Galt, Gold and God | Gather

August 25, 2012 11:09 AM EDT

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Galt, Gold and God

I read both of Ayn Rand's major books - Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead -- when I was 19 and thought, at the time, that she must be a psychotic with major control and power issues. It astonished me that so many people actually took her seriously. Years later I became very good friends with Nathaniel Branden her onetime lover and for many years, before his own disillusionment, her leading spokesperson. I asked Nathaniel, whom I both liked and respected, what he had found so beguiling. I confess after his explanation it still didn't make any sense to me. Objectivism is such obvious nonsense. I place it as the antipode to Marx's Das Kapital. Both of them theoretical works written by people who hadn't a clue what real life was about -- and who were utter hypocrites to boot. It tells me more about Paul Ryan than I want to know that he remains enthrall to Rand, and the idea that a Vice President of the United States would be influenced by her I find quite scary. Stephan A. Schwartz? www.schwartzreport.net

PAUL KRUGMAN, Nobel Laureate and Op-ed Columnist - The New York Times

So far, most of the discussion of Paul Ryan, the presumptive Republican nominee for vice president, has focused on his budget proposals. But Mr. Ryan is a man of many ideas, which would ordinarily be a good thing. In his case, however, most of those ideas appear to come from works of fiction, specifically Ayn Rand?s novel 'Atlas Shrugged.? For those who somehow missed it when growing up, 'Atlas Shrugged? is a fantasy in which the world?s productive people - the 'job creators,? if you like - withdraw their services from an ungrateful society. The novel?s centerpiece is a 64-page speech by John Galt, the angry elite?s ringleader; even Friedrich Hayek admitted that he never made it through that part. Yet the book is a perennial favorite among adolescent boys. Most boys eventually outgrow it. Some, however, remain devotees for life. And Mr. Ryan is one ...

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