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With the people who trumpet Ayn Rand's Virtue of Selfishness now in charge of the government you'd think that we're facing the Objectivist horror that comes with the territory. Oh no, it's worse.
You see, the deep core and basis (supposedly) of Ayn Rand's philosophy rests on a much older premise: that reality exists and we can know it. Through our senses and our brains we can work out how reality works and lever it to our advantage. It is the person of thought - the rational person - who she sought to elevate. It was the individual, unfettered mind that was to be honored and revered.
In Rand's great work "Atlas Shrugged" she attempted to set forth this philosophy. She raged against the 'looters and moochers' who would leech off the work of men's (and one woman's) minds and spirits. She blamed the philosophy of selflessness: that the individual is nothing and god or the collective is everything. She attacked the looters and moochers who mouthed the virtue of selflessness - who, oddly enough - were more concerned about grabbing all the goodies for themselves and screwing the rest. Yes, they were moochers and looters but they were not philosophers. They didn't care what philosophy was spouted as long as THEY had their hands on the levers of power. The people who Rand painted as the most villainous oddly, were the most selfish. They didn't care about knowledge or art or justice or reality - as long as THEY had the POWER and the MONEY.
Don't think the looters and moochers weren't taking notes while Ayn was ranting about them.
They took the outward signs of Objectivism: Group Bad - Individual Good, Government Bad - Unregulated Economy Good - and went out to fleece the latest group of suckers. They rose to power singing the praises of open markets and open minds while bilking everyone in sight. When banking was deregulated they went to town - the regulations to keep them from committing fraud were gone and they were free to selfishly vacuum up their clients money. Wasn't that the Objective measure of a person's worth? Money? Sure! And now that they're in power, they are the Masters of Pull: they're going to set up the government to enrich... themselves.
Dressed in their Randian clothes the Looters and Moochers are now in charge.
You know what happens when you remove a voltage regulator from an electronic amplifier? You get a quick burst of power then it will burn out. You know what you get if you remove the mechanical regulators from an engine? You get a quick increase in horsepower and then the engine blows up. But by that time the looters and moochers have already cashed in and split the scene.
Paraphrasing Rand's own words, they would cheat and scam the lowest of us for pennies to amass into millions just to finger their wads of cash.
The Modern Randist has embraced the Selfish part and forgotten that A really is A and Reality Exists. Climate change? Pollution? People dying because of the lack of social services? Poisoned air, poisoned food? They're too busy pocketing their tax cuts to deal with those trifles: it's all False News and Democratic Scaremongering! Their callous disregard of the facts of people's lives paint them as sociopaths. Us First. America First. MAGA!
Justice is for suckers and losers. As the Masters of Pull they'll twist the laws to keep the money flowing from your pocket to theirs.
And the looters and moochers of the spirit are right there too - waving the flag and carrying the cross. The religious zealots are in command and they will seek police powers to enforce their cruel, medieval Christianity upon us all.
I do not write this to defend Objectivism or Ayn Rand's writings: closely examined their own conclusions do not pass their own test: that A is A and Reality Exists. I write this to pull off the phoney masks that the looters and moochers have donned. They may spout Rand's philosophy but they are actually the villains she tried to portray in her own novels.
The train wreck is upon us and there is no Galt's Gulch to retreat to. We must take control of the train.
-m
You see, the deep core and basis (supposedly) of Ayn Rand's philosophy rests on a much older premise: that reality exists and we can know it. Through our senses and our brains we can work out how reality works and lever it to our advantage. It is the person of thought - the rational person - who she sought to elevate. It was the individual, unfettered mind that was to be honored and revered.
In Rand's great work "Atlas Shrugged" she attempted to set forth this philosophy. She raged against the 'looters and moochers' who would leech off the work of men's (and one woman's) minds and spirits. She blamed the philosophy of selflessness: that the individual is nothing and god or the collective is everything. She attacked the looters and moochers who mouthed the virtue of selflessness - who, oddly enough - were more concerned about grabbing all the goodies for themselves and screwing the rest. Yes, they were moochers and looters but they were not philosophers. They didn't care what philosophy was spouted as long as THEY had their hands on the levers of power. The people who Rand painted as the most villainous oddly, were the most selfish. They didn't care about knowledge or art or justice or reality - as long as THEY had the POWER and the MONEY.
Don't think the looters and moochers weren't taking notes while Ayn was ranting about them.
They took the outward signs of Objectivism: Group Bad - Individual Good, Government Bad - Unregulated Economy Good - and went out to fleece the latest group of suckers. They rose to power singing the praises of open markets and open minds while bilking everyone in sight. When banking was deregulated they went to town - the regulations to keep them from committing fraud were gone and they were free to selfishly vacuum up their clients money. Wasn't that the Objective measure of a person's worth? Money? Sure! And now that they're in power, they are the Masters of Pull: they're going to set up the government to enrich... themselves.
Dressed in their Randian clothes the Looters and Moochers are now in charge.
You know what happens when you remove a voltage regulator from an electronic amplifier? You get a quick burst of power then it will burn out. You know what you get if you remove the mechanical regulators from an engine? You get a quick increase in horsepower and then the engine blows up. But by that time the looters and moochers have already cashed in and split the scene.
Paraphrasing Rand's own words, they would cheat and scam the lowest of us for pennies to amass into millions just to finger their wads of cash.
The Modern Randist has embraced the Selfish part and forgotten that A really is A and Reality Exists. Climate change? Pollution? People dying because of the lack of social services? Poisoned air, poisoned food? They're too busy pocketing their tax cuts to deal with those trifles: it's all False News and Democratic Scaremongering! Their callous disregard of the facts of people's lives paint them as sociopaths. Us First. America First. MAGA!
Justice is for suckers and losers. As the Masters of Pull they'll twist the laws to keep the money flowing from your pocket to theirs.
And the looters and moochers of the spirit are right there too - waving the flag and carrying the cross. The religious zealots are in command and they will seek police powers to enforce their cruel, medieval Christianity upon us all.
I do not write this to defend Objectivism or Ayn Rand's writings: closely examined their own conclusions do not pass their own test: that A is A and Reality Exists. I write this to pull off the phoney masks that the looters and moochers have donned. They may spout Rand's philosophy but they are actually the villains she tried to portray in her own novels.
The train wreck is upon us and there is no Galt's Gulch to retreat to. We must take control of the train.
-m
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