Dear Paul Ryan,
Ayn Rand has many very compelling points
that she makes in her stories. No doubt
she is one of the greatest authors in recent history if not all time. I first read her work when I myself was just
a young impressionable idealistic college student looking at life and all the
great possibilities that lay before me.
I myself, like so many others, took what she wrote at face value and
subscribed to her theories and ideals as undisputed truths.
It wasn’t until years later that I
started to think critically about it and realized that I had missed a key word
when drawing my own logical conclusions.
The key word everyone skips in arguing for or against Ayn Rand’s ideals is
the word ‘stories’. It wasn’t until I
thought about that word, that I started to realize that while her written
arguments are compelling, they’re still just stories and fiction, not
facts. And because it’s fiction, she
didn’t have to provide any real world studies, facts, or scientific data to
back up her claims. Instead, she was
able to tailor her stories to an ideal and leave out the parts where one would
logically start to see the cracks and holes.
For instance, she sees the economy as
purely rational and logical, which would be great, except the economy is
comprised entirely of humans and humans aren’t entirely rational
individuals. We aren’t robots running a
program that dictates we find the best logical outcome and move toward that
goal. We are human and that means we are
at different points both logical AND emotional beings. Many cultures have centuries old proverbs
calling out what Ayn Rand would very much like to ignore. Even modern psychology widely accepts the
Freud’s structural model of ‘id’ and ‘ego’ as fact. Still, my favorite is the Cherokee version…
An elder Cherokee Native American was
teaching his grandchildren about life.
He said to them, ‘A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight,
and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, guilt, resentment,
envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, inferiority, false pride,
lies, and ego. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing,
serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity,
truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on within you and every
other person too.’
They thought about it for a minute and
then one child asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf will win?’
The Old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The
one you feed.’
It’s Rand’s choice to pretend that ‘id’
doesn’t exist in society, which leads to the largest flaw in all of her
books. The biggest hole of all is her
refusal to address violence as a logical outcome of a situation. She pretends that when driven into a corner
between life and death, that desperate human beings will not resort to any
means possible to survive. That when
society collapses and people are starving on the street that they wouldn’t
break into your home and slit your throat in order to eat your food and cloth
themselves. The real world travesty that
occurred in Louisiana during hurricane Katrina demonstrated that the real world
version of Atlas would have a much different ending.
For these reasons, when I see your
quotes demonstrating your blind following and belief in what Ayn Rand wrote to
be scripture of some sort, it concerns me deeply. So, while I still truly believe that many of
Ayn Rand’s ideas, most specifically free market capitalism, will prove to be
true in some form. I don’t truly believe
you’re ready to lead the free world until…
Hmmm…
let’s see how to put this in a way you’d understand? Well you like stories right? So maybe another famous story / screenplay? How about Good will Hunting... you’ll be
playing the role of Clark in this one.
Mitt will be playing the role of one of your ‘do what your told’, silver
spoon fed, my daddies reputation got me into college, ivy league buddies
laughing idiotically in the background.
As for Will? Well let’s just say
I wish the 24 hour news networks were still doing their job these days and
informing the public, in which case they could play Will, but as it stands,
those folks who still have values and higher moral purpose working in the world
of TV may have died out with Reagan.
“Will: My contention is that prior to
the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities, especially in the southern
colonies, could be most aptly described as agrarian pre-capitalist.
Will: Of course that's your contention.
You're a first-year grad student; you just got finished reading some Marxian
historian, Pete Garrison probably. You're gonna be convinced of that 'till next
month when you get to James Lemon. Then you're going to be talking about how
the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist
way back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year; you're gonna be in here
regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin' about, you know, the pre-revolutionary
utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.
Clark: Well, as a matter of fact, I
won't, because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social...
Will: "Wood drastically
underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth,
especially inherited wealth"? You got that from Vickers' "Work in Essex
County," page 98, right? Yeah, I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize
the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter?” ”
In other words Paul, don’t be
Clark. Learn to think for yourself. Expand your mind, study and read non-fiction
history, science and economics literature to improve your understanding of the
world. Draw your conclusions and draft
your policy based on real world data sets and scientific facts. Then use these facts and truths to put in
place policy reforms that will lead to the betterment of all of American
society and the world. Don’t get me
wrong many of Ayn Rand’s points may prove true in practice Until you are able
to do that, until you can put down the storybook fiction of childhood and join
us in the real world, you are not ready to be the president and leader this
great country needs.
Sincerely,
A concerned American
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