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Ayn Rand Reconsidered
Accuracy in Academia ^ | March 14, 2014 | Malcolm A. Kline

Posted on 03/18/2014 6:25:16 AM PDT by Academiadotorg

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To: sagar

The problem with idiots and liberals (but I repeat myself) is that they think “trickle down” means that government GIVES money to the rich and they are supposed to give it to the poor.

I heard idiot Larry King say to a libtard that the problem with ‘trickle down economics’ was that “they didn’t trickle”- meaning those evil greedy rich kept all that money

What it means is that if the rich enterpreaneurs KEPT more of their money (not taxed away) they would be able to provide jobs which would the boost the economy.


21 posted on 03/18/2014 7:43:38 AM PDT by Mr. K (If you like your constitution, you can keep it...Period.)
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To: Mr. Jeeves

“Rand reminds the Right that there is no acceptable form of totalitarianism - even one based on Biblical tenets. It not her atheism they hate, per se - it’s her admonition that the Right isn’t going to produce better quality dictators than the Left does. “

This, times infinity.


22 posted on 03/18/2014 7:44:01 AM PDT by FAA
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To: Academiadotorg
Atlas Shrugged is not a novel. It's a documentary.
23 posted on 03/18/2014 7:51:52 AM PDT by Noumenon (Resistance. Restoration. Retribution.)
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To: FAA
it’s her admonition that the Right isn’t going to produce better quality dictators than the Left does. “

If you liked Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader, you're going to love Mitch McConnell when he's the Majority Leader. lol

24 posted on 03/18/2014 7:56:52 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (For every Ted Cruz we send to DC, I can endure 2-3 "unviable" candidates that beat incumbents.)
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To: Academiadotorg

I find people who “hate” Rand amusing. Rand described how totalitarianism worked, and linked that explanation to the protection mechanism of the Constitution. She had her characters act out what the Founders explained through political philosophy. So what’s to disagree with? It’s like arguing with a mechanic about how a car works. It’s not something to argue about - it’s just the facts. Cars work a certain way, and so does totalitarianism. People either block it by countering its mechanisms, or they don’t, and it takes over. If it takes over, it destroys everything and collapses civilization because it can’t do otherwise because it is innately parasitical. Period.


25 posted on 03/18/2014 8:27:27 AM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Academiadotorg; Loud Mime
Thanks for the ping! Publius and I have done such a reconsideration in our Who Is John Galt?. Some people who dismiss the novel out of hand have only considered one aspect that they find distasteful - for our friends on the right (if you can call it that) that issue is often atheism. There's a very great deal more to the book than that. Certain others read it in high school and consider that they have "outgrown" it when at that age one really doesn't have the intellectual horsepower to give it the consideration it is due. Or so Publius and I think, anyway.

Certain other critics find Rand's personal life to be either too inconsistent with her precepts or too thoroughly consistent, at least with the more convenient ones. I think that's a little like criticizing Milton for kicking his dog, but that's just me. Give us a read and see what you think.

26 posted on 03/18/2014 8:47:03 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: ADemocratNoMore; Aggie Mama; alarm rider; alexander_busek; AlligatorEyes; AmericanGirlRising; ...

Rand ping.


27 posted on 03/18/2014 9:03:02 AM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Badabing Badablonde

Same here. I wished I had read Rand as a teen but I really didn’t know her. I read James Burke’s connections and day universe changed. My teachers in high school hated those books. They would have had seizures with ayn rand.


28 posted on 03/18/2014 9:18:49 AM PDT by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: ryan71
The controversy about her atheism seems to come from the left.

Exactly. The left sees controversy because -- HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY agree with some parts of an individual philosophy, but not the whole?

The left loves to look for, or create "blemishes" where none need to be. I don't have to subscribe to Rand's atheism to know that she was right on target with individual rights, very limited government, and capitalism as the source for the greatest advancements in human history.

29 posted on 03/18/2014 9:19:01 AM PDT by Lou L (Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")
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To: Safrguns

Thank you for a great insight, another thing for me to ponder more closely.


30 posted on 03/18/2014 9:31:59 AM PDT by verga (Poor spiritual health is often manifested with poor physical health.)
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To: Mr. K

“What it means is that if the rich enterpreaneurs KEPT more of their money (not taxed away) they would be able to provide jobs which would the boost the economy”

The rich are not and should not be o obliged to provide jobs or boost the economy.

It just so happens that the act of preserving and growing wealth naturally generates employment and circulates money, which boasts the economy.

My point is that even if the rich burn their money, thus not create jobs and boost the economy, it is their right to do so.


