Ayn Rand, Greenspan and Tea Parties

Ayn Rand was an author whose books typically sell 200,000 to 300,000 copies per year but over the last year sales of her books were about 2,000,000 copies. Rand, from St. Petersburg Russia, experienced the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution during her teenage years. The Bolsheviks quickly implemented state control of almost every facet of life down to the number of calories that a person would consume. In her books, capitalist owners of corporations are the heroes and are persecuted by the masses. In addition to being an author, she is noted for espousing a plotical philosophy that she called Objectivism which essentially was a Libertarian philosophy that rejected any state involvement in virtually every aspect of life especially economic life. She firmly believed that state control and socialism would cause to a profound loss of liberty. For reasons that I can't pretend to understand, many Americans, especially those in the Tea Party movement, believe that the Obama administration has a hidden objective of imposing a socialist system in the US. Why so many fervently believe in the socialist intent of the Obama Administration when Republican US president's in the last 100 years have imposed price controls, appropriated land for a national parks system or highway system, etc, is a mystery to me.

Keep in mind that in Rand's view, all industrialists were heroes. Her role models were the 19th century US industrialists who are sometimes called the robber barons. Very few would want to return to an economics system where monopolies, cut throat competition with management tactics that included arson, price fixing and physical violence or control of politics by the few was the norm. I personally see little difference between the many of the 19th century industrialists and the Bolsheviks.

The political philosophy of Rand is not new. The economist Hayek made the same arguments but the novels of Rand are a much easier read than economics books and the philosophy of Rand gives voice to the beliefs and fears of many of those in the Tea Party movement which explains the recent rise in her book sales.

What is surprising to me is that someone as notable as Alan Greenspan who certainly could handle an economics book developed such a close personal relationship with Rand and support her political economy philosophy without apparent reservation. Greenspan was such a Laissez Fair capitalist that he even argued against laws that made fraud in financial markets illegal. He believed that the markets would punish those who engaged in fraud so no laws were required. If there had not been laws against fraud, Bernie Madoff would certainly have seen his investment business go bust but he would have just retired to his yachts and Manhattan penthouse rather than going to jail.

Rand developed her life's philosophy and world view based solely on her personal experience with the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution which was an extreme but never-the-less local affair. I can't help but believe that her world philosophy would have been exactly reversed if she experienced the mid 19th century work houses in Britain rather than the Bolshevik revolution. But I guess that this wasn't an option because another author, Charles Dickens, already had this covered in his book Oliver Twist.

My point is that something as complicated as government is never a black and white issue and that any world view formed on a single event in a single location is bound to be distorted, limited and of no use.