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View Full Version : Nice piece on Ayn Rand this am on NPR, one on Hayek to follow tomorrow




lynnf
11-14-2011, 06:37 AM
check it out:



http://www.npr.org/2011/11/14/142245517/on-capitol-hill-rands-atlas-cant-be-shrugged-off




...

Back in that 1959 interview, Wallace asked Rand why — if her ideas were so right — Americans, in their democracy, hadn't voted to protect the all-important producer class.

Her answer? Because the people hadn't been given that choice.

"Both parties today are for socialism, in effect — for controls. And there is no party, there are no voices, to offer an actual pro-capitalist, laissez-faire, economic freedom and individualism," she said. "That is what this country needs today."

If Rand were alive today, she might be pleased to see that, more and more, Americans do have that choice. And her ideas are alive and well-represented in the U.S. Capitol.

mczerone
11-14-2011, 07:26 AM
If Rand were alive today, she might be pleased to see that, more and more, Americans do have that choice. And her ideas are alive and well-represented in the U.S. Capitol.

Really? Who, aside from the two Pauls, knows the first thing about Randianism? Everyone else there has just merged the producers with the moochers, they have glorified industry and Republicanism by sucking from the socialist trough, only to be hated by the populist movements as much as any other federal program.

Ayn Rand didn't have everything "right" philosophically or politically, but to claim that her ideas are "well represented" in today's political landscape is just setting up a strawman so that the Torries can retort "but we tried the free market under Bush/Bush/Reagan and it didn't work!"

And I bet Hayek will be the same themes: "Look, he saw a role for the state in managing money, in providing welfare, and... Therefore even the right-wing ideologues must agree that we can't have a freer market!"

When is NPR going to run a special on Mises, Rothbard, Hoppe, Molyneaux, Tannehill, Tucker, Bastiat, Goldman, Block, or me? Certainly any one of these figures holds more values in common with the NPR listenership than Ayn "Kill the A-rabs" Rand, but each sees that there is no proper role for government in expressing those values.

low preference guy
11-14-2011, 12:27 PM
If Rand were alive today, she might be pleased to see that, more and more, Americans do have that choice. And her ideas are alive and well-represented in the U.S. Capitol.

lolwut?