Many on the extreme right, the Republican Party, look to Ayn Rand as the guru of the plutocratic corporatism that they call capitalism. But like virtually all Republican leaders, the deprivations she would impose on others did not apply to her. Republican belief in free enterprise applies to the poor and middle classes only, and is translated, “You’re on your own!” For Republicans, only the rich get the benefits of socialism.
Ayn Rand was not only a schlock novelist, she was also the progenitor of a sweeping “moral philosophy” that justifies the privilege of the wealthy and demonizes not only the slothful, undeserving poor but the lackluster middle-classes as well.
Her books provided wide-ranging parables of “parasites,” “looters” and “moochers” using the levers of government to steal the fruits of her heroes’ labor. In the real world, however, Rand herself received Social Security payments and Medicare benefits under the name of Ann O’Connor (her husband was Frank O’Connor).
As Michael Ford of Xavier University’s Center for the Study of the American Dream wrote, “In the end, Miss Rand was a hypocrite but she could never be faulted for failing to act in her own self-interest.”
Her ideas about government intervention in some idealized pristine marketplace serve as the basis for so much of the conservative rhetoric we see today. “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” said Paul Ryan, the GOP’s young budget star at a D.C. event honoring the author… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Alternet>
Does this remind you of Teabaggers screaming, “Get your government hands off my Medicare” during the health care debate? Somehow it does not occur to these people that for a well-to-do author, or a Republican legislator for that matter, to demonize the safety net, but to avail themselves of its benefits makes it clear what arrogant hypocrites they are.
22 Responses to “Ayn Rand: Republican Hypocrite”
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Actually I wonder how many who claim to subscribe to her theories have ever managed to read her tedious and boring books?
I can’t say. I read Atlas Shrugged many years and thought it was garbage.
“Atlas Shrugged”? Hell, no! Instead he had his palm up waiting for his government handout!
LOL
The charge of hypocrisy doesn’t fly. She opposed these government programs as forms of theft, and opposed self-sacrifice normatively. Would you say grabbing your wallet back from a mugger makes you no better than he?
Welcome Levin. You base your argument on a flawed major premise. Comparing Social Security and Medicare to muggers is your opinion, and a ludicrous one at that.
Because I oppose Wal-Mart’s policies, I do not shop there, even though doing so could save me money. For that reason I am not a hypocrite like Rand.
One of Ayn Rand’s most famous quotes was, “There can be no compromise on basic principles. There can be no compromise on moral issues.”
Therefore employing your analogy of “grabbing your wallet back from a mugger” to absolve Rand of hypocrisy would have, IMO, required Rand to openly admit she was taking Social Security and Medicare moneys – and then loudly proclaim it and rail against her “booty” as a teaching moment to her minions of how to rightfully recover their “government-stolen goods.”
But that’s not what Rand did. She didn’t even apply for it herself, but instead Rand surreptitiously had a social worker do it for her. And she had the social worker apply for it under the name of “O’Connor” – presumably her husband’s name (although Rand refused to use O’Connor except when required on rare occasions in government filings). And then rather than boldly boast about reclaiming the money the government had “stolen” from her – she kept totally quite about her “ill-gotten goods” (at least by Rand’s own measure, they’d be ill-gotten).
I think the term hypocrite can accurately be applied to Rand.
Very well said, Nameless. I did not know about the subterfuge she employed to hide it.
I did actually read at least one Ayn Rand book back in college. Not sure which one. They even made that horrendous movie Fountainhead with Gary Cooper. Not sure what that was all about.
Anyway, who is John Galt to you all and have a nice day. (Atlas Shrugged). I can see why the Rand Paul was named after her.
Still, if she was consistent to her philosophy, she shouldn’t have taken SS or Medicare. So, hypocrite she is.
Rand certainly is like his namesake!
And of course the hypocrite Paul Ryan himself took “government handouts” in the form of Social Security benefits as a youngster:
http://firedoglake.com/2011/01/28/ayn-rand-fanboy-paul-ryan-used-social-security-hammock-to-put-himself-through-college/
Welcome S! 🙂
Thanks for the link! Hypocrisy seems a universal common denominator for Republicans pols and pundits.
Thanks, Tomcat! 🙂
PS – I love kitties, too – I’ve got three cute little fuzzy wuzzies!
Hmmmmm…. sharing the cat box is a pain, but if S is cute…. 😈
You wanna talk cute? Here’s one of my babies:
http://kittenwar.com/kittens/142214/
And of course I’m cute too! 😎
If you’re half as cute as that kitty, it’s time for a Hottie Alert! 😉
😀
Glad we agree.
Social Security and Medicare are government-run insurance programs that were supposed to be paid for by special taxes levied for that purpose. Those who have paid that tax all their lives deserve to collect the benefits they were promised in return. No one on the right, including Rand, has ever said any different.
What we have said is that the program is a fraud, and that people would be better off keeping the money and investing it themselves. The looters in this scenario are the politicians who charge us “insurance premiums” on the pretense that the money is going to be invested to fund future payouts, but instead allow the government to “borrow” the money from itself, and then use it to pay current expenses. They are the looters, not the people who are collecting benefits for which they paid.
Only people who have never bothered to read or understand Rand’s writings would think that this is a “gotcha”. You might as well claim that she was a hypocrite for using the public roads. The government forces us to pay for a service, and then we’re not supposed to use it?
Welcome, Ardsgane.
I have read some of her writings. Social Security was never intended to be anything other than a “pay as you go” system. The pretense on which you base your argument is false. Excess premiums have been invested in government securities and benefits paid out of that pool.
The Contract on America proposes to only pay benefits to those currently 55+.
AMEN, TomCat! AMEN!!!
Thanks Pope Jack!!