« Sacrificing Short-Term Profit for Long-Run Gain | Main | Amorous Politics» Don Boudreaux
February 02, 2005
Ayn Rand's Legacy
Russell Roberts
Today's Ayn Rand's birthday. The big 100. Steven Chapman at the Chicago Tribune argues that she is the mother of both the counterculture '60s and the Reagan Revolution. He also repeats a story I've heard before about Atlas Shrugged:
In 1991, when the Book-of-the-Month Club polled Americans asking what book had most influenced their lives, "Atlas Shrugged" finished second only to the Bible.
I've heard it was a Reader's Digest poll. Maybe both are true or maybe they're apocryphal. What is undeniable is that the book has been incredibly popular. Chapman again:
In all, Rand's books have sold about 22 million copies and continue to sell at the rate of more than half a million a year.
Which raises a puzzle. If her books are so popular and influential, why does the world look like it does? Why is government so big? Chapman touts her influence on the move toward free markets and yes, we've headed in that direction. But not very far. If Atlas Shrugged is indeed our secular bible, you'd think we'd have a smaller government.
One answer is that the government doesn't give people what it wants. I doubt it. True, we get some ghastly special interest provisions put into any particular bill, but it's hard to believe that on the basics like the size of government, the politicians are able to fool or distract us enough to give us big government when most of want small.
An answer I find more compelling is that people take half the message of Atlas Shrugged to heart. The half they like is that it's OK to be happy. The other half, that government should leave us alone, is shrugged off.
My colleague Bryan Caplan has a nice post over at Econlog on Rand's virtues. (And here's Bryan's essay making the case that government pretty much gives us what we want.) Then he wonders why she isn't more popular, especially among people you might think would be sympathetic:
If Rand has so much to recommend her, why the hostility? Non-leftists rarely do well in intellectual popularity contests, but even thinkers who broadly agree with Rand express distaste for her. The main reason, I have little doubt, is that she had a touchy personality, and lots of sour and dogmatic followers. I doubt I could have stayed friends with her for long. But that's a flimsy reason to snub her work.
The secondary reason, I suspect, is that disappointment with Rand as a human being has led critics (many of them former admirers) to apply unreasonably high standards to her work. Yes, many of her philosophical arguments are question-begging. Shocking... unless you've read the work of Descartes, Locke, Kant, or Mill. They all make plenty of embarrassingly bad arguments. If you don't want to dismiss their whole subject matter, you've got to judge philosophers based on their best work and/or the novel questions they raise. And by that standard, Rand more than holds her own.
I have a different explanation. It's not her personality that turns people off, it's the personality of her fictional heroes. We might admire them, but they're hard to love. I have no problem with selfishness and understand the power of the invisible hand. I even can argue that Bill Gates has done more for the world by building Microsoft than his foundation will ever achieve. But Rand's characters don't have much love or empathy in them. Ayn Rand's world is a bit cold for most of us to embrace, even if we defend her understanding of how markets and government work.
And yet. And yet. Her use of fiction has fired a lot of imaginations. And Atlas Shrugged is some page-turner. Has there ever been a book close to that long finished by so many readers who start it?
Posted by Russell Roberts in Books, Politics | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834518ccc69e200d83457f4bb69e2
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Ayn Rand's Legacy:
» Happy Birthday from The Agitator
Ayn Rand turns 100 today. Places to celebrate: Party with the "High Church" Randians. Party with the "Reform Church" Randians.... [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 2, 2005 11:36:53 AM
» Literary Anniversaries from A Dusty Life
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand. Cox and Forkum have a nice tribute to her. Also, yesterday was an anniversary for the birth of Langston Hughes who was born in Joplin, MO.... [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 2, 2005 1:46:11 PM
» Happy 100th, Ayn Rand from A Bluegrass Blog
Today is the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth. [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 2, 2005 5:39:15 PM
» The Rand Centennial from Catallarchy
Various people have commented today on Ayn Rand's 100th birthday, including -
* Bryan Caplan
* Alex Tabarrok
* Tyler Cowen
* Roderick T. Long
* Russell Roberts
* Will Wilkinson
* Radley Balko has some links up
As Tyler states, she made a g... [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 2, 2005 10:57:01 PM
» MP3 File Search from The Mp3Database
Download mp3 audio music and song lyrics. Mp3 search engine to music links for free download ... Quick Database Search search in 250209 mp3 entries ...
