Libertarianism 3. Objectivism

Ayn Rand began the first part of her life as a romantic novelist in which she portrayed her ideal man struggling against inferior men who tried to pull down what the hero had created. Although it is not the place to discuss the literary merits of her books, the Hero's were flawless, whilst their adversaries were pitiful, envy filled wretches who conspired to tear down the heroes.

The theme of her final Novel Atlas Shrugged can be seen as a romanticisation of Big Business. In the plot the hero's had achieved their coal, steel or railroad fortunes through hard work and business acumen, but were constantly being strangled by the machinations of politicians and lesser men. Their solution was to go on strike against world and without their genius watch civilisation slowly disintegrate around them without their help.

This theme of selfish individualism was carried forward into the philosophy known as objectivism, which glorified Big Business as the highest achievement of freedom and encouraged its adherents to drop any collective identities they held and adopt a purely individualistic identity. It is comically ironic that a movement that prided itself on its individualism took on all the trappings of a cult. For those interested in a blow by blow demolition of Ayn Rand’s work I suggest they read the book Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature available to read free on the Web.

Sadly though despite the fact that her philosophy does not stand up to scrutiny it was very influential on the libertarian movement, with her fiction and philosophy enjoying a wide audience. Whilst it would be wrong to label all libertarians as fanatical Randroids, many have been clearly influenced by her advocacy of rootless individualism to the point where many Libertarians defend Big Business, despite its close ties with the state and embrace an individualism clearly at odds with social reality. Hence the almost dogmatic insistence of the virtues of open borders despite the fact that by opening ones borders they would destroy what is left of the free society they hope to preserve.