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HAPPY BIRTHDAY AYN RAND!
The Atlas Society ^ | 2/2/2007 | Edward Hudgins

Posted on 02/02/2007 11:18:17 AM PST by Ed Hudgins

February 2, 2007 -- Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905; in 2007 we celebrate her great achievements and the legacy that she left us all!

Rand has had a significant influence on today's world:

Her strong moral defense of freedom and capitalism inspired many who have fought over the years for limited government, individual liberty and free markets.

Her great novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, show the terrible consequences of the wrong philosophy on both individuals and societies and present the vision of happy, joyous lives in a benevolent society that is the consequence of human achievement, good will and the right philosophy.

And her development of the philosophy of Objectivism offers us a guide for such lives in such a world.

Much of the progress towards freedom in recent decades can be traced to Rand's influence. But today we still face many serious problems -- Islamo-fascism, the collapse of the nominally limited-government Republicans in America, the worldwide rise of the cult of environmentalism. The antidote to these problems can be found in a commitment to the objective reality of this world; to reason as our guide to understanding it; to our own lives and rational, responsible, principled self-interest as our highest goal; to a culture that celebrates human achievement; and to governments that respect and protect the lives, liberty and property of citizens. In other words, Objectivism!

Ayn Rand's books continue to sell hundreds of thousands of copies and 2007 also marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Atlas....

(Excerpt) Read more at objectivistcenter.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: atlasshrugged; aynrand; aynrandisstilldead; aynrandlist; fountainhead; objectivism
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1 posted on 02/02/2007 11:18:20 AM PST by Ed Hudgins
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To: Ed Hudgins
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
2 posted on 02/02/2007 11:19:49 AM PST by Ed Hudgins (Rand fan)
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To: traviskicks

PING!


3 posted on 02/02/2007 11:21:19 AM PST by bamahead
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To: Ed Hudgins

Some of my favorite quotes from AYN RAND!


"Economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction.
The businessman's tool is values; the bureaucrat's tool is fear."
Source: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, "America's Persecuted Minority: Big Business"

"Businessmen are the one group that distinguishes capitalism and the American way of life from the totalitarian statism that is swallowing the rest of the world.
All the other social groups- workers, farmers, professional men, scientists, soldiers- exist under dictatorships, even though they exist in chains, in terror, in misery, and in progressive self-destruction.
But there is no such group as businessmen under a dictatorship.
Their place is taken by armed thugs: by bureaucrats and commissars. Businessmen are the symbol of a free society- the symbol of America."
Source: Capitalism – The Unknown Ideal Chapter 3

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."
Source: Capitalism – The Unknown Ideal Chapter 20

"Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers.
In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie;
in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people;
in America, it is the businessmen."
Source: Capitalism – the Unknown Ideal Chapter 3


4 posted on 02/02/2007 11:26:24 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ("Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto")
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To: Ed Hudgins

She was for rational principles of individualism, independence, and egoism. Also capitalism and limited government. Things that are disappearing way to fast.


5 posted on 02/02/2007 11:30:42 AM PST by mjp
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

"America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to 'the common good,' but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America's industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance -- and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way." [Ayn Rand]


6 posted on 02/02/2007 11:31:11 AM PST by SomeoneNeedsToSayIt (Socialism: If we ALL can’t be wealthy… we ALL will be poor…)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
Economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction.

Sounds like exactly what I've been saying about the global warming alarmists.

7 posted on 02/02/2007 11:33:38 AM PST by relictele
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To: Ed Hudgins
I just recommended reading "Atlas Shrugged" to someone a few hours ago.
8 posted on 02/02/2007 11:43:55 AM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken [Its beak has stopped working])
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To: higgmeister

Rand's "moral defense of freedom" is her greatest message. Understanding that freedom is a moral "end" unto itself, not just a means to have a rich country, is what separates true freedom-minded individuals from "socialists of all parties" (to quote Hayek).

In other words, I don't give a whit how freedom looks when it's all done, that some are rich and some are poor, some are fit and some are fit, some are happy and some are sad. To take away freedom in the name of justice or (worst of all) "to keep us safe" is the worst possible outcome.


9 posted on 02/02/2007 11:52:03 AM PST by Desperately Seeking Freedom
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To: All

I've always wondered how dead people can still have birthdays?