[Read More]
Tracked on Mar 26, 2006 5:53:22 AM
» Cell Phone Chargers-eBay from Cell phones: Cell phone reviews, Mobile phone reviews
Battery chargers are made to fit particular cell phone models. ... Car chargers are one of the most popular cell phone accessories. ... [Read More]
Tracked on Apr 16, 2006 10:17:41 AM
» Europages, European directory from Open Directory Project
Multilingual european business directory, 600000 european companies, european company directory and business opportunities, trade leads, ... [Read More]
Tracked on Apr 28, 2006 11:02:45 PM
» Bush Lampoons Self At Press Dinner from appearance at
appearance at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner not once, but twice. Mr. Bush invited [Read More]
Tracked on Apr 30, 2006 5:20:57 AM
» SmartPhone Today: Pidion BM-150 from Smartphone Reviews; Best SmartPhones
The Internet's 3rd Party information center for SmartPhone Shareware, SmartPhone Freeware, Reviews, Hardware, Discussion, and more! Updated Daily... [Read More]
Tracked on Apr 30, 2006 10:29:40 AM
» Dictionary Search Page from Dictionary Search
An unabridged dictionary from aalii to zymurgy, including a pronunciation guide... [Read More]
Tracked on May 22, 2006 12:06:08 AM
» Automakers struggle with high platinum prices from range of $100
precious metals could escalate that headache to a migraine. The chief culprit is platinum, the [Read More]
Tracked on May 24, 2006 5:18:56 PM
» Adding Fresh Content to Your Existing Ebook from [ seo blog
> Ok, so youre at that stage where youve gotten just enough content to [Read More]
Tracked on May 25, 2006 6:14:12 PM
» Newest Oil Production Hot Spot: Canada from Middle East's
But as oil prices rise, it has now become economically feasible to extract it. [Read More]
Tracked on May 27, 2006 11:28:35 PM
» Trinary Utilizes TierConnect Technology for EDI Launch from for supply chains
integration for supply chains built on CoreConnect web technology. (PRWEB Jun 1, 2006)
[Read More]
Tracked on Jun 5, 2006 4:38:11 PM
» Internal Audit: Resources for Internal Auditors from Audit Company
Internal Audit - is the Web portal and online community for the internal audit profession provides free audit work programs, ICQ's, checklists, ...
[Read More]
Tracked on Jun 7, 2006 1:18:24 AM
» Helping Troubled Families Keep Their Kids from ne County's Solution
ne County's Solution to Foster Care Crisis [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 9, 2006 2:51:05 PM
» Dollars for silence? Marine hush money probe from focused on whether
- The investigation of an alleged Marine massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha last year has focused [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 10, 2006 9:35:10 PM
» MUSIC: Portastatic Back It Up from Studios in Durham,
booming computer speaker soundsystem.
I lied. The second album is not recorded. It probably will be, people gotta get their cheddar, gotta [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 12, 2006 11:10:43 PM
» Preterm Birth: Steroids to Avoid Harm? from at-risk mothers
mothers more steroids might reduce the lung problems seen in premature babies. [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 14, 2006 8:10:17 AM
» Israel calls up reserves / Action could signal plans for ground attack in Lebanon from of the Litani
southern Lebanon to leave "immediately" for relative safety north of the Litani River, adding to the [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 24, 2006 9:04:11 PM
» Denett confirmed as OFPP administrator from Portman said
contracts.
He said he intends to offer better training so acquisition workers [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 11, 2006 4:38:18 AM
» Tele Atlas and ESRI Announce Education User Conference Scholarship Winners from Will Post Reports
onorees Will Post Reports about Their Experiences and Impressions on Blog [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 15, 2006 1:04:52 AM
