However... that puts my mind in great conflict from time to time, because I was always a leftist-socialist... and yet Ayn Rand spoke of a very Capitalist kind of extreme right-wing idealogy.
So how do the twain meet?
I'm not sure they can or do!
The characters and heroes of Atlas Shrugged were individualists and against the idea that their personal successes should be shared with those who had nothing to do with it. Hank Rearden made his fortune because he invented a kind of metal that would last longer than steel but cost a fraction of the price. He became wealthy and prominent. Meanwhile, his wife, his mother and his failure of a brother, mooched from him at every opportunity. Hank felt a certain guilt that he had benefited so much from his work and yet these people needed him so much. It takes many pages of the novel before he figures out that they are leaches and that they never planned on making any of their own success stories. In the end, he abandons them all to rot in their weak-minded Hell holes!
The moral of the story, according to Rand is: Don't live your life for the sake of any other, and don't ask any other to live for yours. Each person should be free to create, work and build their own weath and success, and not be made to feel guilty for it by those who haven't had these kinds of success.
To me... especially based on my Christian upbringing, this makes a lot of sense. The Christian world is full of people who expect you to do something for them as a favour or out of your "sacrifice to God." I've had Christian people "hire" me for work and then later make up some bogus story about how they couldn't come up with the money to pay me and that I should perhaps consider it a sacrifice to God. So I guess when I get to Heaven, God will throw a few bucks my way to cover what I lost at the hands of his people!!
So to those people I have no feelings of obligation. They were liars then and will probably remain that way until somebody stops making it so easy for them to screw people over with their ideology!
But what about people who are poor and weak but not because they are lazy or just plain immoral?
I saw a guy begging for money at a street corner today, on my way to get an over-priced Latte from Starbucks. Part of me thinks... "hey buddy... instead of standing on a street corner looking for a hand-out, why don't you go find a job?!" It's easy to look at it that way.
But, if the movie The Fisher King has taught me anything, it's that you never know what's really going on in someone's life, so it's best not to jump to conclusions.
There are people who came from nothing and then stay there. Sometimes it's parenting that caused it. Sometimes it's bad choices. Sometimes it's a society gearing itself towards the more affluent and not providing any escape valves for the poor to sneak into.
I grew up in very modest surroundings. My dad died when I was very young, and my Mom had to go from being a stay-at-home Mom of the 60's to being soul-provider to two boys. Money was always tight, but I was never denied any opportunities to do things. I got to play Minor Hockey and take piano lessons, and I always had some money left over for records. But we didn't take fancy vacations or eat at expensive restaurants. So I guess when I look at my upbringing, I get a bit jealous and nasty when I see spoiled kids of rich parents, but that's human nature right?!!
(I can't believe how many teenagers I see at Starbucks buying designer coffee to sip while they send text messages on their Blackberry's and iPhones! What kind of allowances are THESE kids getting?!!!)
So I'm empathetic to the needs of those who just aren't able to be in a higher financial position. At least in Canada these people don't have to starve to death in order to have health care for their children. In America, so many people are without health care, and this obviously leads to outrageous financial strain. I've driven through the Carolina's where you see run-down shacks all over the place. There might be a nice, expensive truck in the driveway, but the house is a dump. But whether it's a church, a nice house or a Uni-bomber-type shack, there is always an American flag waving outside. I get confused seeing the working poor in America waving their flags of patriotism when they live such a shitty existence. If that is the American Dream, somebody really sold them some Jimmy Jones Juice!
A lot of these same people would protest the raising of taxes, even if it was to provide health care to every American. I've heard many a Southerner tell me, "it's not my responsibility to pay for somebody else's kid to have their braces removed." In Canada, we just don't see it this way. Other countries pay high taxes but GET something for their dollar. Free health care, free medicine, free college/university education. I certainly wouldn't mind paying higher taxes to ensure that those things are available to anyone who wants or needs them.
But that last statement is in direct contradiction with the Ayn Rand philosphy.
So you see where I wrestle with this stuff. On one hand, I want my individuality to be sacred. I don't want any person or interest group telling me how to live or where to spend my money, but then I think of those who are in a desperate situation and I take the attitude that they too, deserve some help to get out of their own messes.
Perhaps the biggest issue with me is the hypocrisy of the Religious Right. I think it's that the Ayn Rand model of ideal conservativism can't co-exist with a religious viewpoint. If Jesus cared about the sick and the poor and the weak, then how can you believe in Jesus but turn a blind eye to the suffering masses? If you don't have a religious philosophy that forces you to believe in Altruism, then you are free to pursue your fortunes without feeling guilty for the ones below you who don't get to share a piece of the pie.
If American Right-wingers were for free-enterprise and freedom from Government control, that would be one issue. But they ARE for these things but also having Government control whether a woman can have an abortion if she chooses to, or whether gay couples can share the legal benefits of marriage along with straight couples. You can't be Pro-life and Pro-Christian and still expect poor people to somehow get off their asses and solve their own problems.
Ayn Rand wrote a book about the Virtues of Selfishness, and in many ways I really appreciate that outlook. We should be allowed to see selfishness as not a negative term, but as a virtue. If all people were on a equal playing field and all out there working to built their own paradise, then society would be a richer, more independent creature. But the playing field is never equal. In fact, it's never been more unequal in modern history. The gap between super-rich and the poor is unbelievable.
So our world is not an Ayn Rand fantasy world. There are people in really bad situations who need some help. If the people who claim Jesus as an example can't offer some assistance, who will?
That's my rant. Depending on the topic and the background info, my opinion can change between these two extremes. We either look out for #1 and say to hell with the weaker losers, or we find some way to help the destitute get a step closer to getting out of their holes.
Who is John Galt?!!
Ian Tanner - November 08
