How closely do you link Ayn Rand to the conservative icons that the New York Times despises so much? I am seeing her quoted so often both on the air and in the critics' responses. Frank Rich in yesterday's op-ed said this: Beck has notoriously defamed Obama as a “racist,” but the race card is just one in his deck. His ideology, if it can be called that, mixes idolatrous Ayn Rand libertarianism with bumper-sticker slogans about “freedom,” self-help homilies and lunatic conspiracy theories. (He fanned Internet rumors that FEMA was establishing concentration camps before tardily beating a retreat.) It’s the same crazy-quilt cosmology that could be found in last weekend’s Washington protest, where the marchers variously called Obama a fascist, a communist and a socialist, likening him to Hitler, Stalin, Castro and Pol Pot. They may not know that some of these libels are mutually exclusive. But what they do know is that they need a scapegoat for what ails them, and there is no one handier than a liberal, all-powerful president (who just happens to be black).Beck is not alone. O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and others are with him. I'm not sure if I'd call them "fans" of Ayn Rand, but they do quote her quite often to make a positive point. On the other hand, I've heard Leonard Peikoff say something to the effect that "no self-respecting Objectivist could vote Republican." Where does Rand fall in the spectrum of today's liberal and conservative? As always, I appreciate your best thoughts.
6 comments:
Ah, the 'race card'. His skin is dark therefore people don't like him because he's black.
Couldn't possibly be because of ideological reasons. Of course not...
Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute is on Glenn Beck frequently and they seem to hit it off. Though I am by no means an expert on these matters I would find Beck more aligned to Rand than Limbaugh. I enjoy Beck's program and I find him non partisan, and maybe sometimes foes of Obama may go over the top...I generally think Obama is about as bad as they come. I think Beck is doing a great service with his daily show. But would Rand like him? That I cannot say.
And how does "black" win out over "white" when he's 50-50 each? Ridiculous.
I grew up in a multi-racial area where white folks were the minority. I have learned that often accusations of racism generally say more about the person claiming racism than anyone else. I'm not saying there aren't racists out there, because I have seen that first hand with my parents and others. But in this case, the protests don't seem to have much to do with race and I think we're all getting a little tone-deaf to this accusation.
I've also learned that a lot of dysfunctional people use shame to intimidate and bully others. The excessive use of this accusation is nothing more than trying to shame those who protest into being quiet.
I realize the original question was about where Rand might stand politically. But I just had to vent a bit.
Sadly, I used to think the Libertarian party was about the closest to what might match her philosophy. However, I've been very disillusioned by that party over the last few years and I don't think they reflect those values anymore.
Personally, I wish people would start looking beyond party affiliations and vote for candidates whose record and apparent values reflect what they would like to see in service to them, not just vote along party lines.
Just my two cents' worth.
Karen
Where does Rand fall in the spectrum of today's liberal and conservative? I don't think she does, except where she departed from her truly objective principles and endorsed or rejected a moral idea or political policy based on her emotions. Which she rarely did.
Liberals just want to use government power to force the rest of us to live the way they think we should live.
Conservatives, on the “other hand”, just want to use government power to force the rest of us to live the way they think we should live.
Rand wants to do the same thing of course, but her use of force was almost always confined to the very limited scope of enforcing individual rights. *That’s* the difference between liberal/ conservative politics and Rand’s politics, and that’s why I’d greatly prefer an Objectivist government to a Liberal or Conservative one. It wouldn’t be perfect (power corrupts Objectivists just like it corrupts everyone else), but it would be one hell of a lot harder to get away with pushing your unmoored political feelings into other people’s lives if individual rights were the basis for “the law of the land”. You know, like they used to be…for about 10 minutes back in the late 1700’s.
I need to know more about Ayn Rand and how she believed. Then I can make a judgment about where she might fall within the ranks of liberals and conservatives. Frankly, I do not think that any ofus are consistent enough to be classified completely one way or another. Beck has his glaring inadequacies even with such important things like his faith. Mormonism is so fraught with discrepancies that poor Beck is a blind man following the blind. And how could he know, he has most likely never been told. Limbaugh is just in it for the money and changes with the wind from druggy to gourmet lush.
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