Showing posts with label Ayn Rand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ayn Rand. Show all posts

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Monstrous Ideas: How Ayn Rand's Pernicious Philosophy Allowed Conservatives to Destroy the US

by Nomad

No philosopher stirs the conservative heart like Ayn Rand. Yet, her warped philosophy of selfishness and the glorification of greed is today a major cause of the American malaise.


Back in 1979, Phil Donahue interviewed Ayn Rand, a person who was later to become "a major inspiration for the Tea Party movement."
If, for that reason alone, the oft-quoted Rand deserves a little of our attention. The interview came at a key moment in American political history, It was when the American voter rejected Carter and instead chose the conservative Ronald Reagan to lead us on a new path. 
In 1966, Ronald Reagan was, in fact, a fan and had written in a personal letter, "Am an admirer of Ayn Rand."

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 2, 1905, Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum was a novelist, playwright, screenwriter and a philosopher beloved by the free-market conservatives. Her brand of philosopher was called Objectivism. Among its other tenets. this philosophic system supports the idea that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (rational self-interest).  Thinking of others is something that should be avoided. It is, she said, a dangerous thing to do.
No wonder it became a founding principle of the conservative movement. 

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Liberty, Marriage Equality and Your Silent Sanction

by Nomad

When it comes to politics, your silence means your approval. 


I saw this intelligently-written article about equality and the values that hold this nation together. I thought it was worth sharing. 

While Ayn Rand is probably not a person I would normally quote, in this context, her words are spot-on. The idea that "Silence means sanction" can also be applied on a larger scale. By not voting in elections, liberals and moderates are giving a stamp of approval for every thing wrong with Congress. Whether they know it or not, they send the message that mixing religion and government is okay, that healthcare is only for those who can afford it, that pushing the country back to the time before the Civil Rights Act is fine and the treating women as second-class citizens is a great idea. 

Marriage Equality, the Ex-Marine and Ayn Rand (via Pride & Equality Post)
Ex-marine Roger Huffstetler discovered two friends were gay. One was a bunkmate from Afghanistan; the other a childhood friend. He started to wonder what kind of friend he was and went to them. Both assured him he had never said or done anything that…