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She’s Back!

Ayn Rand is bigger than ever. But are her new fans radical enough for capitalism?

(Page 2 of 3)

The most concrete indication of the Rand revival is the increasing number of Americans laying down money to live in her world. During one week in late August, for example, Atlas Shrugged sold 67 percent more copies than it did the same week a year before, and 114 percent more than that same week in 2007. According to Kara Welsh of Rand’s imprint, New American Library, the company shipped 25 percent more copies of Atlas Shrugged in the first half of 2009 than it did for all of 2008, for a total so far this year of more than 300,000. That means that only around 40 new novels in 2009 sold more total copies, according to Publishers Weekly sales figures on 2009 bestsellers. Even the hardcover of Atlas Shrugged has sold nearly 20,000 copies this year, a number that would make it reasonably successful as a new hardcover novel, let alone one that’s been available for half a century.

“Certain novels have stood the test of time,” Welsh says, comparing Atlas Shrugged with the likes of 1984 or To Kill a Mockingbird. “Her works stand with those kinds of classics that consistently sell, all the time, regardless of what’s going on in media and going on in the world. This year has seen a big spike in sales, but yes, she’s absolutely an author whose works consistently sell.”

Is this jump in interest for an always popular author a sign of the political zeitgeist? David Boaz, an executive vice president at the libertarian Cato Institute, crunched some numbers from the book sales measurement service Bookscan and found that the biggest Atlas Shrugged sales spikes occurred not in reaction to government moves such as bailouts or stimulus spending but in close connection with major media mentions spelling out Rand’s contemporary relevance.

Writing on the Cato@Liberty blog, Boaz fingered a January 9 Wall Street Journal essay by Stephen Moore as the turning point. “The sales in late 2008 are very similar to those in 2007, with a Christmas bump that was higher in 2008,” Boaz wrote. “But sales started to diverge after January 9, suggesting that it was in fact the Wall Street Journal essay that kicked them into high gear.” An “even bigger peak in early March,” he argued, may be “a case of self-fulfilling prophecy and the accumulating effects of media buzz. [The Ayn Rand Institute] put out its press release about soaring sales on February 23.”

Cultural heat is often generated not spontaneously at the individual level but by public discussion. Rand’s publisher Welsh agrees: “The media coverage has driven the consumer to seek these books out more. Media coverage and media mentions are really what’s driving the sales.”

In the gold ribbon of buzzworthiness that is Hollywood, life has been pulsing again in the decades-long saga of getting Atlas Shrugged filmed. With Rand fan Angelina Jolie, long rumored to star as railroad heroine Dagny Taggart, begging off the project, the producers are now preparing to turn Atlas Shrugged into a mini-series on the new cable channel Epix, possibly starring Charlize Theron. (In Hollywood, nothing is fact until the cameras roll—or until after they finish rolling. Atlas Shrugged is not yet at that stage and may never come to fruition.)

In Atlas Shrugged, mystery man John Galt persuades people of great ability and original thought in every important field of business, science, and the arts to “go on strike” from society. They are encouraged by Galt, in Randian parlance, to “remove the sanction of the victim” from a world ruined by overgoverning altruists. These “Atlases” retreat to a rationalist libertarian paradise hidden in Colorado, known affectionately as Galt’s Gulch. In March 2009, popular right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin (who picked up the idea from another blogger, Helen Smith) started reporting anecdotes of Americans “Going Galt,” mostly by keeping their businesses or incomes from growing enough to enter a higher tax bracket.

In a world of runaway regulators, where free markets are blamed for outcomes that are more appropriately pinned on government actions and moral hazard, is Atlas shrugging? Are creators willfully abandoning the weight of the world, which in Rand’s terms requires action more dramatic than limiting your income? A question that would occur to a fan of the novel is: How would we tell? The whole key to “going Galt” is that no one knew you were doing it; in that lay the novel’s mystery.

