I see that the usual suspects are given a chance to disparage Rand and her fans, but any book that is being read as widely as Atlas Shrugged is currently is bound to exert some influence. I do not of course subscribe to the notion that, because there is legitimate self-interest, selfishness is a virtue and altruism a vice. It may well be in my self-interest not to be selfish.
And just because a book has influence doesn't mean it's a GOOD influence or correct.
ReplyDeleteTrue. But it doesn;t mean the opposite either. Those things must be determined by the application of other criteria. Also, a lousy book may make some valid points. Also, what all of these people seem to miss, is that there is reason Atlas Shrugged attracts readers - after all, I did recently write about it. Rand is not stylist, but she knew how to create larger-than-life characters and to spin a pretty good narrative. It's a good soap opera, and never underestimate the appeal of soap operas. Also, never let your own ideological preferences and predilections get in the way of sound judgment. Cast a cold eye on everything, especially those.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually a soap opera fan, but I don't base my ideology or policy advocacy on One Life to Live.
ReplyDeleteWhat if it's not so much a matter of policy prescriptions but predictors of human behavior? New Jersey, for example, is suffering a net population loss: people are moving out at a higher rate than ever before and they're fleeing faster than immigrants and newcomers can move in. When they leave, they take billions in potential tax revenue with them. My friends and relatives who are N.J. schoolteachers can talk all day about colleagues who are retiring to Pennsylvania, Delaware, or points farther south; my parents' new neighbors in suburban Louisiana are flabbergasted to hear that we used to pay $10,000 a year in property taxes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Rand's dreary prose or hectoring tone, but she was right about at least one thing: You can make demands of productive people for only so long before they change their behavior or find someplace else to live and work.
You and me both, Jeff, when it comes to the dreary prose and hectoring tone. I also had to fend myself off from some Randians early in my career after giving a lecture on Albert Jay Nock. They seemed rather robotic in their thinking. As for New Jersey, I believe it's the most highly taxed state in the nation. If people leave because of the taxes go someplace else with lower taxes, let's hope they don't bring along an ideology that mandates programs that need to be paid for with ... higher taxes. The simple thing is this: There are problems that need to be addressed and there always will be. To think that the only or best agency for solving those problems is government is to betray an astounding lack of imagination. Or maybe no real interest in dealing with those problems at all. Instead, a wish to sweep them away by having the government "take care of them".
ReplyDeleteOh, and Frank, I am not a soap opera fan, so I definitely do not base my policy preferences on One Life to Live or The Days of Our Lives (but which I saw the very first episode of, with my grandmother). I have no ideology. Ideologies are crutches for the intellectually underprivileged. I think.
I'm not saying you base anything on soap operas, Frank, but that if Rand's appeal is her soap opera-ness, that seems a rather weak basis for those people who DO take her work as the foundation of an ideology.
ReplyDeleteAs a New Jersey native, I know all about our insane taxation regime, but I often think they're more symptoms than causes. Just look at California: they've got liberty coming out of their asses and they're even more of a basket case.
Good point about California, Frank. What it all comes down to, I think, is the systematic ridicule of all politicians. They take themselves too seriously because too many of us take them seriously. If they got it through their heads that they're just our employees, a lot of them might just find another line of work and we would all be better off.
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