• • Too righteous for facts 
Daniel McCarthy, The American Conservative - @TAC Atlas Shrugged  Michael Lind is a smart guy, but he’s also an ideologue so hellbent on the righteousness of his social-democratic worldview that he doesn’t let niggling things like facts get in the way of his proclamations. In his amusingly titled “ Bring it on, Ayn Rand geeks,” Lind tells us Ron Paul is such an acolyte of the Atlas Shrugged author that he “named his son Rand Paul.” Devastating, except that Randal Paul, known to his family as Randy, isn’t actually named after Ayn, and while the Pauls may appreciate the novelist, the Texas congressman’s plan for transitioning away from the welfare state hardly evokes the pitiless ethos of Objectivism.     Share on Facebook

• • David Frum’s Satanic girliemen 
Richard Spencer, Alternative Right - District of Corruption Altruism  Evidenced by his constant use of "collectivism" and "altruism" as cusswords, my guess is that Alex [Knepper] is really a devotee of a philosophy followed by many a 20-year-old, Ayn Randianism. (Most everyone I know was a Randian at some point during their undergraduate years. Thankfully, there was no David Frum around at the time to publish our embarrassing polemicizing.) And I don't think it's a coincidence that Alex's writings about me have taken the form of the typical Randian fantasy of the principled intellectual being persecuted by the irrational, violent mob.     Share on Facebook

• • Montgomery County PR firm’s tongue-in-cheek congressional bid lampoons corporate rights 
Daily Record Capitalism  Murray Hill Inc., a Silver Spring public relations firm and admitted corporate entity, is vowing through its handlers to continue its bid for the 8th District congressional seat. [....] Murray Hill’s campaign video [....] is nearing 190,000 views on YouTube — Murray Hill’s profile lists two Ayn Rand titles under its favorites and identifies “capitalism” as its only hobby — and almost 6,000 people have signed up on the campaign’s Facebook fan page.     Share on Facebook

• • Unemployment (cont.) 
Howard S. Katz, GoldSeek Altruism  Unemployment has become the central issue of our day and perfectly illustrates the genius of Ayn Rand in putting the spotlight on altruism as the central concept which is destroying our society. Today (but not when Rand wrote) the conservatives have adopted the left-wing’s ideas on economics. They are screaming that Obama has failed because, after little over a year in office the unemployment rate is 10%.     Share on Facebook

• • Museums rally to honor Women’s History Month 
Kristin Coyner, Roll Call Personal life  Even though we’re halfway through March, there’s still a lot to do in celebration of Women’s History Month. Washington offers a good variety, too, with events ranging from book readings to film screenings. [....] Saturday [March 20]. “Ayn Rand, a Philosopher Who Lived Objectively”: This Smithsonian seminar examines the life of 20th-century philosopher and best-selling novelist Ayn Rand. The development of objectivism, Rand’s political system of thought, is explored through discussions on her childhood, her experiences as a Broadway playwright, Hollywood screenwriter, political campaigner and lecturer. S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Drive SW, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. $85 for Smithsonian members, $77 for senior members and $120 general admission.     Share on Facebook

• • The builders 
Alicia Lavay-Kertes, Vending Times I was deeply saddened by the news that Stuart Daw, a genuine pioneer of the coffee service and specialty coffee business, had died. [....] He was passionate about quality. He always contended that "specialty coffee" simply was the long-delayed response of the market to the coffee-drinker’s desire for a good cup of coffee. It took three decades, but the industry finally responded and the specialty coffee business was born. He was also a strong believer in Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, a system that places the highest value on individual creativity, whether expressed by an artist, an architect, an industrialist or a coffee salesman.     Share on Facebook

• • A virtuous profit 
Charlie Macarthur, Steamboat Pilot & Today (Steamboat Springs, CO) Atlas Shrugged  This week, the Steamboat community stepped in the way of a producer and for that we owe an apology. We should not apologize for turning down the 700 project, for that was a force of the free market. We should apologize for lying to Danny Mulcahy and to ourselves. Like Francisco d’Anconia in Ayn Rand’s infamous novel “Atlas Shrugged,” Mulcahy made the terrible mistake of giving the public exactly what it had been asking for.     Share on Facebook