31 posted on 03/18/2014 9:34:10 AM PDT by sagar
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To: Mr. Jeeves
“Rand reminds the Right that there is no acceptable form of totalitarianism - even one based on Biblical tenets. It not her atheism they hate, per se - it’s her admonition that the Right isn’t going to produce better quality dictators than the Left does. “

The problem is, without moral absolutes, you'll quickly find there are no limits to any evil. A Republic such as America can only last while it is a moral nation.

Personally, I find much of Rand's ideology to be spot on. I'm just not sure that you can derive all morality from the principles she does.

“Just as in the material realm the plundering of a country’s wealth is accomplished by inflating the currency—so today one may witness the process of inflation being applied to the realm of rights. The process entails such a growth of newly promulgated ‘rights’ that people do not notice the fact that the meaning of the concept is being reversed. Just as bad money drives out good money, so these ‘printing-press rights’ negate authentic rights.”

I see her point in this, the real bear is to determine what is a "authentic right", and what is invented to placate the libertine.

The Roe v Wade decision is a good one to look at in this context. The supreme court, in their ruling said that there was a "right to privacy" implied by the Constitution itself. I think conservatives do themselves a disfavor by objecting to this. It is obvious to me, if you take a look at the first 5 Amendments, that the enumerated rights absolutely imply personal privacy as well. I mean, what the hell else are we supposed to take from the right to be secure in our papers? I do not think this is an 'imaginary' or 'made-up' right, any more than the right to defend oneself is, which is implied by the 2nd (and the common law).

Where we go awry is when people claim as a 'right', that which is dependent upon someone else providing that right for them. By this, I mean stupid notions of a 'right to housing' or a 'right to a job' or similar nonsense. What those 'rights' really mean is that you want to use the government to enslave someone else to provide you with material things. The fact that I have the right to speak, worship the God of my choosing, to bear arms, or not to have personal privacy invaded by the government does not obligate anyone else in any way. I have these rights because I am endowed with them by my Creator, by virtue of my being born a human being.

I believe that to say that you have a 'right' to force someone to bake you a cake is ridiculous, and shows what Rand was talking about. We're seeing that crap in action every day now as the Republic crumbles.

I'd like close by returning to the Roe v. Wade decision briefly, though I'm not particularly interested in arguing the abortion issue. Where I think the court went wrong in that decision was not in saying that we have a right to privacy, (I'd claim it is self-evident that we do), but rather, their mistake was not in correctly identifying abortion as the premeditated murder of a human being. Had they done so, they would have been force to rule against it. It is clear to me they were making a political ruling for whatever reason, and they cloaked it in terms of 'privacy' because they didn't have a better hook to hang it on.

32 posted on 03/18/2014 9:36:13 AM PDT by zeugma (Is it evil of me to teach my bird to say "here kitty, kitty"?)
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To: sagar
I don’t see any sort of irony. Galt was an ideal productive individual who did not need others to succeed... trickle down prosperity if you have to make the stretch. Jesus, on the other hand, was sent for sole purpose of saving the world. To me, polar opposites.

You could also say that Jesus was sent with the sole purpose of -gaining- th world. Not so different at all.

33 posted on 03/18/2014 12:19:59 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
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To: Noumenon
Atlas Shrugged is not a novel. It's a documentary.

And a postmortem.

34 posted on 03/18/2014 12:24:42 PM PDT by Misterioso
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To: sagar

>>> I don’t see any sort of irony. Galt was an ideal productive individual who did not need others to succeed... trickle down prosperity if you have to make the stretch. Jesus, on the other hand, was sent for sole purpose of saving the world. To me, polar opposites.

I did not draw an irony either... only a weak parallel between Rhand’s rendition of a savior and what that savior would end up doing about society’s evils. The only comparison I drew between Gault and Jesus was the solution of removing producers[believers] from society and letting evil take it’s natural course as a result.

Nobody can be compared to Jesus.


35 posted on 03/18/2014 1:35:21 PM PDT by Safrguns (PM me if you like to play Minecraft!)
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To: Publius; Billthedrill

My copy of “Who is John Galt?” arrived today (sorry it took me so long) and I am anxious to get started.

PS: The dedication to Jim Rob was classy.


36 posted on 03/18/2014 3:22:35 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Hey, we’re a couple of classy guys.


37 posted on 03/18/2014 3:24:08 PM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Publius; Billthedrill

I’ll drink a toast to you both this evening.


38 posted on 03/18/2014 3:26:08 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Billthedrill

Milton kicked his dog? I hope you don’t mean Friedman;>)


39 posted on 03/21/2014 6:09:40 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
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