The 75-Year-Old Book That Drives Our Politics

[red dog 1]

Who.What Why.org
March 30, 2018


Be it privatizing the Veterans Administration, railing against "socialized medicine," gutting the Environmental Protection Agency, or trying to starve public education, the proponents of these ideas all seem to be beholden to the work of Ayn Rand.

Rand's novel, "The Fountainhead" was published 75 years ago this month, after being turned down by 12 publishers.

Yet for people like Paul Ryan, Stephen Miller, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Peter Thiel, it might as well have been a briefing paper published this morning.

Even though Bill Buckley kicked Rand out of the conservative movement in the late 1950s,
at a 2005 gathering to honor her memory, Paul Ryan declared, "The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand."

Yaron Brock, the president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, and Jeff Schechtman's guest on this week's 'WhoWhatWhy' podcast, thinks that "The Fountainhead" is the classic American novel, and that Rand's ideas are at the core of American and Western civilization.

More:
https://whowhatwhy.org/2018/03/30/the-75-year-old-book-that-drives-our-politics/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. No wonder we're going to Hell in a handbasket.

Rand's "philosophy," if you can even call it that, is nothing more than a justification for sociopathy.

[DBoon]

3. Rand was quite literally a sociopath

A young Ayn Rand was an admirer of a brutal murderer:

http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/romancing-the-stone-cold.html

"

A wonderful, free, light consciousness" born of the utter absence of any understanding of "the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people." Obviously, Ayn Rand was most favorably impressed with Mr. Hickman. He was, at least at that stage of Rand's life, her kind of man.

So the question is, who exactly was he?

William Edward Hickman was one of the most famous men in America in 1928. But he came by his fame in a way that perhaps should have given pause to Ayn Rand before she decided that he was a "real man" worthy of enshrinement in her pantheon of fictional heroes.

You see, Hickman was a forger, an armed robber, a child kidnapper, and a multiple murderer.

Other than that, he was probably a swell guy.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Yes, never let an Ayn Rand post pass without incuding this !

Many DUer's are already aware of this, but it needs to be spread as widely as possible.

(Just DUgle "hickman rand" to find a few links)

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. When the privatization starts killing our vets, and it will, maybe people will react

[red dog 1]

5. I hope the various veterans groups all get together and stage a massive march on D.C.

Shitler wouldn't dare post a tweet deriding such a march - if it should occur.

(Even the conservative-leaning VFW is strongly opposed to privatizing the VA)

[njhoneybadger]

4. Atlas Shrugged is their handbook. John Galt is their hero uniting inventers with business leaders

[TexasProgresive]

16. That's what I thought. I read "Fountainhead" in my youth could not get through "Atlas Shrugged"

"Fountainhead" was the better read that did not seem quite so ideological. At least it was so much that I was turned off in the read. The architect protagonist and I did and do share some ideas, basically that function comes before form. At least that's what I remember most. I think he was loosely based on Frank Lloyd Wright. And I have never liked Wright's style of architecture. To me it is the opposite of function before form. His houses seem to me to be unlivable- no life, no warmth just a modern art sculpture of a house.

[MANative]

6. If ever a book deserved to be banned for its potential damage...

to mankind, this would be it. I started to read it when I was a senior in High School. Got through about a quarter of it and literally threw it into my parents' lit fireplace. The only book I've ever burned.

[procon]

7. I like to read science fiction novels, but I can't imagine wanting to reshape

the world to match some make believe storyline. It's not even a particularly original concept, and the writing is mediocre, as evidence by the trail of rejections.

People like Paul Ryan who think the world would be better off if it was more like a wacko fantasy story he reward as a kid, should be under institutional care, not third in line to the presidency.

[moondust]

9. I've wondered

if Rand may owe her "success" to being noticed and promoted by some hard-core capitalists of the day--Carnegies, Rockefellers, etc.--who saw her as an authentic Russian voice who knew first-hand the "horrors" of socialism and communism. Making her famous helped secure their own fortunes. Propaganda works.

[red dog 1]

10. + 1

It's ironic that she ended up on welfare.

[dalton99a]

12. .

[safeinOhio]

11. Repub Christians need to be

informed about her philosophy of religion. When asked about that, Paul Ryan had to say “Ayn who?”.

[jalan48]

13. It's a selfish philosophy that tells everyone who's not part of the 1% that they need to work

harder rather than depend on handouts from the 1%. If you're not born into the 1% and you don't possess a special skill you might be able to join if you know the right people or kiss enough ass.

[Squinch]

14. Ah, yes, the same Ayn Rand who declared Social Security immoral, and then collected it as

soon as she was able and for as long as she was able.

[MFM008]

15. I wouldnt wipe my ass

With her "writing".

[logosoco]

17. I tried reading this about 35 years ago.

I was in my late teens. I had dropped out of high school but was an avid reader. I thought the problem was ME, that it was just too "high brow" for me. After many years of reading many other books and hearing others opinions on this woman and her works, I realized it was NOT me at all! The concepts she wrote about were nothing I could relate to at all and that is why I could not get into it.

(The person who I knew who thought it was a good read turned out to be a real jerk, too!)

[Hortensis]

18. This ONLY drives RIGHT-wing libertarian politics and

is likely only secondary to the Powell manifesto, or memo, of 1971.

Granted, the work by Lewis Powell (afterward elevated to SCOTUS by the same subversive interests who elevated Gorsuch) isn't read by nearly as many, but those wealthy conservative subversives who've structured their revolution on it are enormously more powerful than all the rest.

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/

[FarCenter]

19. Philosophy and literature are dangerous because they are not anchored in reality.

Along with religion, they should probably be banned.

[greyl]

20. Costs 22 bucks to hear Christopher Hurt read every word.

Lots of hilarious reviews here:
'
https://amzn.to/2GpAaPY

1.0 out of 5 stars Bloody awful!
[e-mail] March 10, 2015
Format: Paperback

This book has insufferable characters, dialog, and story. Here are three examples of many:

1) Someone says to Rourke, "I know you detest parties like this, but that's no reason not to go" What?! Of course it is.

2) "Did you know that Peter Keating is an old friend of Howard Rourke?"
"No. Is he?"

3) Peter Keating says, "Howard's a friend of mine."
Ellsworth Touhey responds, "A friend of yours? Do you know him?"
Peter Keating answers, "Why, we went to school together. Stanton, you know? Why, he lived in our house for three years."
"He lived in your house in Stanton?"

Having people not get it the first time makes for a lot of repetition. Long diatribes are nothing more than sermons. I had this book on my mp3 player. It got so bad, when I fast forwarded, Ellsworth was still droning on. There wasn't a single likable character. Maybe this book was good in the past, but in 2015 it falls on its head.

The Fountainhead product reviews: https://amzn.to/2H0aVox

[Vinca]

21. There's a real cult around the book. We've got some neighbors who are in it. Very strange.

[Oneironaut]

22. One thing about Ayn Rand followers - They're all massive hypocrites. Even Ayn Rand was a hypocrite.

- Government support is bad and only enables the weak in society until I need it. Then it's ok and I'm the exception.
- Regulation is evil until I can use it to destroy all of the other businesses around me. Then, I'll use the corrupt government to form a monopoly and become even richer.
- Everybody should be free to be an individual until they aren't exactly like what I think a person should be (race, LGBT, the way they dress, orientation, etc). Then, I'll use the government to horribly oppress or even kill them.

Remember, Ayn Rand accepted government support at the end of her life. They're all hypocrites!