The Atlas Society’s webpage defines “going Galt” more mildly than what Rand’s characters actually did. Instead of ceasing all productivity to starve statist parasites, the society advocates the intellectual recognition of certain Randian truths. These include “asking in the face of new taxes and government controls, ‘Why work at all?’ ‘For whom am I working?’ ” The Atlas Society also suggests that Rand lovers should start by “recognizing that you’re being punished not for your vices but for your virtues,” “recognizing that you do not need to justify your life or wealth to your neighbors, ‘society,’ or politicians, or bureaucrats,” and “taking the moral high ground by explicitly rejecting as evil the premise of ‘self-sacrifice’ that they sell to you as a virtue.”

While Malkin has come up with a handful of self-reported examples, and blog comment threads on the subject of “going Galt” generally include a person or two who claims she or an acquaintance is deliberately working less, the evidence is anecdotal at best. No macroeconomic indicators, or convincing stories of Rand-level heroes jumping ship from the culture, point to any mass or even significant fringe abdication of productivity for philosophical reasons. And given that most of Obama’s initiatives have been driven by deficit spending, not taxation, it’s unlikely we’ll see any statistically detectable signs of tax avoidance of the sort you’d expect from a Galt-leaning culture.

Cliff Asness is an investment manager of the Connecticut-based money management firm, AQR Capital Management, and a trustee of the Atlas Society. He has been annoyed enough by Obama to do something corporate executives rarely do: publicly condemn the president’s policies. Despite his intimate connections with many other productive people and their money, several of whom also have Randian sympathies, he has seen zero sign of anyone “going Galt.” Asness adds: “Even if I wanted to ‘go Galt,’ I wouldn’t know how. First I’d have to build a projector thing that makes no one see our valley [as in Atlas Shrugged], and I don’t know how to do that. But if you take an economist’s approach, going Galt would look a lot less dramatic than in the novel. It would look like early retirements, less work, not no work. I don’t think it would look like a bunch of gorgeous geniuses moving to a valley in Colorado.”

Another development marking 2009 as a year of unusual Rand interest is the publication of two serious biographies of her by scholars who are not Objectivists. One is Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right (Oxford University Press), by the University of Virginia historian Jennifer Burns; the other is Ayn Rand and the World She Made (Nan Talese), by Anne Heller, formerly a fiction editor at Esquire. (See “Ready for Her Close-Up,” page 60.)

Both authors say it’s merely fortuitous that their books have been preceded by a wave of press about Rand. Each tells me she was initially a little nervous about her controversial and much-derided subject. But they discovered that both academia and the New York literary community were filled with curiosity about Rand, if not love for her philosophy and prose.

Burns notes that people often read and love Rand without becoming dedicated warriors for laissez faire and reason. “The fact that people are able to read her without digesting her system is one of her strengths,” she argues. “It makes her acceptable to a broad range of readers rather than a narrow band willing and able to accept her fully integrated philosophical system as a guide to their life.”

But now that the Rand revival story is linking Atlas Shrugged with the contemporary wave of anti-Obama/anti–big government thinking, Burns says, “Atlas is being rebranded more explicitly as a bible of right-wing America. Maybe in the future people will come to that book with that association locked in.” If that happens, the current mania may end up making Rand’s books less appealing, not more.

Page: 12 3

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.

|11.9.09 @ 4:40PM|

Rand, Rand, Rand, nothing but Rand.

Pecksniff|11.9.09 @ 5:55PM|

Bitch, bitch, bitch, nothing but bitching.

|11.9.09 @ 4:42PM|

I traded your soul for Rand pogs. Remember Rand? She's back. In pog form.
http://miljink.tripod.com/pogs.wav

|11.9.09 @ 5:07PM|

Reason's feeling damned randy lately, isn't it?

CatoTheElder|11.9.09 @ 9:22PM|

Good one!

KITTEH|11.9.09 @ 5:13PM|

2 MUCH TEH RAND

|11.9.09 @ 5:20PM|

EOM

Colonel_Angus|11.9.09 @ 5:22PM|

Damn she is unattractive. Is it ok to be a libertarian and not want to ever bother with reading a Rand book?

|11.9.09 @ 5:26PM|

Sure. As long as you are actually a libertarian, meaning you believe in the basic values of libertarianism.

Colonel_Angus|11.9.09 @ 5:34PM|

There are some statist programs I tolerate a bit more than some libertarians seem to (roads for example) but you won't find me arguing against privatizing them. And fuck entitlements.

|11.9.09 @ 6:57PM|

There's a difference between tolerating programs and supporting them.

