Where are We Going? And Why are We in this Handbasket?

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession  with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted,  socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” John Rogers

First the bad news. 

Then the good…

Beyond the jokes the biggest problem with Ayn Rand’s philosophy is that it has followers who vote. If America is going to fall apart, I suggest the intellectual basis for the dismantling will come from Ms Rand’s writings.

If you need background: Here’s a pretty good fairly brief analysis from a disillusioned follower. And here’s a rather harsher view.

But as I see it, it isn’t so much Objectivism as Libertarianism that is the problem. I’m less worried about her dogmatic followers than how her philosophy has poisoned the well of American culture. And that’s Libertarianism. Libertarianism has become the water many of us drink. It calls for an unrestrained capitalism as a moral good.

Elsewhere I wrote how our shadow in this country is economic greed, justified by this Randian Libertarianism. 

It is a relentless call to unfetter business, to disallow regulation, and to let business do the business of business no matter the social cost. 

Worse, actually, pretending good will follow. 

Now, I have no brief against business and economic activity. It is a human thing. It can be glorious. 

And, it has deep shadows, including the inclination for the rich to simply continue getting richer while the poor get poorer. For capitalism to flourish it needs governors, it needs regulation and it needs people watching closely…

Thanks to this philosophy being taught as gospel, the average American is being taken for a ride, hearing the false witness of libertarian economists and other apologists for the rich, pretending we all might get there, too. When in fact this is simply dismantling what little protections the average person has in the face of the gathered power of the rich.

Ayn Rand sings a lie into the heart of the people. We’re all isolated. We owe no one anything. And greed is good.

Okay that’s the bad news.

Here’s some good news.

Here’s the truth about who we really are.

Good news for the lonely, the lost, the left behind… 

We’re precious in our individuality. This means you. May the individual be sung for eternity.

And we are woven out of each other, completely totally dependent upon each other. We need each other. May the web of relationships be a song ever on our tongues…

Both, always both.

And knowing both will save us.

Or, can.

Your choice…