Oh god I am with you- Ayn Rand was a lunatic. Her circular logic was so transparent- I have to wonder how anyone could swallow her BS. However, when I was younger, I made a point to study her 'philosophy' as an exercize in discipline. Here are excerpts from James T. Baker's "Ayn Rand":
"Rand and Branden had by 1968 collected an intimidating host of true believers. Jerome Tuccille, one disenchanted member of the clan, later recalled that they were all jutjawed, humorless, competetive types who tended to ape Rand by wearing capes and dollar sign pins and smoking cigarettes (nonsmoking was 'anti-life') from silver holders. They were all expected to agree with every word Rand or Branden said; and they were all required to follow the Atlas creed, which they recited at initiation: 'I swear-by my life and my love of it-that I will never live for another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.'"
"Tuccille dropped out of the movement in the late 1950s, as he found Rand's behaviour growing even more bizarre; as one member was read out of fellowship because his wife could not bring herself to be an athiest; as another was denounced as 'anti-life' because he did not take up cigarettes; and finally as Rand became so entranced by a cha-cha dance instructor that she required her followers all to learn Latin rhythms, the 'most rational' of music, the kind most compatible with Objectivism."
Anyway, the real issue here is not some long dead pseudo-philosopher. I have had many of the same reservations about Obama that 'Galt' has pointed out. I never believed Obama would be the agent of change that many seemed to hope he would be. After the Bush years, I think people would have voted a crippled horse into office rather than deal with 4 more years of Neo-Con lunacy. Obama became a symbol, and some people pinned unrealistic expectations on him. Bottom line: he's a Democrat, and therefore part of the two party system that is bringing this country to its knees. Personally, I like his personality and style, and was a little tempted to vote for him, but thank god I didn't. Inroads into the the Tongass Wilderness? This makes me ill.
The most rational of music.....
"Rand and Branden had by 1968 collected an intimidating host of true believers. Jerome Tuccille, one disenchanted member of the clan, later recalled that they were all jutjawed, humorless, competetive types who tended to ape Rand by wearing capes and dollar sign pins and smoking cigarettes (nonsmoking was 'anti-life') from silver holders. They were all expected to agree with every word Rand or Branden said; and they were all required to follow the Atlas creed, which they recited at initiation: 'I swear-by my life and my love of it-that I will never live for another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.'"
"Tuccille dropped out of the movement in the late 1950s, as he found Rand's behaviour growing even more bizarre; as one member was read out of fellowship because his wife could not bring herself to be an athiest; as another was denounced as 'anti-life' because he did not take up cigarettes; and finally as Rand became so entranced by a cha-cha dance instructor that she required her followers all to learn Latin rhythms, the 'most rational' of music, the kind most compatible with Objectivism."
Another example of her bizzare form of logic can be found in her "An Open Letter to Boris Spassky", which can be found here: afterdark-afterdark.blogspot.com/2008/01/capitalism-vs-communism.html
Anyway, the real issue here is not some long dead pseudo-philosopher. I have had many of the same reservations about Obama that 'Galt' has pointed out. I never believed Obama would be the agent of change that many seemed to hope he would be. After the Bush years, I think people would have voted a crippled horse into office rather than deal with 4 more years of Neo-Con lunacy. Obama became a symbol, and some people pinned unrealistic expectations on him. Bottom line: he's a Democrat, and therefore part of the two party system that is bringing this country to its knees. Personally, I like his personality and style, and was a little tempted to vote for him, but thank god I didn't. Inroads into the the Tongass Wilderness? This makes me ill.