.
Did you hate Reagan, too?
“If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.”
-— Ronald Reagan
There might be a little misogyny here also. Just sayin’.
Many people may not realize that Ayn was born and raised in Russia. She personally experienced the destructive nature of a “Big brother” society under communism. She personally observed her families life turn to crap. Her fathers business was just taken away. Her passion for her writing was a warning to Americans of what might come if they fall asleep. Her vision was nothing more than what she had already observed in real life and in real time.
Take two shots of vodka, then try getting through it... repeat as necessary to finish the chapter. ;)
Rand’s teachings have room for one to be a Christian. But they do not have room for a Christian to use force to advance their beliefs. She never demanded that in her perfect society, belief must be made illegal.
Her personal life was a trainwreck, this is where Christianity can be brought to bear. But the barest essential of hers was that individual freedom was the ultimate goal.
The great thing about having read her is that it left me free to simply live my life. I'm a conservative, so you can't guilt-trip me about being white, or being (finally) middle class, or anything else. I don't feel guilty and I'm not giving you anything.
The great thing about being an atheist is that you can't guilt trip me into being ashamed of any "original sin" and I'm not praying to anyone or apologizing for anything.
And once you shake off all the whining, clinging demands both sides place on you, you are simply free. You go about your business using your own judgment, doing as you see fit, and as long as it isn't illegal, well... there you go. Life is simple. We complicate it with nonsense, but it's really not necessary.
The author is an idiot. He clearly doesn’t understand “The Wealth of Nations” and the damage that progressivism does.
Let’s all post slightly larger pictures of Ayn Rand until we crash the internet.
Well put.
L
You just repeated the lamest lie ever about Reagan. He was no lib. Go back to that quote and finish his thought on libertarianism.
Rand had much the same effect on me, madame.
L
Rand’s book “We the Living” provides a good view of the awful life under communism in Soviet Russia.
(L)libertarians are liberals. Social liberals, therefore not conservative.
I’d sooner support a RINO over a lib.
I just watched the last “Atlas Shrugged” last night. It was horrible. But Rand’s message is clear and resonant: you serve the world best by serving yourself best.
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