• • A Republican plan to save the safety net 
NPR Capitalism  [Rep. Paul] Ryan is often touted as the Republican with ideas. President Obama praised his road map for deficit reduction from the podium at January's Republican retreat in Baltimore. Ryan has been quoted in the past as admiring the objectivist philosophies of Ayn Rand, but, he says, he doesn't believe in a purely laissez-faire system. "I do believe you have to have a safety net in society," he says. "The problem we have is the safety net itself is going bankrupt. What I do in this bill is repair the holes in the safety net."     Share on Facebook

• • Capitalism advocate will deliver message at Wheeling Jesuit 
Linda Harris, State Journal (Charleston, WV) Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  [Eric] Daniels will be on the Wheeling Jesuit University campus to discuss the “Morality of Capitalism” at 7 p.m. March 17 and explore the most common arguments in favor of capitalism. Sponsored by the BB&T Charitable Foundation, it’s part of the college’s annual Institute for the Study of Capitalism and Morality (ISCM) speaker series and is offered to provide a series of forums for discussing issues regarding capitalism and morality, business ethics, and related issues. Wheeling Jesuit Business Professor Ed Younkins, executive director of ISCM, said Daniels finds that those arguments “all break down in the face of the popular argument that capitalism is immoral and destructive because it is selfish.” “Dr. Daniels explains that only Ayn Rand's crucial insight — that capitalism is the only moral social system because it is based on "the virtue of selfishness" — can truly defend capitalism. He illustrates the need for a moral, and not just an economic, defense of capitalism,” Younkins said. Rand was a 20th century author who wrote “Atlas Shrugged” and other books that extolled the virtues of capitalism.     Share on Facebook

• • Paul Ryan’s redistributionism 
New York Times - Evaluations Jonathan Chait has a long post about how [Paul] Ryan’s roadmap “clarifies the essence of the Republican Party’s approach to domestic policy issues,” which involves “opposition to the downward redistribution of income.” Noting that Ryan has said kind words about Ayn Rand, he writes that “the core of the Randian worldview, as absorbed by the modern GOP, is a belief that the natural market distribution of income is inherently moral, and the central struggle of politics is to free the successful from having the fruits of their superiority redistributed by looters and moochers.” And he argues: “Every major element of Ryan’s plan reflects this commitment … Ryan would retain some bare-bones subsidies for the poorest, but the overwhelming thrust in every way is to liberate the lucky and successful to enjoy their good fortune without burdening them with any responsibility for the welfare of their fellow citizens.” This strikes me as an overstatement, to put it mildly. Ryan’s proposed changes to the tax code — his reduction in the highest rates, and his addition of a consumption tax — would shift the tax burden down the income ladder, just as Chait says. But nearly every other major element of the roadmap would make the American welfare state more redistributionist, rather than less so.     Share on Facebook

• • For the love of business 
Monika Mitchell, OpEdNews Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  A senior manager in finance explained to me that he functions equally on "Christian principles" and devotion to the theories of Ayn Rand. The author of the 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged, Rand influenced a generation of market making economists including the two decade Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan. Rand's belief of self-interest over self-sacrifice defined the deregulation doctrine of the last thirty years of government. Yet "Christian principles" revolve around the antithesis of self-interest and focus on community and common good. I asked my friend how he reconciled both conflicting interests, he replied, "self-interest is self-love." Self-interest is indeed self-love, yet the doctrine leaves out an essential part of the contract, love for one's neighbor.     Share on Facebook

• • The wrath of independence 
William J. Derosa, Jr., Guru Focus The Fountainhead  Going it alone certainly has its advantages. Standing apart from the crowd gives one a unique perspective provided one has the courage. Being able to assert one’s opinion can be very gratifying indeed. Famed and controversial author Ayn Rand has written extensively about this topic. To paraphrase her words - Most people can accept anything except a person who stands alone. They can forgive criminals and violence. These harsh critics are consumed by fear of the loner. They relish the mutual dependence of the relationship and independence destroys that relationship. However, for the independent spirit there is no dependence. There is no sense of social community. If one were to take notice, there is resentment against any idea that espouses independence.     Share on Facebook

