Ayn Rand blamed for current state of America

[Jackalope]

I've never bothered to read Ayn Rand.

I have. You're missing out on nothing valuable.

[The Grand Nudger]

Neither have the crushing majority of people who swear by it.

[Mister Agenda]

I read almost everything by her and she was a big influence on me. In my defense, I was a teenager.

[Brian37]

She didn't develop sound critiques of systems she wasn't against.  She built rotten strawmen and then singularly failed to tear them down.  Her whole corpus was the wailing screed of a spoilt child convinced she knew everything while revealing that she knew fuck all.  Her whole problem sith communism was that Lenin didn't see her "obvious greatness" not the evils within the system and her "solution" would have lasted roughly a half a day before turning into cannabalistic anarchy.

She was worthless, her books were worthless (in fact her best book Anthem was an undisguised theft of the much better We by Zelmatyn), and her worldview an affront to allmoral people.

She showed collectivism stifles individuality.  That's valid and sound.  But taken too far you get anti-maskers.  I don't get worked up over it or seek moral high ground.

I think far too many humans oversimplify everything as being an "either/or" proposition. And she most certainly sold an absolute herself too.

I am not for "fuck you I got mine" but some on that side stupidly automatically call you a communist or socialist and falsely assume you love Castro and Stalin and China's communism. I am for mixed economies, a free but FAIR market, and I am against all forms of monopolies, be they business, political party, or religion. One doesn't solve problems by defaulting to the opposite extreme.

[Ranjr]

I think far too many humans oversimplify everything as being an "either/or" proposition. And she most certainly sold an absolute herself too.

I am not for "fuck you I got mine" but some on that side stupidly automatically call you a communist or socialist and falsely assume you love Castro and Stalin and China's communism. I am for mixed economies, a free but FAIR market, and I am against all forms of monopolies, be they business, political party, or religion. One doesn't solve problems by defaulting to the opposite extreme.

Agreed.  We need balance, as demonstrated on Hemispheres, which, again offering an unpopular opinion, is as great as 2112.

[no one]

That's the trouble with the maples. (And they're quite convinced they're right)

[HappySkeptic]

Agreed.  We need balance, as demonstrated on Hemispheres, which, again offering an unpopular opinion, is as great as 2112.

As a huge Rush fan, I fully agree!

[Brian37]

Agreed.  We need balance, as demonstrated on Hemispheres, which, again offering an unpopular opinion, is as great as 2112.

As a huge Rush fan, I fully agree!

I will ALWAYS be a RUSH fan, but looking back at some of the lyrics of some of their songs, they really strike me as libertarians. Tom Sawyer and Red Barchetta have a upper middle class self entitlement quality about them. While there is something to be said for individuality, and valuing such, there is also a risk of ending up like Ayn Rand.

Trust me though, despite this criticism of there themes, I will always give them credit for their arrangements, riffs, solos and having the best drummer in Rock history.

[no one]

Did you mean best drummer in the history of history?

[Brian37]

I read almost everything by her and she was a big influence on me. In my defense, I was a teenager.

Full disclosure, as a pre teen, and teen there was a time when I did support Reagan, even when I couldn't vote. I think the biggest reason I did at the time was how he stood up to the USSR. But looking back at it now, in retrospect, that was about the only thing he got right. Libertarians to me are merely economic Republicans on meth. Ayn Rand most certainly hated dictators as much as Reagan, and both are strong on national defense spending, but seems that neither ever want to listen to Ike. 

Ironically, it was a RUSSIAN who prevented a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Doesn't mean Stalin's communism, or even today, Putin are empathetic humanitarians. Putin will always be a product of Soviet oppression.