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by Doug MataconisReason Magazine’s Brian Doherty talks about the woman who coined the phrase Radical for Capitalism:
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“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.” Ayn Rand, The Smallest Minority
November 8, 2007
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Brian, what is your opinion of Atlas Shrugged? How old were you when you read it?
Comment by Favela Cranshaw — November 9, 2007 @ 12:41 amAyn hates libertarians, she said so herself and wrote articles about how she is not libertarian or even backs them in any way. Very against being associated with them.
Comment by suvine.com — November 10, 2007 @ 7:51 pmAs Brian discusses in the book, Rand’s antipathy toward libertarians can be ascribed to a few things.
First, she reacted strongly to the anarchist wing of the libertarian movement that was vocal during the 1960s as well as those libertarians who made common cause with the hippies and radicals of the 1960s — who she saw, quite rightly, as the personifcation of nihilism.
Second, a lot of the antipathy can be traced to personal conflicts with other libertarians.
Nobody’s saying Rand was perfect, just that her ideas are important.
Comment by Doug Mataconis — November 11, 2007 @ 5:25 amRegarding Ayn Rand’s antipathy toward libertarians, it is my understanding that her beef stemmed from the fact that those who labeled themselves as such were a philosophically eclectic (muddled, in her eyes) bunch. Rand took a hard line that if you didn’t recognize the truth of her philosophy and subscribe to it entirely, you were part of the problem. She was extremely doctrinaire, trying to build a movement around Objectivism, concerned with setting it apart from other freedom movements and maintaining the purity of it.
That feeling exists still at ARI and has found expression in the reading out of David Kelley.
Comment by David M — November 11, 2007 @ 12:03 pmAyn Rand was never “trying to build a movement.” Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the second-handing parasites that are “the movement.”
Comment by Favela Cranshaw — November 15, 2007 @ 3:35 pm