Ayn Rand on What's wrong with Conservatives
I came across this short video of Rand. She said this of conservatives in 1961. It sounds like she said this yesterday or something.
It's only about 4 minutes long. Love her or Hate her or somewhere in between, I think she's spot on here.
Submitted by John on Fri, 2007-12-14 17:43
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beautifully said
Ayn Rand is brilliant as always. What a strong and incredibly intelligent woman. I am always in awe.
It is definitely very applicable right now. She is a prophet of reason.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
It also shows how little has changed since then...
It also sheds light on a fundamentally different way of thinking that does not fit into common molds.
Ayn Rand may be a self-described "objectivist" as opposed to libertarian or some other title but what she says is quite telling and you don't need to be in full agreement with her on most things to appreciate the unique and truthful perspective she offers here.
From the ground up, her way thinking only resembles the Modern Right on a very superficial and selective level.
many secular economic Conservatives
understand and appreciate Ayn Rand and her rational defense of Capitalism. If I may, lordzorgon I think fits that mold at least in his thinking and the ideas he espouses.
I only wish the Modern Right moved closer to her ideas.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
My views
[haven't watched the video yet]
I certainly have my sympathies for the views of Ayn Rand.
Oddly enough, I read a description of the basic tenets of Objectivism several years before I ever read any of her books. My reaction was: "that basically sounds like what I already believe!"
I certainly don't agree with 100% of everything she wrote, but if you pick out something at random, I'll probably either agree with it or agree with some caveats.
An example of a concrete disagreement would be voluntary taxation. I agree with Rand: taxation is evil. Taxation, if carried out by anyone other than the government, would be called "theft." I believe the income tax is much worse, being tantamount to slavery (a 25% income tax means you are one-quarter a slave to your government). But I also happen to think that taxation is a necessary evil. Voluntary taxation simply will not work. So we must strive to minimize this necessary evil.
On the topic of conservatives and capitalism, I think you have to give credit where credit is due. If we are to be completely fair, capitalism has gone through a *massive* revitalization globally over the last 30 years. The move towards socialism was not just halted but actually reversed in dozens of countries.
There is actually some serious room for optimism for the future of capitalism these days. If anything, more so on the global scale than in the US -- the US is currently drifting leftward on economic issues while the rest of the world (including Europe) is clearly moving to the right. Many US politicians are trying to emulate the "European social model", while many European politicians are doing their best to outdo us at our own capitalist game!
I think
the halting and furtive speech that passes for some of the modern conservative defense of Capitalism, especially from the Socially Conservative wing that does not want to offend their Government Conservative base, does not do Conservatism or Capitalism any favors.
And yes, there are of course plenty of conservatives today who do wholeheartedly and rationally defend Capitalism on the merits, but many do dilute it with some of their other views, and attempts to bring Christianity into it at least partially.
And then of course there are the Hucksters who embrace at least some of the Class Warfare rhetoric of the Liberals.
Good point about giving credit where credit is due - without Conservatives to stand in the way, things would've "progressed" a lot faster in US.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
Well said....
..... and though I think I come at this from a different angle, I do believe that Conservatism has served as an important check on a Left-Liberal tendency to attempt too much too quickly before fully examining causes, often with a host of unintended consequences. That said, I also think that certain brands of Conservatism, particularly social Conservatism, have made the GOP toxic to me. Sometimes the most important consideration in politics is fairness, and sometimes it's 'doing what works', and most of the time it's about doing the best you can with what you've got to work with.
Honestly, I don't really like politics. I'm fascinated by it, but I'm also repelled -- particularly by ideological purity. I lean Liberal mostly by default while, I think, still recognizing that Liberalism is flawed.
There was a chunk of what Rand espoused that does make a great deal of sense.... but it doesn't make any more sense than parts of Marx, or Rousseau, or even Plato. Neither they, nor any other political philosopher or economist or sociologist has ever worked out 'the answers', and I don't suppose anyone ever will.
A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man -- e e cummings
Meh
Only she can get me whipped into a frenzy unlike any other historical figure.
With respect to the video:
A broken clock is right twice a day; a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often, etc.
I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...