Big Sister is Watching You (Whittaker Chamber's critique of Ayn Rand...)

National Review ^ | Dec. 28, 1957 | Whittaker Chambers

[Pessimist]

In “Capitalsim” she takes pains to note that we (even back then in the 60’s) do not have a capitalism in the US. Instead we have a “mixed” system of capitalism and gvt intervention.

This, she point out, is essentially fascism, as opposed to socialism.

The capitalists still ~own~ the means of production, however the gvt really controls them.

[Pessimist]

“Unfortunately, this leads to unthrottled desires for ownership and control and over time can turn into the very thing it despises.”

As long as one abides by the morals of objectivism, I dont see how that could “turn into the very thing it despises”.

[Pessimist]

LOL!

Those were my two thoughts too!

[Misterioso]

Utter and complete claptrap written without a shred of any kind of proof, historical or otherwise.

Proof? Proof? We don't need no stinking proof!

[Pessimist]

“her actual apprehension of the issues inherent is superficial and embarrassingly in error.”

Can you elaborate?

To me, her point re original sin is that it is intended to teach you right from the get go that your life is not your own. You owe it to someone.

And conveniently, organized religion can act as the collection agency. Hard not to see that as little more than another “moocher”.

[Pessimist]

“Oh please, Rand didn’t have the intellectual capacity and was so historically illiterate as to be unable to see past the scope of her own era.”

Did you forget the sarc tag?

[Lurker]

Rand, quite rightly in my view, utterly rejects the concept of 'Original Sin' because it doesn't pass even an elementary examination using any sort of logic at all.

Original Sin states that we're all sinners because of something someone did shortly after God created the world. Talk about your collective punishments...

It's laughable.

[nathanbedford]

I do not understand the need to reassure oneself by belittling the adversary. I recall people saying during the election that Barak Obama stammered and could not articulate a full sentence. After the election they said he could not talk at all except with a Teleprompter.

Yesterday Barack Obama accomplished a tour de force in his marathon television appearances without putting a foot down wrong and it is about time that we knowledged the true talents of our enemy. Those of us who think that we can send anybody up against Barack Obama in a debate forum and expect automatic victory, simply will not deal with reality. Sarah Palin fans, of whom I count myself one, ought to think about this long and hard.

While Obama was utterly unqualified for the office his problem for us is not inexperience. I for one am astonished at the level of competence of this administration. Unfortunately it is competence bent in the service of evil. But it is as much a disservice to ourselves and to our cause to complain that Obama is incompetent as it is to complain that he lacks forensic skills.

Obama is an extremely dangerous man in the most powerful position in the world and he is supported by a very able and sinister staff. Beyond that lurking in the darkness is the figure of George Soros whom no one in his right mind would call incompetent.

Fortunately, Gov. Dukakis had it wrong when he said his election was all about competence. Elections usually are about ideology often disguised as issues. The election of 2010 will be about ideology as no election in recent memory.

[longtermmemmory]

hence my question mark.

[Pessimist]

“I would suggest, rather, that capitalism unconstrained by morality would instead devolve into a utilitarian system based on “Might Makes Right.”

But you’re not claiming Rand espoused capitalism without morality. Are you?

[azcap]

 Part of the problem is that Alinsky tactics does work much more effectively against the Buckley model of Conservatism than the Randian Objectivism in my opinion.

 

A very good observation.  Rands atheism is a huge weakness. If you are looking to Atlas Shrugged or her philosophical writings to create your worldview and guide your life you are a sad individual as many of the hardcore objectivists demonstrate. If however you see Atlas Shrugged as a terrific tool in the battle of ideas, a piece of artwork and pop culture that makes obvious the horrors of collectivism and central government than you can appreciate her work.  It is harder for the left to attack Atlas Shrugged than to tear down the Stodgy Old Buckley, and his antiquated ideas ( I loved the Buckley but his weaknesses to the Alinsky style attack are clear.)

[Welcome2thejungle]

I do not belittle or underestimate the adversary. BHO has already achieved most of his ojectives in his relatively young life so far. He has surrounded himself with a group of ruthless and tough minded operatives who play hardball politics Chicago style. They take no prisoners. I agree with you it has nothing to do with experience and competence and everything to do with ideology. It also doesn’t hurt to have the media and the entertainment swooning over you as if you were a Deity. As for the voting public, mindless zombies who were determined to punish the Republican Party regardless of the alternatives being offered.

[Durus]

I skimming of “the return of the primitive” might change your mind. But then I think that the “rise of islamic threats” (which has existed for a few centuries) is less important then the systematic way in which our educational system has be corrupted.

Are you honestly suggesting that 1984 is more complex and has a less limited scope then Atlas Shrugs?

[LearsFool]

Very well put, from a practical standpoint. As the saying goes, generals are frequently fighting the last war. Our enemy’s tactics have changed. And while the fundamentals of battle are still sound, inflexibility could spell our defeat.

However, let’s be cautious about adopting a position merely because it’s more easily defended, lest we find ourselves making deals with the devil.

[LearsFool]

I for one am astonished at the level of competence of this administration...

Some very good points in that post. These folks are shrewd, very shrewd.

[ruptured duck]

ping

[Swiss]

She did an excellent job of exposing the weaknesses of the Left. The CEO of GE or Pinch Sulzberger might be closer to James Taggart or Orin Boyle than any other conservative writer has ever done. The fact that James Taggart went to the best schools and universities and became brainwashed to be more concerned about perception of the Upper East Side cocktail party crowd than making profit for the stockholders ring true today.

She also showed better than most that the Left would cause a reversal of civilization. Mao’s cultural revolution and the Khmer Rouge was trying to create a society much like “Anthem” We are seeing Starnesvilles happening in places like Zimbabwe and perhaps in towns in America where industry is shut down by environmentalists.

But Objectivism as an answer I don’t think is workable. Still if Buckley had understood “Atlas Shrugged” he might not of sent his son off to Yale to get brainwashed in the end.

[nathanbedford]

Let me hasten to make clear that I am fully in accord with your post and mine was by way of amplification of your ideas.

[Welcome2thejungle]

I know, thx.

[AnalogReigns]

I’m afraid you misunderstand, perhaps like Rand did, the doctrine of original sin.

Original sin says we all inherited the inclination to think and to do wrong....we don’t inherit the actual wrongs of our ancestors. It’s a lot like a genetically based disease, in the same way I inherited a weakness in my eyes in my 40s (I wear reading glasses) I inherited a inculcated nature of selfishness and sin.

The latest genetic research on “retrogenes” or “neo-Lamarkianism” actually backs up this idea too...that the bad habits and weaknesses of our ancestors may indeed well be passed on to us.

If you want to laugh at and pass on basic Christian concepts fine...but please provide another basis of ethics, and don’t borrow them from your Christian heritage.

That a basis of ethics is lacking in Ayn Rand is Chamber’s point in his last brilliant sentence, so clear—in our era of abortion and euthanasia, from the attitudes of atheist libertarian Dr. Kevorkian: “Nor would we, ordinarily, place much confidence in the diagnosis of a doctor who supposes that the Hippocratic Oath is a kind of curse.”