http://blog.macroaxis.com/2009/11/09/she%e2%80%99s-back/ Macroaxis Blog Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:54:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://blog.macroaxis.com/2009/11/09/she%e2%80%99s-back/#comment-12863 MichaelM Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:07:39 +0000 http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/09/ayn-rand-is-back#comment-12863 This one of the best articles on this subject. It is a thorough, factual, even handed presentation of the current Rand surge. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and passed it on to others, even though I do not agree with Doherty's view of the relationship recent events have to the progress of Objectivism. For Rand and Objectivism's adherents, political traction worth having cannot be gained by popularity. From the beginning the primary pursuit has been intellectual traction achieved solely by the efficacy of her ideas independently standing on their own merits. Rand consistently discouraged political action. Her battle plan was signaled by the phrase, "for the new intellectual." If ever the day of victory for that battle arrives, her politics will already be in place exactly as she conceived it. Radical capitalism is not a goal, it is a natural, inevitable consequence of the goal of widespread rational egoism. Her popularity among the right today is just panic and desperation over the failure of their compromises with statism combined with awe for the (to them miraculous) prophecy of Atlas come to pass. There is no one on the right who has any grasp of the connection of her ideas to that foresight. Of course that does not alter the maxim that all publicity is good publicity, and the access of Ojectivists to honest minds scattered about the earth has expanded exponentially because of it. Superficial political agreements with Atlas notwithstanding, the right will continue to ridicule Objectivism and ignore it.  The traction that should concern the left, the right, and the anti-Rand libertarians, is the philosophy's recent breach of the bastions of academe by John Allison, Tara Smith, and the like. It is they whose turn has come to raise Rand's influence to the next degree. Objectivism never was, is not now, and never can be an organized movement. It is a philosophy of ideas that must be explained, understood, adopted, and integrated into everyday life, one human being at a time. It cannot be inculcated with placards. This one of the best articles on this subject. It is a thorough, factual, even handed presentation of the current Rand surge. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and passed it on to others, even though I do not agree with Doherty’s view of the relationship recent events have to the progress of Objectivism.
For Rand and Objectivism’s adherents, political traction worth having cannot be gained by popularity. From the beginning the primary pursuit has been intellectual traction achieved solely by the efficacy of her ideas independently standing on their own merits.
Rand consistently discouraged political action. Her battle plan was signaled by the phrase, “for the new intellectual.” If ever the day of victory for that battle arrives, her politics will already be in place exactly as she conceived it. Radical capitalism is not a goal, it is a natural, inevitable consequence of the goal of widespread rational egoism.
Her popularity among the right today is just panic and desperation over the failure of their compromises with statism combined with awe for the (to them miraculous) prophecy of Atlas come to pass. There is no one on the right who has any grasp of the connection of her ideas to that foresight. Of course that does not alter the maxim that all publicity is good publicity, and the access of Ojectivists to honest minds scattered about the earth has expanded exponentially because of it.
Superficial political agreements with Atlas notwithstanding, the right will continue to ridicule Objectivism and ignore it.  The traction that should concern the left, the right, and the anti-Rand libertarians, is the philosophy’s recent breach of the bastions of academe by John Allison, Tara Smith, and the like. It is they whose turn has come to raise Rand’s influence to the next degree. Objectivism never was, is not now, and never can be an organized movement. It is a philosophy of ideas that must be explained, understood, adopted, and integrated into everyday life, one human being at a time. It cannot be inculcated with placards.

]]>