The Ayn Rand revival is helping the freedom movement

February 10, 2010 - 3:13 am - Comments

Cathy Young notices the queen of objetivitism is once again getting popular:

Ayn Rand, the controversial Russian-born American writer, would have turned 105 years old on February 2. This anniversary takes place amidst a Rand mini-revival, sparked by the Obama Administrations push to expand government and resulting fears of socialism on the march. There has been a spike in sales of Rand’s books, particularly Atlas Shrugged, the 1957 novel depicting a quasi-totalitarian future America in which the best, the brightest and the most productive go on strike in protest. Some bloggers have bandied about the idea of such a strike under Obama going Galt, after John Galt, the leader of the revolt in the novel. Rand has recently appeared on the cover of Reason, the libertarian monthly (where I am a contributing editor) and of GQ where she was the target of a profane, vitriolic rant.

It can’t be bad for the liberty movement that a philosophy that advocates individual liberty and non-coercive government is getting popular.

Jack Liberty

I pretty much agree, Clay. Nice plug at the end.

clay barham

Ayn Rand's "Selfishness" really reflects what we mean by self-interest. Obama says community interests are more important than are individual interests, which is the kind of Rousseau to Marx view of the people in the herd, Obama and his elite few being the rulers of the herd. If you look at Roark's jury summation from FOUNTAINHEAD, you find self-interest which focuses on his art, his creations, which, like the woman he loved, are outside of him. That is not "selfish" or self-centered, but outer-centered where the circle of interests are smaller than proposed by socialists. See The Changing Face of Democrats on Amazon and claysamerica.com.