Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Clearing up the confusion ...

... that is Jonathan Chait on Ayn Rand. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

It is a confusion shared by many:
Rand did not think income and wealth represents a sign of virtue — of hard work, productivity, or anything else. Being an intelligent person, she thought that who got how much of what depended on the complex interplay of culture and the structure of the political economy. She did think that those who through effort or industry improve others’ lives ought to see the value of their work acknowledged and rewarded in some form or other. But no one would infer from Rand’s novels and nonfiction that the United States looks, or in her day looked, anything like her ideal.

No comments:

Post a Comment