The main thing is that you don't find jobs or wealth as a right. That is, healthcare is not a right, federal money is not a right, a job is not a right, etc.

Andrew|12.10.09 @ 11:51AM|

Sure, except that Ayn Rand is not a libertarian, and despised them as well.

If you are a libertarian, you are completely incompatible with Objectivism. If you don't even wish to bother reading a book because she doesn't make your dick stand at attention, then you're not only a monstrous libertarian, but you're also a monstrous murderer of logic and the pursuit of knowledge.

I am really growing spiteful of all the "libertarian" publications trying to relate their illegitimate actions to the very legitimate, studied, carefully-crafted, and 100% factual, writings of, and sanctioned by, Ayn Rand.

|11.9.09 @ 5:31PM|

Protesting with "John Galt" on those signs is stupid. In Atlas Shrugged, he didn't protest, he LEFT the world of the looters. As he put it, he followed their rules, and pulled his ability and 'greed' out of the system.

Plus, I think most people who read Atlas Shrugged don't actually get it these days. I hate people like that representative, who say they are inspired by Rand, but don't even believe in laissez faire.

Then Again|11.9.09 @ 6:00PM|

One could argue that using John Galt as a handle is equally stupid.

|11.9.09 @ 6:54PM|

Name 40 good reasons why

2999|11.9.09 @ 5:42PM|

Oh god please let Rand week end. Rand is now used by the left to dismiss any small-government advocacy as insane cult behavior.

Now that the right is discovering Rand, she doubtless will be used as philosophical support for preemptive war against Muslim Mexican abortionists as well.

Attorney|11.9.09 @ 6:04PM|

I think the plan is to soften us up for pledge drive next week. "Sick of reading about Rand? Donate now, and we can pay for better research!"

|11.9.09 @ 6:52PM|

I just bought two more Rand T-shirts THIS week, so I'm responsible for at least 3 Ayn Rand postings.

I'll totally stop now, I swear.

Gene Berkman|11.9.09 @ 9:50PM|

Actually, the Ayn Rand Institute supports preemptive war against Muslims, on the grounds that they are all collectively guilty of holding irrational views that facilitate terrorism.

This is quite distinct from Ayn Rand's opposition to the initiation of force.

Andrew|12.10.09 @ 11:57AM|

No, it isn't. A government's responsibility is the defense of its citizens' individual rights. We are not responsible for the rubble and barbarianism that these governments deal to their people. The federal government's only legitimate role is the protection of our individual rights, which means ending all foreign threats as effectively and swiftly as possible.

There is an ENORMOUS difference between preemption and non-interventionism. We can still advocate for preemptive war - WHEN AND IF IT IS RATIONAL TO DO SO - as long as we still maintain a non-interventionist foreign policy.

People fail often to understand these principles, because people think that Ayn Rand was a political scholar. She wasn't. She was a PHILOSOPHER, and to understand her political views, one must understand that they are the only views that support her philosophy. They go hand-in-hand, and you cannot rely on liberty axiomatically as so many libertarians do. There must be a moral justification for it, and if that moral justification is not Objectivism, then both your political and your moral philosophies are evil. Read Rand's book "The Virtue of Selfishness" and then Leonard Peikoff's "Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand" to get a better understanding of what Rand's philosophy is really about. You'll be happy you did it.

|11.9.09 @ 5:48PM|

I am getting so sick of looking at this woman.

Doc|11.9.09 @ 5:51PM|

No, darling. She is not.

We grow weary of the fanboy treatment.

Pingback| 11.9.09 @ 5:55PM

Twitter Trackbacks for She’s Back! - Reason Magazine [reason.com] on Topsy.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

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Then Again|11.9.09 @ 6:01PM|

So don't read the articles.

Monk|11.9.09 @ 6:54PM|

I don't, her nasty face is all over the frontpage.

T|11.9.09 @ 6:02PM|

So, who is this Rand woman y'all keep nattering on about? And how orthographically challenged were her parents, anyway? Who the hell spells Ann with a Y?

