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Monday, April 25, 2011

Ayn Rand philosophy = zero compassion = today's crop of Republicans:

The trend of the last 15 ears within the Republican party has been an embrace of Ayn Rand's philosophy. It's harsh, at variance with a traditional conservative values, and probably not good politics, as David Frum suggests:

I strongly suspect that today’s Ayn Rand moment will end in frustration or worse for Republicans.

And he cites Irving Kristol on the welfare state:

The idea of a welfare state is perfectly consistent with a conservative political philosophy – as Bismarck knew, a hundred years ago. In our urbanized, industrialized, highly mobile society, people need governmental action of some kind… they need such assistance; they demand it; they will get it.

For unknown reasons, there has been an eruption of posts about Ayn Rand and the Republicans in the last month. Here are a few:

Welcome to the Ayn Rand Congress (Time)
The Inspiration For Paul Ryan's Profoundly And Explicitly Anti-Christian Budget (Down With Tyranny)
The Truth About GOP Hero Ayn Rand (Think Progress)
When Alan Met Ayn: "Atlas Shrugged" And Our Tanked Economy (The Awl)
Ayn Rand’s adult-onset adolescence (Michael Gerson - former Bush speechwriter)
The Trouble with Ayn Rand (First Things)

The last two are Christian critiques of Rand. Which kind of tie in with a Salon article, The Democrats' secret budget weapon: Jesus.

Also, Jonathan Chait has been writing about Ayn Rand a lot. In any event, something is happening out there. My guess is that this commentary about Ayn Rand is a way to make sense of stories of Republicans wanting to eliminate child labor laws or demands that foster children only purchase second-hand clothes. Those actions can be best described as coming from people with zero compassion. And that's exactly what Ayn Rand championed.

posted by Quiddity at 4/25/2011 08:42:00 AM

7 comments

I think Rand Paul, eponymously, brings her to mind without really trying.

By Rockie the Dog, at 4/25/2011 5:15 PM

Good thing nobody like the head of the Federal Reserve was ever a follower of such a predatory, speed freak cult leader.

By gmoke, at 4/25/2011 8:29 PM

You do know that there's a movie version of Atlas Shrugged Part 1 currently on screen? And that previews were on other movies for the past six weeks? True, it was panned and it's a bomb, but it has served to focus attention on her and her odious philosophy.

By Mark Centz, at 4/25/2011 10:36 PM

SPAN the GREEN of WALL STREET GREED might make a good commentary title.

By the way, Slate has a review on Part I: "The Audiences Shrugged."

My "shorter review": HALF-ATLAS!

By Shag from Brookline, at 4/26/2011 4:32 AM

Absolutely loved the Michael Gerson piece.

By e. nonee moose, at 4/26/2011 5:59 AM

Add to the list:

Hendrik Hertzberg's May 2, 2011, The New Yorker comment "Trumpery."

I do not know how to prepare a link.

By Shag from Brookline, at 4/27/2011 2:12 AM

And add the Colbert video from yesterday:

"How Good Is Trump's Relationship With 'The Blacks'"

(again, sorry I can't provide the link).

By Shag from Brookline, at 4/27/2011 3:20 AM