Objections to Objectivism

I recently found a video on You Tube of Rand Paul explaining he was not named for Ayn Rand, contrary to internet rumor. His full name is Randall and it's just a coincidence that he's a big fan of her anti-government novels and philosophy. Lately, I have become interested in her work. I recently read her fantasy novella Anthem about a dystopian future where collectivism has destroyed civilization and the word "I" has been obliterated from the language. I also saw and reviewed the NY premiere of her 1934 play Ideal in which a movie star is accused of murder and seeks refuge with six of her devoted fans. Like Christ she asks her worshippers to forsake safety and side with her, all but one turn her down.

I have not read Rand's longer novels or her philosophical tracts on her view of life called Objectivism, but I did see the movie version of The Fountainhead with Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, and Raymond Massey on TCM. I remember getting an almost Nietzchean vibe from it. The superhero has the right to conduct him or herself however they chose because of their superior sensibility. The hero Howard Roarke is unwilling to compromise his artistic vision in the slightest. When a building he was to have designed is erected by a lesser competitor, he blows it up and Rand believes he is justified in doing so. She later proclaimed she was not in favor of violence, but she did believe the rights of the individual supercede those of the society at large.

I think a lot of Tea Partiers have read her work and are now taking it literally. Any move by the government to have an effect on people's lives, for good or ill, is seen as the first steps towards a tyrannical dictatorship. Ronald Reagan actually made a record in the early 1960s saying Medicare would lead to slavery.

Things I like about Rand's philosophy:

1. Man should rely on reason and not faith. Therefore it is rational to not believe in a God.

2. Excellence should be rewarded. (OK, but that's like saying motherhood is great.)

3. Government should not interfere in people's lives. This can be interpreted several ways and some have taken it to mean no Medicare or Social Security or unemployment benefits. But Rand at least was consistent, believing the government should not lift a finger to help anyone, but it should also not stop anyone from getting an abortion or pass laws against homosexuality, even though she personally found gays repulsive mutant sickos.

Things I don't like:

1. No one should pay taxes. What are you nuts, Ayn? She advocates entirely private infrastructure and services. We'd all be paying tolls and fees through the nose. If every service which should be public--that is something everyone uses--were privately owned, competition would NOT drive prices down. The capitalists would all get together and drive the prices up. That is unless you have government regulations to stop them, and that is exactly what Rand was against.

2.Government should not help anyone at any time.

3.Capitalism should be totally unfettered with no government regulations as to safety, fairness to the consumer, or how the owners conduct business. (She believed the open market would eliminated crooks. Ha!) The Bush White House and Republican Congress removed constrains on Wall Street and the morgage brokers and we all know where that led: Obama getting all the blame.

Rand was raised in Soviet Russia and her father's pharmacy was taken over by the state. I believe she was a brilliant person who was so enraged at this injustice, she went to extremes in the other direction. I do want to read Atlas Shrugged, but the damned thing is over 1,000 pages.

Note: these are just impressions based on Rand's statements and what I have read of her philosophy and her interviews with Mike Wallace, Phil Donahue, and Tom Synder, all available on YouTube.