Colonel_Angus|11.9.09 @ 7:16PM|

I can't help but pronounce Ayn as in Anus.

Attorney|11.9.09 @ 9:00PM|

No no no. You pronounce AYN as in HEInie.

IceTrey|11.9.09 @ 11:41PM|

Her real name was Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum.

Pingback| 11.9.09 @ 6:34PM

She's Back! - Reason Magazine PV online links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Magazine Reason Magazine reason.com/arch ives/2009/11/09/ayn-rand-is-back – view page – cached Ayn Rand is bigger than ever. But are her new fans radical enough for capitalism Read the original: She's Back! - Reason Magazine By admin | category: page view | tags: influential, magazine, new-fans, page view, radical-enough, reason-magazine | Does Suzanne Somers Cause Cancer? - Page 1 - The Daily Beast Kale Chips and…

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Tony|11.9.09 @ 7:25PM|

As in Atlas Shrugged, the U.S. is suffering through a shrinking, staggering economy.

Yeah, thanks a lot Ms. Rand.

Colonel_Angus|11.9.09 @ 7:43PM|

STFU.

Pingback| 11.9.09 @ 7:58PM

She's Back! - Reason Magazine | americantoday links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

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Attorney|11.9.09 @ 9:01PM|

I will grant you this: I'd rather look at Rand's mug than Krugman's.

|11.9.09 @ 9:10PM|

It's not like they didn't warn us, repeatedly, that there was going to be a Rand festival on the site.

CatoTheElder|11.9.09 @ 9:18PM|

‘Read the news today? It’s like ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is happening in real life.’ 

Not sure that 'Atlas Shrugged' is really happening in real life, but we're certainly on 'The Road to Serfness'.

CatoTheElder|11.9.09 @ 9:21PM|

err, Serfdom

2999|11.9.09 @ 11:31PM|

I prefer Surfdom. It would have sold better if it was about how economic totalitarianism inevitably leads to awesome surfing conditions.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|11.9.09 @ 11:50PM|

That would certainly sell much better in California.

The rest of the world, I'm not so sure about.

Pingback| 11.9.09 @ 10:31PM

Ayn Rand is bigger than ever. But are her new fans radical enough for capitalism? « C links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…“Atlas Is Shrugging” and “The name is Galt. John Galt.” Sales of Rand’s classic Atlas Shrugged have soared in 2009…” Full column by Brian Doherty from December 2009 Reason @ http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/09/ayn-rand-is-back This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Radicals for Capitalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can…

IceTrey|11.9.09 @ 11:46PM|

I just wish people would talk about something besides "Atlas". In my opinion the best and most important thing she wrote was "The Virtue of Selfishness". If that book doesn't change your life there's no hope for you. I wish that is what people would read first before "Atlas".

Ebeneezer Scrooge|11.9.09 @ 11:51PM|

I agree.

But most people would rather surf.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|11.9.09 @ 11:52PM|

The purpose of this thread was to identify the Rand haters out there. Your names have been duly noted.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|11.10.09 @ 12:09AM|

Well Brian, interesting article but it's about impossible to tell what the collective American people really think. I hear numbers saying that somewhere over a third of the populace are self identified liberals. At least half the population must not be too off-put by liberals, given that they're Democrats.

And America just voted Obama-lini into office. The fact that they had a choice between Obama-lini the Younger, and Obama-lini the Crazy Elder, might tell us something all by itself. Like whatever it was the Mussolini was selling way back when, we're kinda sorta still into it today.

But one of the more interesting questions never got asked during this Rand week. How does it come to be that with Tony and his buddy-types having run the US educational system for most of the past century, we still have all this interest in Rand?

But maybe that's just a dying echo. The options we got in the last POTUS election are evidence again that the whole US political spectrum is moving decidedly leftward.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|11.10.09 @ 12:15AM|

I've wondered more than once if the fact that the whole spectrum is shifting leftward, is the only thing that keeps the country from devolving into civil war.

Try for a moment to imagine The Rand Party vs the Democrats.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|11.10.09 @ 12:27AM|

Another interesting question: what is it about large urban areas that brings out the liberal urges in humanity?

