Posted on 07/21/2011 3:45:14 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
Love for Ayn Rand goes unrequited. Libertarians love her, but she rejected them as "emotional hippies of the right." Conservatives love her, but she opposed Ronald Reagan, saying, "His likeliest motive for entering the Presidential race is power lust." Right-leaning Christians love her, but she was an atheist, an abortion supporter and a champion of the anti-Christian ideal that selfishness is a virtue. She also called religion a "sign of a psychological weakness." Her fans -- including Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, talk radio's Rush Limbaugh and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas -- would be crushed to learn she might never love them back, either. Ms. Rand has been dead since 1982, but today she's as loved as ever. Her 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" champions laissez-faire capitalism and individual achievement. She vilifies communism, socialism and unionism. She dubs government redistribution of wealth immoral. Some of her ideas are central to the American Dream. But Ms. Rand did much of her writing while hopped up on amphetamines and nicotine. And like most people who abuse this combination, she went too far. She crafted philosophical arguments and wrote bizarre works of fiction to prove their premises. Then, in the delusional grandiosity that only chemicals can inspire, she declared herself, "the most creative thinker alive."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Interesting way to frame. Is Propaganda 101 a core requirement at 'Journalism' school nowadays? Do they teach anything else? And from the Wall St. Journal, too.
They were diet pills, which a lot of people took in those days. When another doctor questioned her on her routine, she mentioned those pills, the doctor told her to stop and she did.
And she criticized Gov. Reagan for his teaming up with the Moral Majority.
And even though I was something of an admirer of Ayn Rand, I voted for Reagan anyway.
Newton didn’t have a wife. He had other issues including regularly having nervous breakdowns, wanting anyone who steals something to be summarily executed, and believing in alchemy. By all accounts not a very nice guy but a total genius.
Publius, here is one for TheList ;)
and ColK, it certainly is a given that those of us on this side of the political spectrum, had better be prepared for the reality that Lock Step Thinking is NOT something that we do ; }
May God give us strength.
Tatt
and most of our founding fathers cultivated and used various (now illegal) drugs.
“”But she did not imagine executives would loot their shareholders, cause an economic crisis and then beg for government help.
Her brand of laissez-faire capitalism led to corporations growing bigger and bigger until “too-big-to-regulate” became “too-big-to-fail.” She never imagined big business telling big government what to do or a government that only takes over failing businesses — not successful ones.””
Whoa. I wonder what color the sky is in the author’s world? Wasn’t it Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, aka “Big Government” who told “Big Banking” that they had to loan money to unqualified buyers, that grew the housing bubble, and of course, brought about the inevitable collapse of said bubble?
And don’t forget “Big Unions” wielding their none too inconsiderable clout to dictate to “Big Auto”? Not to mention their political influence, (see the ultimate in Big Government, aka Barack Hussein Obama).
Unbelievable really, the kind of stuff that gets presented as reality.
May God give us strength.
Tatt
Newton also used and abused his position as President of the Royal Society to discredit and slander his literary and scientific rivals. (He would have called them enemies.)
Not a nice man at all.
KarlInOhio posted -
“”Corporations were happily using government to crush competition all the way through the book.””
Right to the point Bump!
And then having the abrupt, and decidedly unpleasant reality dawn upon the weak entities, that Government then went on to crush them in turn, in order to gain complete control.
It would be a an even better story, if it were not unfolding before us today : /
That’s a morning ping!
I completely, absolutely, 100% agree with you on that.
Ahem. Although I might well disagree with you on some other things.
And a atheist's ability to discern the moral from the immoral derives from......?
Her fans — including Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, talk radio’s Rush Limbaugh and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — would be crushed to learn she might never love them back, either
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That’s right, them conservatives are too stupid to know anything about Ayn Rand other than she wrote “Atlas Shrugged”.
Why they probably don’t even know how to pronounce her name!
Agreed as always.
Al Lewis writes poorly-reasoned articles full of flawed analogies, foolishly believing that they make him appear to be intelligent and erudite.
Truth is truth, no matter the source. Conservatives are smart enough to find the diamonds and discard the dirt when it comes to ideas.
It also amazes me that the Left doesn’t think we know who Ayn Rand was...as if these revelations are simply earth-shattering!
It's called 'crony capitalism'. Obama supports it in spades. Perry appears to be a big fan too, so the powers that be will likely be covered by both parties this election.
This article on Rand is written with a pen full of acid. But it’s interesting nonetheless.
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