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Is Rand Relevant?
WSJ ^ | 3/14/2009 | YARON BROOK

Posted on 03/16/2009 6:21:45 AM PDT by shove_it

Ayn Rand died more than a quarter of a century ago, yet her name appears regularly in discussions of our current economic turmoil. Pundits including Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santelli urge listeners to read her books, and her magnum opus, "Atlas Shrugged," is selling at a faster rate today than at any time during its 51-year history.

There's a reason. In "Atlas," Rand tells the story of the U.S. economy crumbling under the weight of crushing government interventions and regulations. Meanwhile, blaming greed and the free market, Washington responds with more controls that only deepen the crisis. Sound familiar?

The novel's eerily prophetic nature is no coincidence. "If you understand the dominant philosophy of a society," Rand wrote elsewhere in "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," "you can predict its course." Economic crises and runaway government power grabs don't just happen by themselves; they are the product of the philosophical ideas prevalent in a society -- particularly its dominant moral ideas.

[...]

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: atlasshrugged; aynrand; rand
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Atlas Shrugged is currently #27 on Amazon.
1 posted on 03/16/2009 6:21:45 AM PDT by shove_it
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To: shove_it; Publius

FYI Publius


2 posted on 03/16/2009 6:24:08 AM PDT by shove_it (and have a nice day)
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To: shove_it
She's not only relevant, she should be required reading.

L

3 posted on 03/16/2009 6:24:53 AM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: shove_it
"Atlas Shrugged," is selling at a faster rate today than at any time during its 51-year history.

That's good news. The more people who read it, the better.
It's one heck of a long story, but once you start reading it, it's hard to put down. I even got my husband hooked on it.

4 posted on 03/16/2009 6:27:10 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: shove_it

Her fiction novel is now a non-fiction book.


5 posted on 03/16/2009 6:35:07 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: Lurker
“She's not only relevant, she should be required reading.”

I remember having to read a book WAY back in grade school where the people were forced to make themselves equal. People that could see well had to wear glasses that blurred their vision. A graceful ballerina had to wear heavy, metal plating to make her “normal”. Government enforced this rule by killing those that didn't submit.

I really wish I could remember the name of that book or the author.

6 posted on 03/16/2009 6:38:50 AM PDT by sadamico (Can a state AG file a suit against the federal government for violating the US Constitution?)
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To: shove_it

Started reading it yesterday.


7 posted on 03/16/2009 6:40:22 AM PDT by Calm_Cool_and_Elected (So many books, so little time!)
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To: sadamico

The title was “Harrison Bergeron,” I believe.


8 posted on 03/16/2009 6:40:43 AM PDT by Pete98 (After his defeat by the Son of God, Satan changed his name to Allah and started over.)
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To: sadamico
I really wish I could remember the name of that book or the author.

"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut.

L

9 posted on 03/16/2009 6:41:32 AM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: sadamico
I remember having to read a book WAY back in grade school where the people were forced to make themselves equal. People that could see well had to wear glasses that blurred their vision. A graceful ballerina had to wear heavy, metal plating to make her “normal”. Government enforced this rule by killing those that didn't submit. I really wish I could remember the name of that book or the author.

I believe it may have been a short story entitled Harrison Bergeron written by Kurt Vonnegut. Try the Welcome to the Monkey House collection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

10 posted on 03/16/2009 6:42:16 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: shove_it

She was a strange man-hater who wrote a hard-to-read book with a pro-capitalism message. Just because she agrees with our politics doesn’t make her a writer.


11 posted on 03/16/2009 6:44:04 AM PDT by Weatherman Bill
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To: Calm_Cool_and_Elected

I’m on page 196.


12 posted on 03/16/2009 6:45:27 AM PDT by Empireoftheatom48 (Zero will never be my President, never!!!!!)
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To: shove_it
Is Rand Relevant?

Is this a trick question?

I'd be the first to admit her "Objectivism" goes a bit too far. But then again, the perfect is the enemy of the good, so I shouldn't nitpick while she's sounding the warning against totalitarianism.

My local library got tired of me checking out "Atlas Shrugs" and "We the Living" again and again, so she got an Amazon-bump from this reader recently.
13 posted on 03/16/2009 6:46:04 AM PDT by LearsFool ("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
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To: shove_it

“Is Rand Relevant?”

No.


14 posted on 03/16/2009 6:47:07 AM PDT by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: shove_it

#38 on Amazon right now and #99 on USA Today list of 150 best sellers. Not bad for a 50 year old book.


15 posted on 03/16/2009 6:47:26 AM PDT by saganite (What would Sully do?)
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To: concerned about politics

Read a post here not too long ago that said something like 8 percent of Americans have read the book.


16 posted on 03/16/2009 6:47:58 AM PDT by stockpirate (A people unwilling to use extreme violence to preserve liberty, deserves the tyrant that rules them.)
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To: sadamico
I remember a sci-fi-related magazine in the mid to late 70s that I read as a kid. It had news articles (the Space Shuttle was big at the time), and short stories. One of the short stories gave me the willies.

It was the story of a couple sending their child off for I.Q. testing done by the government. All children had to undergo the testing at a certain age.

I don't remember the specifics, but the kid was apparently a genius. The last line of the story had the government agent asking the parents where they would like their child buried.

17 posted on 03/16/2009 6:48:12 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (Obama - what you get when you mix Affirmative Action with the Peter Principle.)
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To: screaminsunshine
Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
18 posted on 03/16/2009 6:51:17 AM PDT by Xenophon450 (Through false sensory perceptions of the flesh, you paint without colours on a canvas blank.)
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To: shove_it

John Galt is my hero.


19 posted on 03/16/2009 6:52:00 AM PDT by jabonz08 (When rights become privileges, only the privileged will have rights.)
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To: Weatherman Bill

How many books does one have to write, publish, and sell before one becomes a writer?


20 posted on 03/16/2009 6:53:03 AM PDT by AD from SpringBay (We deserve the government we allow.)
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