- Paul Krugman

There is a new docu on Apple trailers about Atlas Shrugged. I have never read the book, which, I know, is a mortal sin when it comes to the concept of commenting on it. But reading the Wikipedia synopsis, I can tell this one thing - It is a book that espouses a certain philosophy about people, have’s and have not’s, the government and its role in society, and business. Major points -

1) There are two types of people. The first type are those that are talented and smart. The second type is everyone else. Rand feels that the second type can go fuck themselves. They should be tossed into a void, only to come out, on occasion and pay homage to the great gods that are smart people. If they have to work three jobs to make ends meet, so be it. If they have to work 18 hour days, so be it. If they have to toil away with no insurance, no security, and barely anything in reward for the work that they have done, so be it. They aren’t in the first group, and therefore deserve nothing.

2) Government is the source of all problems. What’s wrong with that? Government is a huge problem. It is corrupt, slow, and often times does more harm than good. Why not pear it down to some thing that just does the most bare necessities of what a government should do? That’s what our forefather’s intended anyway, right? Because - There are a lot of people in this country who have a lot of money, a lot of power, and no morals. The little bit of government that exists that actually does right, is generally the bit that is trying to help those who can not help themselves. This book seems to pre-suppose that everyone with money and power (aka everyone in the first group) has morals, and everyone in the second group doesn’t, when, in reality, it is almost always the other way around. Money, power, success, and fame are all things that corrupt, and, yet, Rand deify’s these things. 

3) If the “talented” and “productive” minds of science go on strike, the country’s economy will collapse. Lady, what world were you living in? America is a consumer based economy. While innovations play a part in bursts of spending, the reality is advertising is what pushes people to fork over those dollars. If a group of scientists and inventors go on strike, as long as the same old stuff is still being produced, and someone at an agency can come up with a catchy way to sell it, the economy roles on. TV’s may have changed, but a TV is still a TV. If the scientists that designed the remote control had gone on strike, people wouldn’t stop buying TV’s. On top of that, while all of the scientists are on strike, some schmo would turn around and invent the remote control and sell it on TV for 19.95, while all of these other guys are sitting on their hands “on strike”, because THAT is the American way. Innovation never ceases because a handful of people decide to stop doing what they’re doing. Mankind ALWAYS pushes forward.

I still need to read this book, but I’m guessing I won’t like it. It sounds like a case of a writer who is so caught up in their own version of how they see the world, that the characters and world they create can’t escape the gravity of their single mindedness. Who is John Galt? Sounds like a dude who can’t see the forest for the tree’s, if you ask me. But then again, isn’t that what happens when you are selfish? In other words, focused only on your own needs, and not those of the people around you? Oh yeah, Rand’s big philosophy in Atlas Shrugged? “Rational Selfishness”. Rational or not, it’s still selfishness. 

I wish the world was perfect. I wish no one lied, cheated, or stole. I wish everyone put in their fair share. But Rand’s book doesn’t sound like a blueprint to get there. It sounds like an angry tome, written by a woman still bitter about the fact that her father’s store was taken over by Bolshevik’s in the Russian revolution. The funny part about all this? I’m sure their community probably helped them get back on their feet. People probably sacrificed to help them pull things back together. Sacrifice is generally not on the to-do list of people who purposely practice selfishness. Not everyone down on their luck is there because they are lazy or stupid. Thank goodness there are people out there who are NOT selfish, and NOT judgmental, and will do things to help those in need find their way home.