Posted on 01/13/2022 4:14:51 AM PST by MtnClimber
For most of my adult life I’ve been told about Ayn Rand’s famous novel…but had no idea what it was about. It was particularly popular among my Libertarian buddies. So, I finally ordered a copy…and when it came, I had to update the prescription for my reading glasses, because it’s over a thousand pages in nine-point type.
Early on I was able to kind of get a handle on what it was about. There are basically two kinds of people: problem solvers or innovators who are constantly trying to make things work better…and cronies, who have an overwhelming sense of entitlement and who ferociously cling to the status quo.
Not much later, the story began to creep me out. Not because of some quirky aspect of the story…but, due to our current pandemic. I was seeing Rand’s vision of authoritarian cronyism taking place right before my eyes. In the story, first published in 1957, crony bureaucrats assume control of businesses via some kind of vague government policy…and, guess what(?)…shortages of just about everything started happening. We now call these “supply chain” problems. The story mentioned black marketeers that snuck around under the radar in order to fill in some of the gaps.
Rand was born Alisa Rosenbaum in 1905, in St. Petersburg, Russia. When she was twelve, Lenin got off a train in her city…and zealous cronies took over her world. At the age of 21 she came to America. Eventually to become a Hollywood screen writer. By 1957, she was already an established novelist…and, now it seems, that she was also exceptionally prescient. Had I read this book more than two years ago, this may not have occurred to me.
Various concepts are presented in the story. The “Equalization of Opportunity Bill” and “The State Science Institute” are eerily...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Equal in rights. Equally human. Obviously people have radical differences in their talents and abilities.
It is a crazy though poignant part of the book where they are simply ‘out brained’ by their antagonist.
John Galt cannot be forced into submission, and he acts. Howard Roark as well will never submit but he has no urge to convince others to form an alliance with him. He gets things done. John Galt got things ‘undone.’
We are living in “interesting times”, that’s for sure.
Did Rand have her faults. Damned straight she did. We all do. But her assessments of human nature were dead on. She warned us what was coming.
And she was right.
Now all that’s left is for us to feast on the banquet of consequences.
I hope you’re ready for it.
L
IMO, Ayn Rand was a better thinker and a better analyst of human society than she was a writer. Her ideas and insights into how people really act were absolutely brilliant. As a writer however her characters I found to be 2 dimensional.
Still, I would recommend reading Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead. She so perfectly nailed certain groups of people…..the petty bureaucrats desperate to cling to power and to exercise whatever petty power they have in tyrannical fashion over others…..the champagne socialists who claim to be acting for the little guy but who really are maneuvering to hold the reins of power and who aren’t about to give up their wealth/luxury, the so called “intellectuals”/elites who are happy to support what they know is complete nonsense just to remain in the elite club, etc
^^
Rand was a genius in identifying and illustrating the faults of the leftist/”progressive” approach to governing. But when it came to providing a viable alternative, all she had was pure selfishness, which just isn’t a good way to build a viable society.
The founders built on the tradition of Christian Western civilization, which recognized humans as fallen creatures who needed the guardrails of separate branches of government in competition to reign in the power the Lefties so greedily pursue - but Rand would have nothing that smacked of God in her philosophy.
And as the founders realized, one needs a God-fearing populace to make such a system work - as we’ve drifted from that, we’ve given the Pelosi’s and Schumer’s and Fauci’s and Soros’s of the world all the opening they need.
Yes, Helen Hunt would be the perfect actress to play Dagney!
She is (or was) both plain looking and attractive at the same time. I seem to recall she is a Lefty, but I kind of liked her parts. I liked her in “Castaway” and “As Good As It Gets”.
Lurker, I am not sure I am ready for it. I have read enough history to know that nobody is ever immune to extreme privation, and I wonder if I am strong enough to handle it.
I am far closer to the end of my life than the beginning, so I have had my good life. If this comes, my heart breaks for those who will not get the opportunity, prosperity, and happiness from being an American that I did in my life.
No, Who is on first.
Well the, who is John Galt?
No, Who is on first.
That's right.
I agree, it is a statement of each person's value to God, not about equality of capability. God decides what gifts He gives each of us.
The question is how did the book/story end? Did the problem solvers all move to this valley (Florida) and give up on the country? Did the cronies win in the end?
Extra points if you can drive yourself through that monologue.
The power grid failed and it is suggested the cronies murdered each other and the survivors were forced to return to an 18th century lifestyle…before Galt stated at the very end that they would return to rebuild the world.
It’s unfortunate that she didn’t hire a good editor. Could have pared out about 30% or more verbiage and had an easier to read and harder hitting novel.
Still a powerful and influential work.
Just to clarify….. I am very capitalist. But radical inequality in talents and abilities is exactly what creates this huge mountain of disparity that the progressives and young people in general cry about and want to change. To change that they rightfully recognize it requires eliminating capitalism. Capitalism in this country of freedom gives opportunity to everyone. Inequality takes it away. Me….. i’m fine with that. It is what it is. We cant fix it or solve it with money.
“Lurker, I am not sure I am ready for it.”
How could you be sure? No one in their right mind would be.
“I have read enough history to know that nobody is ever immune to extreme privation, and I wonder if I am strong enough to handle it.”
Don’t we all.
Good luck.
L
When I read the book, I imagined it in the 40's or 50's with Dagny in a women's business suit and hat and the men in suits and fedoras and overcoats with trains still being important. I think it should have been approached like Michael Radford's brilliant adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four which was kept in the period of the late 40's. However, the makers of the movie(s) of Atlas Shrugged didn't have enough of a budget to work with.
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