Ayn Rand

Latest Posts in Ayn Rand

April 2023 Magazine

Our April issue explores financial literacy, the enduring myth of Ayn Rand, and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Also featured is Sally Haver's nostalgic recollection of Cambridge in the 1960s and Robin Lindley's interview with Kermit Roosevelt III. Patricia Vaccarino's book review of White Cargo offers a controversial perspective of slavery, albeit white slavery.


Ayn Rand Shrugged:Time to Reject a Dangerous Doctrine

While Rand idealized the rich and powerful and endowed them with virtues they often don’t have, she was hostile to all the rest of society.  She opposed all welfare, all help for the poor, all infrastructure spending, and proposed that taxes be made voluntary.  


“Survival of the Fittest”: Herbert Spencer (and Friends) Got It Wrong

 
The term “survival of the fittest” was coined by the famed 19th century British social theorist Herbert Spencer as a way of characterizing Darwin’s natural selection theory.  Darwin himself soon started using the expression, but it was also embraced by what came to be known as the “Social Darwinists” – various apologists for the free-wheeling, laissez-faire capitalism of that era that featured ruthless economic competition, the brutal exploitation of workers, and extreme inequalities of wealth and poverty.   

What the Republican Tax Package Means

The deep purpose of the current (Fall 2017) tax package, poorly disguised behind a smoke-screen of bald-faced lies, is to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor -- and the middle-class, and future generations.  Those of us who already benefit the most from our society will pay less taxes (in some cases billions of dollars less), while taking benefits away from the rest of us.


Ayn Rand Shrugged

It is somewhat amazing that Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, first published in 1957, is near the top of the current best-seller list.  It has long enjoyed a cult following as a sort of CEO’s bible, inspiring each new generation of libertarian political conservatives.  Now it seems that the gospel according to Ayn is spreading beyond the Tea Party to the parasitical “masses” that she denounces.