A Tea Partyish Conservative Admits It

17 Responses to “A Tea Partyish Conservative Admits It”

1. Interested Citizen writes
   November 3rd, 2009 11:11 am

   I read Atlas Shrugged this past April. It took a month and a half.

2. The OG Ben writes
   November 3rd, 2009 11:19 am

   “Atlas Shrugged” deconstructed: Rand thought no one liked her because she was smarter than they were. She read Nietzsche and latched on to the parts that made her feel superior. She never accepted that no one liked her because she was obnoxious.

   Do yourself a favor and go straight to Nietzsche. At least he had a sense of humor.

3. JoeP. writes
   November 3rd, 2009 11:27 am

   from yesterday’s Slate article regarding two new bios out on Rand:
   “Ayn Rand is one of America’s great mysteries. She was an amphetamine-addicted author of sub-Dan Brown potboilers, who in her spare time wrote lavish torrents of praise for serial killers and the Bernie Madoff-style embezzlers of her day. She opposed democracy on the grounds that “the masses”—her readers—were “lice” and “parasites” who scarcely deserved to live. Yet she remains one of the most popular writers in the United States, still selling 800,000 books a year from beyond the grave. She regularly tops any list of books that Americans say have most influenced them. Since the great crash of 2008, her writing has had another Benzedrine rush, as Rush Limbaugh hails her as a prophetess. With her assertions that government is “evil” and selfishness is “the only virtue,” she is the patron saint of the tea-partiers and the death panel doomsters. So how did this little Russian bomb of pure immorality in a black wig become an American icon?”
   read the rest at:
   http://www.slate.com/id/2233966/

4. GoldnI writes
   November 3rd, 2009 11:37 am

   I don’t think a lot of these folks have ever actually read Ayn Rand, just as the free-market people 10-20 years ago kept citing to Adam Smith without ever having read “Wealth of Nations.” Otherwise they’d know that you cannot refer to the United States as a moralistic Christian nation and cite Ayn Rand in the same breath.

5. Adrienne writes
   November 3rd, 2009 12:00 pm

   GoldnI,

   Interesting point. There are many points of Rand’s philosophy that I disagree with. For example, I’ve always worked in nonprofits (primarily social services) and spent a tremendous amount of time volunteering. Rand was adamantly opposed to volunteering and viewed it as slavery.

   I’m not sure if liberals can understand not blindly following a philosophy, but you can appreciate someone’s writing and not agree 100% with it. As I wrote in my post (if you take the time to read it), The Fountainhead is one of my favorite books. Do I agree with everything? No, but I understand the call to be an individual and independent, free from the control of the government. That’s what Rand represents to people on the right.

   As my boss writes, Rand’s philosophy was theoretical. It evolved from personal experiences. I don’t think you could practically apply objectivism.

6. Axl Rose writes
   November 3rd, 2009 12:47 pm

   “The Fountainhead” is junior high philosophy masquerading as a best seller. Only people that want to “look smart” cite it as influencing their outlook.

   Besides, Frank Llyod Wright was a fine architect.

7. GoldnI writes
   November 3rd, 2009 12:54 pm

   but I understand the call to be an individual and independent, free from the control of the government. That’s what Rand represents to people on the right.

   So then how do you justify attempts at social control from the right, under the guise of “morality” or “family values”? There’s nothing pro-individual or independent about that.

8. L. Ron Hubbard writes
   November 3rd, 2009 12:57 pm

   Ayn Rand is to philosophy what Andrew Lloyd Webber is to classical music.

   Thinking people would rather read John Locke or John Stuart Mill.

   I recommend giving John Rawls a try.

9. TNVolunteer73 writes
   November 3rd, 2009 1:54 pm

   Save teh time of reading Atlas Shrugged, Read “Animal Farm” and “1984″ that is the direction our nation is headed.

10. Mike Slater writes
    November 3rd, 2009 2:14 pm

    “Rand was adamantly opposed to volunteering and viewed it as slavery.”

    What? Cite that.

11. Adrienne writes
    November 3rd, 2009 2:20 pm

    GoldnI,

    My for a liberal, you do enjoy those stereotypes, and you clearly do not read my blog.

    I dislike the “social control” that Evangelicals advocated in the 80s and 90s nearly as much as most liberals. I believe that issues like abortion should be decided by states. The government should have nothing to do with marriage, and only issue civil unions to everyone. Let marriage to be decided by churches. Government control is wrong no matter which side controls the legislation, and you can’t legislate morals.

    I am socially conservative (pro-marriage, pro-family), but like most conservatives of my generation view it through a more libertarian lens.

    Hence my “pro-individual” stance.

12. L. Ron Hubbard writes
    November 3rd, 2009 2:22 pm

    Of course the two-headed monster of idiocy, Mike Slater and TNConservative73, are Rand afficionados.

    Look, guys, women won’t sleep with you because you are total losers. It’s not because you are smarter or more advanced than everyone else.

13. GoldnI writes
    November 3rd, 2009 2:53 pm

    Hey TnVol, “Animal Farm” and “1984″ are good books. You know what else is a good book? “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It’s partially about what happens when socially conservative women get their ideal society and suddenly realize that they don’t like being forced to faithfully adhere to the rules they supported.

14. Davy writes
    November 3rd, 2009 3:03 pm

    For the Tea Partiers may I recommend “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens.

    It would be most appropriate.

15. Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator writes
    November 3rd, 2009 3:07 pm

    The sequel to Atlas Shrugged is much better and more accurate … http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif

16. The OG Ben writes
    November 3rd, 2009 3:14 pm

    Plato’s “Republic.” Just saying.

17. Donna Locke writes
    November 3rd, 2009 11:05 pm

    A long time ago, I began reading Atlas Shrugged and got part of the way into it, got bored, skimmed the rest, got the gist of it, decided some of it had mined the truth and was prophetic, and then I decided to ditch Rand and read P. G. Wodehouse instead.