To understand Libertarianism and American Conservatism, one needs to truly understand Ayn Rand.
1. Who is Ayn Rand?
Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia – Ayn Rand.
Ayn Rand (/aɪn/;[1] born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;[a] February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982) was a Russian-American writer and philosopher.[2] She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she named Objectivism. Educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. She had a play produced on Broadway in 1935 and 1936. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel, The Fountainhead. In 1957, Rand published her best-known work, the novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own periodicals and releasing several collections of essays until her death in 1982.
2. Ayn Rand – Her philosophy in two minutes
Watch the video below.
3. Why does Ayn Rand matter?
The image below is worth more than 1,000 words. For more, read: What should we make of Paul Ryan’s fondness for Ayn Rand.
The image below illustrates how Libertarians and Conservatives are joined at the hip via extremists like Ayn Rand.
4. Ayn Rand’s first TV interview
Watch the video below.
Ayn Rand was an extremist – The worst kind of Libertarian who wants absolute liberty, [almost] totally free from the government, with two wrong assumptions that (1) there is such a thing called “objectivism” and (2) most people reason rationally.
Unfortunately, the world is not binary, but with a lot of fuzziness in between. Three examples:
- The world is not just black or white, but often gray.
- There is a lot more between selfishness and altruism than just one or the other.
- The world is not filled with rational people. Many people are irrational and misinformed, acting emotionally.
Overall, both her hatred of the government in the USSR, her native country, and her love of conservatism in America, her adopted country, are understandable. But she carried them to the extreme.
Two main reasons against her extremism:
- It was intellectually flawed, because the USSR (e.g., a collective society with a planned economy) was not totally bad, while America (e.g., unfettered capitalism with rugged individualism) is not totally good, not to the extreme as Rand depicted or understood, at least. For more, read What is communism, anyway?
- If she did it for making a better living in America, it speaks loudly about her (as well as America’s) inadequacy in terms of greatness.
Let me elaborate on each …
5.1 The USSR vs. the US
Two main points:
- Like China under Mao (1949-1976), the USSR was a disaster. However, the USSR could have not only survived but also thrived like China, if only it had been lucky enough to have a great leader like China’s Deng (Mikhail Gorbachev vs. Deng Xiaoping)! For more, read Longevity: American Democracy vs. Soviet Communism.
- America is deeply in trouble today, although it was not obvious in Rand’s days. For more, read Colonial America 1776-2030?
5.2 Making a better living in America?
Like Ayn Rand, many intellectuals in America have become victims of American extremism, for incomprehensible reasons other than making a better living in America. One prominent example is Milton Friedman – He was ridiculous in religiously preaching “free market”, only to be proven wrong shortly after his passing! For more, read Milton Friedman: a man of the past?
6. Discussion
Time is the best judge for everything, including Ayn Rand.
While she was obviously a very successful novelist, her works on philosophy were questionable at best. However, because it was her extremism in philosophy that made her famous and relevant in politics today, it is time to clearly denounce her extremism.
Like Ayn Rand, I escaped from a communist country and have succeeded in America (My American Dream Has Come True!).
Unlike Ayn Rand, my native country, China, has had a remarkable comeback over the past few decades, while her native country, the USSR, tanked all the way until 1991 when it disintegrated.
This reality, I believe, is a key difference between her and me.
Finally, while she seemed to take extreme positions in many things, I am hardly extreme in anything – I always try to seek a balance between Yin and Yang.
As a result, our works, and perhaps aims, are vastly different. As an example, read History 2.0 – China’s Comeback vs. America’s Decline.
7. Closing
Ayn Rand was a successful novelist. But her works on philosophy should no longer be relevant because they are too extreme, more wrong than right.
Now, please sit back and enjoy the video below – Did Ayn Rand lose it?