If the big cities on the East Coast and the Left Coast were obliterated by terrorists tomorrow, Obama-lini would find himself in deep shit come next election. Not that liberals don't exist in the rest of the country, but their numbers are enough smaller that they'd have far less political pull.

But it's not just in the US. China has always had the world's largest population centers, and their big cities were the first in history to sprout large groups of liberal-leaning people. China, for example, has always leaned towards socialist-flavored economics. And the first serious groups of pacifists that I know of in history, sprouted out of the larger Chinese cities. Pacifism is definitely associated much more strongly with our modern Left than it is the Right.

I suspect it's because, the Robin Hood Fix for The Poor, is far easier to sell to larger than smaller populations. But that somehow doesn't explain all of it.

|11.10.09 @ 9:49AM|

Only idiots live in large cities.

Tim Cavanaugh|11.10.09 @ 12:30AM|

Atlas Shrugged may finally be hitting the screen soon in the form of a cable mini-series starring Charlize Theron.

When are the Objectivist thespians going to Go Galt? Don't you like to think of them out on some island drinking out of coconuts with umbrellas in them, as civilization grinds to a standstill because of the lack of Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron and Brad Pitt movies?

monolith|11.10.09 @ 7:03AM|

We would find out that these actors really are the amazingly talented people that they have always claimed.
They didn't actually rely on speaking other people's word or special effects. It wasn't true that they could be replaced by hundreds of virtually identical wannabe stars.
Judging by various documentaries made by actors and directors I have been led to believe tht Cuba offers them the freedom that they crave. it would make a perfect Galt's Gulch.

monolith|11.10.09 @ 6:56AM|

Rand fan John Allison, chairman of a successful Southern bank, BB&T, which had been forced to take federal bailout money

I admire the ability of people to accept welfare and then immediately forgot about taking it and exempt themselves form the lists of "looters and moochers"
What would Rand have thought about all her fans in financial services? Wasn't she always going on about productive activity?

Barry Loberfeld|11.10.09 @ 9:18AM|

"This year in The New Republic, Jonathan Chait slammed Rand as the fountainhead of the idea that the rich deserve their wealth."

For a review of Chait's book:

Modern Liberalism at Wit's End

Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 9:52AM

Hard Money Lenders, Hard Money Lender - NRG purchases Bluewater Wind - Delaware Onlin links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…struggling homeowners - but only if they can work out a deal on repayments. Banks and building societies stressed any agreement would have to be “mutually acceptable” and would be reviewed She’s Back! - Reason.com Ayn Rand, the Russian-born novelist and philosopher, died in 1982. But in this Bush-Obama season of fantastical government growth and encroachment into all areas of human activity, Rand has become a…

Ratko|11.10.09 @ 1:54PM|

Well written article, Mr. Doherty, my first wife suggested I read Ayn Rand's writing nearly a quarter century ago. I never did, but see now I probably should have. Nothing too surprising in that, it wasn't until some time after all that water had passed under the bridge that I began to discover the woman was right far more often than she was wrong, even if she was so by accident. My wife that is, maybe Rand, also.

All I know about Rand came as a result of my wife's sensitivity to my general reliance on scientific method, my valuable tool, her source of intense irritation, made none the better by the fact she was raised in Sacramento, the daughter of a liberal career politician father and activist mother, I imagine that's who coached her on Rand, considering she couldn't grasp scientific method it's doubtful that after years of marriage and many tries to explain it at her request, that suddenly she realized "oh I see, you are just copying Ayn Rand!" It's all becoming clearer. My wife was a spoiled brat, what she lacked for maturity she made up for trough manipulation. Her parents had learned to expect some shocks but none like her hooking up with someone like me. I can't tell you how much Liberals hate bikers, especially connected elite Liberals. They were always nice to my face, but seemed to have trouble unclenching their teeth when they spoke to me. The only way it could be worse is if I was right leaning, fortunately their stereotype of us didn't allow that. Oops! When choosing to compartmentalize a segment of the population to focus hate on doesn't it just make sense to first learn a little about who you'll be hating. I've always been a Constitutionalist we have no group, so although no one claims us we generally land in traditional American libertarianism end of the conservatives. Hearing my wife describe my politics, along with words like objectivity from attempting to explain scientific method, being professionals in politics they must have assumed they hit a bull's-eye finally nailing me down. Well, I still needed to investigate Ayn Rand to who they must have held considerable contempt for, from experience that would suggest Rand is A-OK. I regret stopping with the examination of Objectivism Philosophy, seeing my smoking gun, then stopping. It seems likely that Rand and I both have much appreciation for certain contribution of Francis Bacon, the father of modern science. Could a man have a greater love for science, than this, to lay down his life in thy name. And so he did. As if I don't have enough battles going on else where the filthy swine are dirtying the name of my beloved science with their quasi scientific bull feces, anthropogenic global warming my ignorant jackass, it's a complete fraud.

