Ayn Rand and the poverty of libertarianism
I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead so you don’t have to.
With nearly two thousand pages worth of polemical bile, my devotion can only be said to be sacrificial or masochistic. Perhaps I just wanted to prove her right, as there is no greater proof of “altruism is sacrifice” than reading Ayn Rand past high school.
But meeting hatred with hatred is validating. Given most already dismiss and trivialise Rand, why write or even read about Rand? The first reason is her tremendous influence. The second is she so perfectly embodies libertarianism, which though extant exerted a considerable impact in the second half of the 20th century. Third, despite so much error and excrement, we can salvage a fair amount from Rand. Or perhaps this is all posturing and I simply don’t want to have suffered for nothing.
In each case, Rand deserves to be taken seriously. From pariah to high-school curriculums, her enduring popularity warrants austere reflection.
Rand’s terror
You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who are better than you.¹
