Non-Contradiction

Yep... just finished Part One of Ayn Rand's signature novel Atlas Shrugged.

312 pages down... 757 pages to go.

Confession: This is my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. When I'm done with Atlas Shrugged I'll tackle Anthem, The Fountainhead, and then go back to read Rand's first novel, We The Living.

Allow me to offer recognition and public thanks to Stephen Moore, senior economic writer for the Wall Street Journal, who recently penned an article which noted "If only "Atlas" were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I'm confident that we'd get out of the current financial mess a lot faster."

And yes, first of all, as anyone who knows me could guess, such a statement was the perfect "bait" to entice your not so humble and rarely obedient correspondent here to read Atlas Shrugged for myself.

But no, second of all, at least from my perspective gained via having read the first third of Rand's novel, Moore seems to misidentify those who would profit by reading Atlas Shrugged. Those members of Congress and political appointees whom Moore identifies as likely to profit from reading Atlas Shrugged are actually the ones whom Atlas Shrugged identifies as the "looter" class.

Moore's contention seems to be: "If only they knew better."

No, Mr. Moore. If one part of the problem is simple ignorance, the far more intractable obstacle to reform is willful ignorance, pursuing the wrong policies not because one isn't aware of where they'll lead, not pursuing them in spite of where such policies will lead, but rather, pursuing them in the knowledge that such policies are the quickest and surest path to governmental steerage of the economy and through the commanding heights of steerage of the economy a tighter grip on control of society.

Mr. Moore. Far too many politicians WANT society to be dependent upon government. Since these politicians ARE the government they see this route - quite logically I desparingly admit - as the optimal path to increased power for themselves.

Let me ask you... let me ask you all... do you think men like Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, Charlie Rangel, and Henry Waxman care more about "how well" the sectors of the economy under their purview operate than how "under control" they are from a political perspective...???

Cynicism aside, Moore hits the nail on the head when he compares Rand's fiction to today's political/economic reality:

The current economic strategy is right out of "Atlas Shrugged": The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. That's the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies - while standing next in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers, construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive bailout to "calm the markets," another trillion of national wealth is subsequently lost. Yet, as "Atlas" grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate "windfalls."

(*SIGH*)

Yes. It does seem in many respects that Rand's nightmare is the daydream - nay, the goal - of a majority of the upper echelon of our current crop of political, social, and even business leadership. Therefore... where are we, The People, left?

Rather than it being our "leaders" who would most profit by reading Atlas Shrugged, I contend that it is the average high school student, college student, 20-something year old, 30-something year old who should be reading (or re-reading) Atlas Shrugged and demanding our "leaders" pursue ANTI-LOOTER policies rather than continue the failed panic-driven counterproductive governmental flailings begun under Bush and - as I type - being accelerated by Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and and those other dolts who just don't care that the freedom to fail is as imperative to a free society as is the freedom to succeed.

Reading - or re-reading - Atlas Shrugged will not in and of itself set the stage for a new American economic, political, and social renaissance, but it couldn't hurt.

As for me... I'm off to begin reading Part 2... titled Either-Or.