Heading off on verbose tangent here, back to the subject.

Once again great article, thanks for writing it, you'd be surprised how many questions it answered for me. Up until I read the article I thought John Galt was a user of this web site, I had seen the name on posts and in posts, so had assumed he was a living person who was a bit of a legend in his own time. Like a "lone whacko" but not infamous.

It's John Galt I'm most intrigued by.

‘Read the news today? It’s like ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is happening in real life.’ 

Can't say yet, I need to read the book, but I do know a real life John Galt, that is, someone doing just what you described.

I'm on my way to the book store, if they don't have the book I'll order it. This should be interesting.

|11.10.09 @ 3:04PM|

As an Airport Manager and Entrepreneur, I've witnessed the "Going Galt" phenomena. It's real. It's happening. And I totally empathize. While the option is tempting for myself -- I've chosen, for now, not to take that route.

|11.10.09 @ 4:09PM|

How could a congress rep read books like AS and F and still find time to read 2000 page bills? I know the answer. I am always amazed that so many people are willing to read these long drawn out overly detailed accounts of disgruntled men. Aren't there any disgruntled women? What about Punks? They seem to be disgruntled. And old people too. What about the Amish?

If you want to know about freedom and free markets then just look it up on the internet.

Trackback| 11.10.09 @ 11:13PM

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I will add this website to my stumble upons!

Pingback| 11.12.09 @ 2:37AM

CLEANING OUT THE LINK CAGE, November 11, 2009: STARS WARS Lawn Trinkets; Ayn Rand Cha links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Assorted link things. Garden Jawas are now available for your lawn decoration needs. I’ve never read ATLAS SHRUGGED. But I love Brian Doherty ’s story  in REASON Magazine this month detailing all of the Ayn Rand flava that is abuzz in our country. The following excerpt from Doherty’s piece particularly makes me want to add ATLAS to my reading list (bold emphases all mine): Political relevance for Rand’s…

Pingback| 11.14.09 @ 8:43PM

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…The start of the H1N1 pandemic. The first six months of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Roberston’s mandate brought multiple crises. While all those issues would be hard to handle at the best of times She’s Back! - Reason.com Ayn Rand, the Russian-born novelist and philosopher, died in 1982. But in this Bush-Obama season of fantastical government growth and encroachment into all areas of human activity, Rand has become a…

Pingback| 12.8.09 @ 7:22PM

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…May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 Search Box « Dreamer redux Anthem redux Reason’s Brian Doherty on Ayn Rand: Rand knew, and most of her fans knew, that her point was not to be literally prescient. Rand adored high drama and outrageous gestures, and she delighted in depicting the evil end points where…

Pingback| 12.18.09 @ 4:31AM

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…che al suo tentativo di manipolare dall’alto l’economia equivale a riproporre la vecchia scusa così comune a Washington DC: « Certamente sono stati fatti degli errori (ma non da me)». Secondo un articolo di Bran Doherty pubblicato sul mensile libertario Reason, sulla base dei dati relativi alle vendite di libri riportati dal servizio Bookscan, che registra gli acquisti effettivi in libreria, nella settimana di fine…

|12.22.09 @ 10:24PM|

How do you have the nerve (I assume it's not ignorance) to say "...her ideas are spread mostly via novels, and not nonfiction or polemics"?? She wrote nonfiction for 25 years after she wrote Atlas, including hundreds of short or long essays and 8 books, including one in formal epistemology -- plenty of nonfiction for those interested in the philosophy of her thought. Typical libertarian smear job -- damning her with sneers while pretending to praise her.