10 posted on 02/02/2007 11:52:51 AM PST by Registered (Politics is the art of the possible)
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To: mjp
She was for rational principles of individualism, independence, and egoism.

For all the uninitiated, that is Egoism not Egotism.

11 posted on 02/02/2007 11:52:57 AM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken [Its beak has stopped working])
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To: higgmeister

I am sorry to say this but "Atlas Shrugged" is one of the worst books of all time. It's a great message and an unforgettable story, but the ten page orations and speeches and Dagney Taggart's romances (how many guys does she do the wild thang with in that book? Four? Five?) make it one of the most ponderous and heavy-handed books I have ever read. My only feeling after finishing was one of relief.


12 posted on 02/02/2007 11:55:28 AM PST by Desperately Seeking Freedom
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To: Desperately Seeking Freedom
I think ponderous is an excellent description. I wish that someone would take the theme and ideals of the book and work them into a novel that a person with less dedication to reading one book for weeks or months could handle.

I heard some time ago that a movie was going to finally be made about Atlas Shrugged. My first thought was "wow, longest movie ever..."

13 posted on 02/02/2007 12:02:21 PM PST by jdub
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To: Desperately Seeking Freedom

I like Anthem. RUSH did a good job putting it to music on 2112.


14 posted on 02/02/2007 12:02:22 PM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: Desperately Seeking Freedom

While public response as such is not a measure of quality, Rand's books have sold over 6 million copies. And a Library of Congress survey in the early 1990s found Atlas Shrugged to be the second most influential book in America after the Bible. I hope Rand's influence only grows stronger to provide the ammunition necessary to counter the statists of the left and right and return the principles and practices of freedom to this country!


15 posted on 02/02/2007 12:10:15 PM PST by Ed Hudgins (Rand fan)
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To: Desperately Seeking Freedom
The true test was the opposite extreme in "Anthem" where a stark egalitarian future made all persons into slaves to the communal group so that no one would be envious or possess selfish thoughts. Tallow candles and hand implements in the fields were the finality of a hopeless existence brought about by Socialism.

Ayn Rand is as important as Frédéric Bastiat in my heart and mind.

16 posted on 02/02/2007 12:22:43 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken [Its beak has stopped working])
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To: jdub
I heard some time ago that a movie was going to finally be made about Atlas Shrugged. My first thought was "wow, longest movie ever..."

Actually three different movies for the three sections of the book and staring Bradgelina. She, as Dagney Taggart and guess who is John Galt?

17 posted on 02/02/2007 12:29:53 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken [Its beak has stopped working])
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To: Ed Hudgins

The problem with Rand is that she is or was an extreme ant-statist who would not recognize any sense of the "common good". Her philosophy of objectivism is more rightly called the philosopy of selfishness. If you were starving in the gutter Rand would probably step over you and move on. Her views were not Christian IMHO.


18 posted on 02/02/2007 12:32:10 PM PST by Courdeleon02
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To: Desperately Seeking Freedom
I am sorry to say this but "Atlas Shrugged" is one of the worst books of all time.

I don't agree. My mother said she was to preachy. I don't agree with that either. This book was substantiation for my personal thoughts and beliefs that I have held since I learned to think.

19 posted on 02/02/2007 12:40:46 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken [Its beak has stopped working])
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To: Courdeleon02

Rand recognized no contradiction between the "common good" and the good of individuals in a society of individuals pursuing their rational, responsible, principled self-interest. When individuals guide their lives by such principles and seek their own happiness in accordance with the best within them, they only wish to deal with others based on mutual consent rather than the initiation of force. They measure their virtue not by how such they give away or sacrifice but, rather, their achievements, whether they nurture a child to maturity or a business to profitability, write a song, a poem or a business plan, lay the bricks to a building, design the building or arrange its financing.

In a society of such individuals there will be few laying in the gutter; that morality of true self-esteem based on achievement, discipline, responsibility holds out a vision of the joy life has to offer.

Rand considered this a very un-Christian view and she was right. The symbol of virtue is not suffering on a cross but living and flourishing in this world.


20 posted on 02/02/2007 12:49:02 PM PST by Ed Hudgins (Rand fan)
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