Rand had any number of worthwhile things to say about intellect, general freedom, production, honest trading and what not. She was, however, a bit too flawed to be a general moral authority. Give her credit where it is due and criticism likewise.
She would defend the individual's right to dispense charity to others (a part of property rights) but then deride the charity as "cruelty" to the recipient (The Virtue of Selfishness).
She also would defend one's right to one's beliefs but deride religious believers as being in service to "witch doctors." She "excommunicated" a young Murray Rothbard from her inner circle when he was still an atheist after he introduced la Rand to his Episcopalian fiancee. Did she actually worry about such weak tea as Episcopalianism???
She had a limited and not useful view of what constituted a "righteous citizen." I can certainly concede that there are many authentically "righteous" people who are either agnostics or atheists. In some ways they are particularly heroic in their virtues since they lack the bulwark of well-considered religious belief and faith and yet they act in a quite virtuous manner toward others. With graces and sacraments and the loving hand of God, virtue is easier to achieve. Rand would not have been a reliable co-occupant of a foxhole in extreme circumstances. Just my opinion.
The top two quotes are shockingly pertinent to two very recent events: the USSC decision on Obamacare and Obama’s comments about businessmen:
2) “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.”
This is the antithesis of Obama’s statement and belief. It is the foundation of capitalism and freedom: that the pursuit of self-interest will result in the most efficient use of resources and the greatest growth, to the benefit of all. To a Marxist like Obama, Rand must be viewed as the devil incarnate.
1) “We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”
Chief Justice Roberts had given America the “ultimate inversion”. He has decided that the government can do anything it pleases, so long as they call it a tax. This taxation power is pure coercion. It will start with people being severely fined for not obeying the government’s dictates, but will quickly morph into physical force as those who refuse to comply or who don’t have the resources to comply are jailed.
bmfl
RE Post #85
Very effective analysis of Rand. Execellent post.
I have said, only pay attention to the politics of Rand, not the morals, values or examples she set.