Pingback| 12.31.09 @ 9:43AM

Logos kai Apokalupsis » Reason Magazine Honors Ayn Rand links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Obama, and the Democrat Congress’ spending. The December 2009 issue is dedicated to Rand.  Three articles are of note here: A book review of a new book on the life of Rand. A comic/cartoon on Rand The cover story The book review details the sordid tales of her personal life: In 1950 Rand met Nathan Blumenthal, a UCLA undergraduate 25 years her junior who would later change his name to Nathaniel Branden, honoring Rand…

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AZ Objectivists » SAT Jan 16 - Going Galt links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

Links SAT Jan 16 - Going Galt admin on 06 Jan 2010 WHEN: SATURDAY, January 16, 2010 7:00 PM TOPIC: Going Galt from She’s Back article in Reason Magazine December 2009 pages 50-63 http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/09/ayn-rand-is-back LEADER: Jackie Hazelton DISCUSSION: We will discuss the Reason Magazine article.  Please consider: - In what way is Rand back? - How are her views “radical”? - What does it…

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Happy 105th Birthday, Ayn Rand! - www.hostzi.com - deepWeb links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…who most perfectly embodies Objectivist values: For a more G-rated option (well, PG-13 anyway) why not enjoy a sampling from Reason’s Rand archive in her honor?: ShesBack! Ayn Rand is bigger than ever. But are her new fans radical enough for capitalism? by Brian Doherty The Ayn and Only: Cult-empress or great thinker? by Katherine Mangu-Ward WillEveryone Please Stop Freaking Out Over Ayn Rand?!? by Peter Bagge…

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Rep. Paul Ryan, Really Randian - www.hostzi.com - deep web news radio links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…spending on it. At Talking Points Memo, they reveal where a sitting congressman could have gotten possessed by such a bizarre idea, including a quote from Ryan taken from my December 2009 Reason magazine featureon the newly renewed yet always enduring influence of Ayn Rand. From TPM: Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) determination to privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare — what he calls a…

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Rep. Paul Ryan, Really Randian - www.hostei.com - deep web news radio links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…spending on it. At Talking Points Memo, they reveal where a sitting congressman could have gotten possessed by such a bizarre idea, including a quote from Ryan taken from my December 2009 Reason magazine featureon the newly renewed yet always enduring influence of Ayn Rand. From TPM: Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) determination to privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare — what he calls a…

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Rep. Paul Ryan, Really Randian - www.comxa.com - Deep Web News Radio links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…spending on it. At Talking Points Memo, they reveal where a sitting congressman could have gotten possessed by such a bizarre idea, including a quote from Ryan taken from my December 2009 Reason magazine featureon the newly renewed yet always enduring influence of Ayn Rand. From TPM: Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) determination to privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare — what he calls a…

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The Best Journalism and Blogging of 2009! | ICED BORSCHT links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…less like the man, and more like The Man,” by  Matt Welch,  Reason “She’s Back! Ayn Rand is bigger than ever. But are her new fans radical enough for capitalism? ” by Brian Doherty, Reason “The Other ‘L’ Word: Why I Am a Libertarian,” by Michael Shermer, SkeptibBlog “The Paranoid Center: How the panic over right-wing violence is being used to marginalize peaceful…

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Randinetics: The Modern Science of Permanent Adolescence | The Partially Examined Lif links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…sovereign wealth funds! Go Galt! Bring it on! Even confined to a wheelchair, Franklin Roosevelt can defeat Ayn Rand. Reason’s Brian Doherty is vaguely offended and points us to his own three page Aynjaculation. Daniel McCarthy also counters Lind: “What establishment conservatives are doing now, however, is giving rein to libertarian and populist discontent in the form of the tea parties in order to…

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How do you have the nerve (I assume it's not ignorance) to say "...her ideas are spread mostly via novels, and not nonfiction or polemics"?? She wrote nonfiction for 25 years after she wrote Atlas, including hundreds of short or long essays and 8 books, including one in formal epistemology -- plenty of nonfiction for those interested in the philosophy of her thought. Typical libertarian smear job -- damning her with sneers while pretending to praise her.
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