Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul , by Gary Weiss, is a good read even if you are fully, horribly aware that Rand's fevered visions of utopian feudalist capitalism are even now being advanced as mainstream "principled" conservative economic thinking. (This would be OK if "Another French Revolution!" was the mainstream left-liberal position.) It's good because it takes us through the looking glass to meet actual people who have been influenced by Rand -- some powerful, others obscure; some true believers, others who just think that "Who Is John Galt?" is a cool thing to write on the t-shirt they wear when they're yelling about taxes. It's good because it's written in a conversational voice, one that says "Between you and me, I don't get these people either, but let's explore them together." It's good because yr favorite Wonkette mommyblog is name-checked on page 108.
We don't even have to wait until we die, because "statute of limitations".
Also too, we'd all have to take full consideration of the consequences of our actions, which we'd have to be able to perfectly predict, for Rand's kind of nonsense to work as advertised. And even then it's still a horrible concept.
Oh and by the way, I presume Rand was a <em>huge</em> union supporter, since without unions the corporatocracy essentially steals labor from the workers by failing to come remotely close to paying them the true value of their efforts. What&#039;s that you say? No, she&#039;s a total hypocrite on that too? Shocking!
Well, the existence of something that could technically be described as a union, yes.
The ability of a union to have any meaningful impact, probably not - I&#039;d be stunned if ghost Ayn Rand didn&#039;t love Right To Work laws, and I&#039;m pretty sure she objected to picket lines.
BTW, Krugman has a nice <a href="http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/08\/12\/opinion\/krugman-milton-friedman-unperson.html" target="_blank">takedown </a>of erstwhile wingnut holyman Milton Friedman in today&#039;s <i>NYT</i> op-ed. Actually it&#039;s a takedown of the wingnuts for having gone far beyond even Friedman&#039;s free-market fever dreams.
Made all the way through <i>The Fountainhead,</i> a rather entertaining rape-fantasy comic-book of a novel. (&quot;Do it to me again, Howard, with your rippling stoneyard-hardened abs! At last I&#039;m not a frigid beauty!&quot;) <i>Atlas Regurgitated Words</i> was too much though, faded away after 85 pp of John Galt&#039;s diatribe. And I&#039;m a railroad buff!
Funny. My utopia is a world where the Randians migrated to their own island nation to build that perfect libertarian society where they were never heard from again.
The only thing I remembered from &quot;Ethan Frome&quot; was something, something pickle dish.
Interesting curriculum for an archy school: If you don&#039;t like the way your project&#039;s being built, blow the damn thing up!
Plus: wrong religion. It&#039;s like they were <i>asking</i> to fail.
You know what <i>other</i> book they left laying about in nightstands for free?
These Rands Ryans and Pauls I am so fucking confused I need a mindrelax anybody got any jazz players laxation smokes
We don&#039;t even have to wait until we die, because &quot;statute of limitations&quot;.
Also too, we&#039;d all have to take full consideration of the consequences of our actions, which we&#039;d have to be able to perfectly predict, for Rand&#039;s kind of nonsense to work as advertised. And even then it&#039;s still a horrible concept.
Oh and by the way, I presume Rand was a <em>huge</em> union supporter, since without unions the corporatocracy essentially steals labor from the workers by failing to come remotely close to paying them the true value of their efforts. What&#039;s that you say? No, she&#039;s a total hypocrite on that too? Shocking!
Well, the existence of something that could technically be described as a union, yes.
The ability of a union to have any meaningful impact, probably not - I&#039;d be stunned if ghost Ayn Rand didn&#039;t love Right To Work laws, and I&#039;m pretty sure she objected to picket lines.
That should more or less double the box office.
Does Andrea Mitchell know about this?
BTW, Krugman has a nice <a href="http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/08\/12\/opinion\/krugman-milton-friedman-unperson.html" target="_blank">takedown </a>of erstwhile wingnut holyman Milton Friedman in today&#039;s <i>NYT</i> op-ed. Actually it&#039;s a takedown of the wingnuts for having gone far beyond even Friedman&#039;s free-market fever dreams.
Made all the way through <i>The Fountainhead,</i> a rather entertaining rape-fantasy comic-book of a novel. (&quot;Do it to me again, Howard, with your rippling stoneyard-hardened abs! At last I&#039;m not a frigid beauty!&quot;) <i>Atlas Regurgitated Words</i> was too much though, faded away after 85 pp of John Galt&#039;s diatribe. And I&#039;m a railroad buff!
If Libertarians had to actually live in a world that followed their ideology, they&#039;d vote for a Democrat in a heart-beat.
Funny. My utopia is a world where the Randians migrated to their own island nation to build that perfect libertarian society where they were never heard from again.