Ayn Rand

by James T. Baker

Profiles the life and career of the writer, and analyzes her works

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

168 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1987

Reviews

[Cheryl Gatling]

There is a saying in our house: a person is always fighting the last battle. At home it usually means that a person is trying to please the new girlfriend by doing the things that the old girlfriend wanted, even though the new girlfriend wants different things. Or it can mean thinking that the "liberation" of Iraq is going to turn out just like the liberation of Europe in WWII. It means being stuck in the patterns of the past. When Ayn Rand was a girl in Russia, the Russian Revolution occurred. Her family had been comfortable before the revolution, and they were nearly starving afterward. This taught her that for the government to take anything from anyone in order to help someone else was evil, pure evil. To even consider the welfare of others was evil. Individual liberty was sacrosanct. You can see where she is coming from. But she fought this battle for the rest of her life, playing her ideas out to a logical conclusion that was beyond logic, where everything was always black or white, pure good or pure evil, and where Ayn Rand was always right. When I read that she had said in an interview that two rational-thinking men would never have a conflict, because reason would naturally bring them both to the same conclusion, I nearly laughed out loud. I also laughed when I read that a true love of life would lead anyone to take up smoking. I even read that when Ayn Rand was an embittered older woman, ruling like a dictator over her cult of disciples, she purged any who didn't completely agree with her, and also threw some people out because they refused to smoke. All in the name of individual liberty.

Of course we believe in individual liberty. You need only watch a few Disney movies to see that that is a cornerstone of our culture-- believing in your dreams, not being afraid to march to a different drummer. And the collectivist Borg of Star Trek, with their hive mind, are the ultimate enemy. The only defense against them was to "infect" them with the idea of individual consciousness. Likewise, a controlling "central government" is the villain of A Wrinkle in Time. But Disney movies also teach us that if you are kind to the little mice and birds, then they will help you in your hour of need. Friendship and loyalty and teamwork are what help the individualist to his goal. In the real world this means that we have individual liberties, but they are not absolute. We agree to pay taxes so that we can all have schools and sewers and bridges. In Rand's beloved golden age of capitalism, the 19th century, strong, bold men built empires of industry. But they did it by cutting wages and lengthening hours as far as they possibly could, and by having lethally-unsafe conditions in their factories. In real life there has to be a balance between individual rights and the the common good. Communist Russia was not it. But Rand's fantasy America of completely unfettered capitalism, with no regulations, and with only voluntary taxes, would not be it either.

This relatively slim book begins with a biographical chapter on the events of Rand's life, then chapters summarizing the plots and themes of all her written work. There is a chapter on her life as a philosopher, on her major ideas, and on the reactions of others, both for and against. It ends with a summary of her contributions, and what she will be remembered for. For she does live on. Randian ideas are clearly being tossed around in politics today. It is sometimes said that one hates Rand or loves her. I do not love her.