Ayn Rand Reconsidered

Accuracy in Academia ^ | March 14, 2014 | Malcolm A. Kline

[ryan71]

“Yet and still, her virulent atheism has made her controversial on the right, where, it would seem, she would find a more sympathetic audience.”

Really? I sense the opposite is true. The controversy about her atheism seems to come from the left.

[exPBRrat]

Very interesting, thank you for posting this.

[Safrguns]

I always found it kind of interesting that though she was an atheist, her fictitious story prophetically parallels the events of the rapture prior to the tribulation. (John Galt representing Jesus who gathers the producers [believers] letting society crumble upon itself)

[whodathunkit]

I have heard opposition to Objectivism come from both sides.
It seems her atheism is the easiest way to attack her philosophy. Interesting to see how the word ‘virulent’ is used. If she had been a christian she would have been ‘devout’.

[Loud Mime]

ping

[Ragnar54]

I had forgotten her comment about “printing-press rights”. Thanks for posting.

[pepsi_junkie]

Ayn Rand warned us a recipe for how totalitarian societies emerge. Yes, they sometimes begin with an dictator sweeping aside a government at the point of a gun (French, Russian, Cuban revolutions) but they also sometimes start with a slow, stead, legal erosion of fundamental liberties. With each small reduction in individual liberty, the central power gains more authority, more control. Eventually it stops consenting to be ruled by the people and decides to rule them instead. And what are the people to do then?

As you read her works, it's striking how many "ripped from today's headlines" examples you will find that line up exactly with what she wrote 60 years ago.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

“The man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.”

[sagar]

I don’t see any sort of irony. Galt was an ideal productive individual who did not need others to succeed... trickle down prosperity if you have to make the stretch. Jesus, on the other hand, was sent for sole purpose of saving the world. To me, polar opposites.

[Badabing Badablonde]

I was completely enthralled by every Ayn Rand book I ever read.

[libstripper]

"The controversy about her atheism seems to come from the left." Not entirely, by any means. One of her bitterest, most virulent detractors, was the late William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder and longtime editor of National Review magazine. Buckley, a devout Catholic, loathed, abominated, and despised Rand to the very bottom of his being. The issue of NR that was published immediately after she died was far more venomous and virulent in its attacks on her and her legacy than it would usually be in its attacks on deceased libs. Indeed, it was the literary equivalent of a man dancing on the grave of his worst enemy and cackling with glee while urinating and defecating all over her grave. All in all a most disgraceful spectacle by the other wise gentlemanly Mr. Buckley, who was usually at least reasonably courteous with his liberal adversaries.

[Daveinyork]

“Really? I sense the opposite is true. The controversy about her atheism seems to come from the left.”

I hope you are being sarcastic. If not, stick around, the insults against her atheism will follow shortly.

[Academiadotorg]

It’s absolutely eerie how topical they are.

[Academiadotorg]

you are most welcome. THanks for your time.

[spudville]

That never crossed my mind. Great observation. Puts her books in a new light.

[Academiadotorg]

I had never encountered it before. Startling that she wrote it a half century ago.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Rand reminds the Right that there is no acceptable form of totalitarianism - even one based on Biblical tenets. It not her atheism they hate, per se - it's her admonition that the Right isn't going to produce better quality dictators than the Left does.

This why Republicans are in no more hurry to repeal ObamaCare than Democrats have been to repeal the Patriot Act. Every politician thinks that once they get their hands on a totalitarian power structure, they can dictate benevolently and wisely. They are hesitant to toss aside the structure because of the "good they can do" with it. The Founding Fathers knew different, and gave us a framework to stave off such inane ambition. Unfortunately, we are tossing it aside.

[Misterioso]

Describing Rand’s atheism as ‘virulent’ is dishonest. More like ‘unapologetic.’

[Academiadotorg]

Yeah, there really is no way of using “big government to do conservative things.” Four words: No Child Left Behind.