Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Marx and Rand both have terrible ideas. The difference is that Democratic Party doesn't take Marx seriously, but the Republican Party does take Rand seriously.
There is a difference on the role of government in economics and the role of society. It involves taking the thought process to the next level so I don't expect you to get it.
But by clinging to the superficial commonality of hostility to welfare, tea
partiers fail to see (or willfully ignore) something critical: Rand espoused an
elitist, oligarchic philosophy that is both fundamentally antiAmerican and
deeply at odds with the tea party's own “we the people” cause
There is a difference on the role of government in economics and the role of society. It involves taking the thought process to the next level so I don't expect you to get it.
You're right, I don't get it. How could anyone take Ayn Rand seriously? It baffles me.
Ayn Rand was a total phony. When she was elderly she received Medicare. And she was an atheist. Maybe somebody should tell Mr. Brat that in between his constant quoting of the Bible.
Ayn Rand was a total phony. When she was elderly she received Medicare. And she was an atheist. Maybe somebody should tell Mr. Brat that in between his constant quoting of the Bible.
You beat me to it.
Wait until Brat's ultra-con fundamentalist supporters find out he worships an atheist.
Sounds great, can't get more wingnut than a Rand fanatic.
Just ask him what to do with the disabled, poor, and orphans and watch him twitch. No government programs, taxes are evil, and even giving to the poor privately is considered immoral in Objectivism.
Shhhh........we don't talk about such things in the Republican Party. (If I understand it, one of the campaign issues was an Illegal Alien Bill. Evidently the Tea Party solution is to "send them home". Ummm...I need some busses.....about 250,000 of them...and you won't get them back).
Hillary must be a pretty happy camper this morning. A divided Republican Party pretty much assures her a direct run into the White House.
I read Atlas Shrugged years ago (or maybe it was the Fountainhead; it was the one with the architect), and found it tedious. People tended to stand at windows, looking out, and giving speeches that went on for pages. I admit, I did not come away from the book with much of an understanding of Ms Rand's philosophy, except maybe that the rich should not really obey rules. I agree with the article that many people probably cite her as an influence, based on hearsay, and not actually reading the books.
As for Professor Brat: should he win the general election (which I suspect he will) he has as much right as anyone to go to Congress and prove himself.
Ayn Rand was a hypocritical sociopath who's ideas, if implemented on a national scale, would have been on par with the Nazi's. Hell, even at the end, she took social security money, so she couldn't even stay true to her own selfish vision.
One of the fundamental concept of her horrific Objectivism belief system is "that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness." Even a child can figure out how quickly a society composed of nothing but individuals doing whatever they want - provided it makes them happy - will collapse. Such a guiding principle allows for everything from raping somebody if it makes you happy to plunging a nation into ruin if you happen to be in charge.
Oh, sure - she attempts to qualify her disgusting excuse for morality by claiming that her belief system also contains "full respect for individual rights embodied in laissez-faire capitalism."
There's just one problem - a society in which everyone SHOULD do whatever they want to make themselves happy is fundamentally incompatible with one that respects everyone's individual rights. Why? Because within a week, those in power - to make themselves happier - will immediately start stripping others of their rights... and that will be perfectly justifiable from the viewpoint of Objectivism. If you doubt this, just look at how many extremists are so eager to strip other people of their rights today because doing so would make the extremists happier.
Ayn Rand's belief system also rapidly degenerates into "makers" and "takers" - a convenient way to dehumanize the people you don't like and then justify denying them of basic rights since, after all, they are just "takers" so who cares? Every single Ayn Rand preaching extremist I've ever encountered has supported her beliefs by basically defining themselves as a "maker" and then using Objectivism to claim they should not be "shackled" by laws or morality since they are "special" and "need to pursue their own happiness." It's nothing but a cop-out - "I'm special so I should be allowed to do whatever I want!"
Everyone likes to pretend that they are John Galt - the only "hero" in any of Rand's works that could be remotely respected in the public eye. But, to better understand this insane woman's views, let us look at The Fountainhead and its hero... Roark. A man who rapes a woman - because he wanted her - and who blows up a building - because somebody dared compromise his "artistic vision."
Yeah... because that is the type of person we should emulate and hold up as a hero to society!
The sooner Ayn Rand and her endless attempts to justify selfish behavior are fully discredited and buried in the scrapheap of history's other failed ideas, the better.
I admit, I did not come away from the book with much of an understanding of Ms Rand's philosophy, except maybe that the rich should not really obey rules.
As for Professor Brat: should he win the general election (which I suspect he will) he has as much right as anyone to go to Congress and prove himself.
Rules are made for the irresponsible, which is why federal employees are statutory persons.
Freedom is responsibility.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
