Ayn Rand: The Virtue of Selfishness Photo:New York Times Co./Getty Images
“Her psychopathic ideas made billionaires feel like victims and turned millions of followers into their doormats.”
And now the Darling of the Tea Party, Paul Ryan, who 'grew up on Ayn Rand' is planning to fire the last shot of Randism: Destruction of the so-called “Promised Land”
"It has a fair claim to be the ugliest philosophy the postwar world has produced. Selfishness, it contends, is good, altruism evil, empathy and compassion are irrational and destructive. The poor deserve to die; the rich deserve unmediated power. It has already been tested, and has failed spectacularly and catastrophically.”
Rand was a Russian from a prosperous family who emigrated to the United States. Through her novels (such as Atlas Shrugged) and her nonfiction (such as The Virtue of Selfishness) she explained a philosophy she called Objectivism. This holds that the only moral course is pure self-interest. We owe nothing, she insists, to anyone, even to members of our own families. She described the poor and weak as "refuse" and "parasites", and excoriated anyone seeking to assist them. Apart from the police, the courts and the armed forces, there should be no role for government: no social security, no public health or education, no public infrastructure or transport, no fire service, no regulations, no income tax."...
And now, given the tragic consequences of this toxic, immoral, untrue philosophy, once again, this ugly belief system has become the central agenda of the Tea Party whom is hoping to capture the White House.
I can only say, God help America, God help the world. Please God, let wisdom, sanity, and goodwill prevail.
Paul Ryan 'grew up on Ayn Rand'
“Ayn Rand is the high priestess of undiluted capitalism and a champion of looking after number one. With an estimated 25m copies of her books in print, including Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, her ideas about small government and unfettered markets still resonate in conservative circles, with a young Paul Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, being a big fan.
"I just want to speak to you a little bit about Ayn Rand and what she meant to me in my life and [in] the fight we're engaged here in Congress. I grew up on Ayn Rand," Ryan told an audience in 2005. "I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are."
The Russian-born American author, a refugee from Soviet communism in the 1920s, wrote at a time when collectivism was widely seen as a blueprint for the future. However, her vision was for a free society where the strong flourished and egoism ruled over altruism. In Rand's world, material achievement had spiritual value and unproductive citizens were "parasites," "looters" and "moochers". There are no state benefits, no national healthcare.
She believed that humans are rational and self-interested, thriving if left to their own devices. Rand said, : "Making more money means we are making more use of our brains." Admiration of the rich only stopped with those who inherited their wealth, whom she viewed as living well from cronyism and nepotism.
Rand argued her theories with almost messianic passion, winning a coterie of acolytes , including eminent members of the Reagan administration (notably Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve Chairman, who became a lifelong fan.) Another devotee is the influential conservative talk radioshock jock Rush Limbaugh".
See the articles:
Paul Ryan 'grew up on Ayn Rand'
How Ayn Rand became the new right's version of Marx
The new age of Ayn Rand: how she won over Trump and Silicon Valley