Again--living in the DC area is a feast for the brain. Went to The Cato Institute last week for a book forum featuring two authors who have recently released new books on Ayn Rand (catch the video of the event here.) I brought my home-boy Tim along with me, and we had a grand time in and among the Libertarian Illuminati (sitting behind us were Will Wilkinson and Brink Lindsey, Cato's resident purveyors of Liberaltarianism or "Progressive Fusion"--which to my mind is bunk).
The two authors were very different, but equally seemed to tell compelling stories. One, the younger, was an intellectual historian who focused on Rand's ideas and her impact. The other, a reporter/editor, focused on the personal side of Rand--something Rand controlled very tightly while alive.
Let's get the ugly stuff out of the way first--Rand was a bit of a nut, she surrounded herself with sycophants, she brooked no disagreement, and John Galt's speech was repetitious and over the top.
Aside from that--she was a genius, and a fantastic storyteller. No one has made as clear a case for the moral rectitude of capitalism, and the moral morass of collectivism.
Modern intellectuals like to make fun of Rand--citing the great fascination in which she is held by 19 year old frat boys (yep, I was one of them). But as one of the authors the other night put it, Rand was the "gateway drug" for many modern conservatives. Yes, most of us put aside her atheism and her disdain for any kind of social contract--but the love of the individual and his rights, the love of freedom, and the love of capitalism--all remain firmly etched in the psyche of the modern conservative.
I read Atlas Shrugged when I was 15 years old. It was and continues to be the shaping influence on my disgust with collectivism and my admiration for individualism. But alas, once one reads Atlas Shrugged, one can never be satisfied with our society as it exists.
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