• • Hollywood honors American values 
Wayne Murray, Arizona Republic (Phoenix) Atlas Shrugged  James Cameron would be wise to consider picking up the rights to make his next epic picture "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. He may even consider asking his ex-wife, [Kathryn] Bigelow, to collaborate in directing. Now, that would be an Oscar sweep.     Share on Facebook

• • Paul Ryan and the Republican vision 
Jonathan Chait, The New Republic Capitalism  The core of the Randian worldview, as absorbed by the modern GOP, is a belief that the natural market distribution of income is inherently moral, and the central struggle of politics is to free the successful from having the fruits of their superiority redistributed by looters and moochers. What's telling about Ryan's program is not so much that a hard-core ideologue like him would advocate it. It's that virtually the whole of the conservative movement has embraced him. [....] The rise of Ryan is a sign that the possibilities for bipartisan cooperation on domestic issues are, at the moment, essentially nil. This point is obscured by the figure of Ryan, a cheerful and courteous man who gives every sense of wanting to deal in good faith. But his goals, which are now fully the goals of the conservative movement and the Republican Party, are diametrically opposed to the liberal vision of capitalism shorn of its cruelest edges. His basic moral premises are foreign, even abhorrent, to liberals. He seems like a person you'd like to negotiate with, but there's nothing to negotiate over. Ryan is waging a zero sum fight over resources on behalf of the most fortunate members of society and against everybody else.     Share on Facebook

• • Mike Daisey reveals secrets of the world order 
Chris Kompanek, Flavorwire The Fountainhead  [Q:] Who are some of the guests we can expect on [your] show? [A:] [....] I believe we’re going to have someone who’s starring in a film adaptation — this is fascinating — a musical film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. They’re going to be singing some really fantastic songs about libertarianism and female submission. The actress is just charming. A little freaky but charming. I think that’s going to be tremendous. It’s really a wide range of things that I feel capture where we are as a country and a people.     Share on Facebook

• • The good work of government 
William J. Linn, Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Capitalism  The lessons learned from the 19th century robber barons are sufficient to reject [the] naive Ayn Randian notion that the “businessman would never willfully harm his customers and thereby hurt his own future business prospects.” Tell that to the tainted peanut butter “businessman.”     Share on Facebook

• • Editors’ picks 
C. Rollyson, Choice Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  The Virtue of Selfishness  We The Living  Capitalism  Egoism  Personal life  Review of Ayn Rand and the World She Made, by Anne C. Heller.Although not stinting a concern with Rand's ideas, Heller is mesmerized by Rand the novelist and the person. The biographer pores over Rand's early years in Russia with brilliant results, showing how much Rand (born Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum) drew on her experience in the 1920s Leninist state for her impressive novel We the Living.     Share on Facebook

• • Bioshock 2 
Jacob Muncy, San Antonio Current The opening of Bioshock 2 feels like coming home. You awaken in ruins in the old part of Rapture, an underwater city and objectivist paradise created by John Galt archetype Andrew Ryan. [....] Rapture feels alive. Every environment you visit is the ruined remnant of some part of Rapture prior to its collapse, the highlight of which is an amusement park full of objectivist propaganda (seemingly exaggerated unless you’ve read Ayn Rand).     Share on Facebook

• • Tequila sunrise & into the sunset 
Kasmin Fernandes, Mid-Day The Fountainhead  "I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline," author Ayn Rand wrote in The Fountainhead, "The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need?" she asked. "Come to Mumbai," we say.     Share on Facebook

• • Fallen role models - keeping the value 
Somik Raha, Desicritics.org (India) Personal life  Inaccurate  Me: I find it very hard to follow Ayn Rand's philosophy, after learning that she died insane. I was very influenced by her writing, but decided to throw it all out after knowing about her personal life. Prof: I used to know a Buddhist teacher many years back, who was very high up in this country. He used to give wonderful enlightening sermons. Then one day, he was found to be a pedophile. I found myself questioning whether the knowledge I'd received from him should be thrown away. It was clear to me that whatever he had said about truth, compassion and love was invaluable, and had helped me in my own life. Nothing he did changed the value of his message for me, so it made no sense to throw out what he said because he could not live up to it.     Share on Facebook