Just Finished Reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

I had already long heard of writer Ayn Rand's Objectivism movement, portrayed in novels like Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged, but had never gotten around to reading anything of hers.  I heard that folks like former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh, former Congressman Ron Paul, and Rush drummer Neil Peart had each at some point in their lives been followers of Rand's...but it wasn't until I saw an episode of the satirical cartoon series South Park of all things that I finally relented and read her so-called "masterpiece", the gargantuan 1957 Atlas Shrugged...

It was the episode in which police officer Barbrady comes out and admits that he can't read...he then goes back to elementary school to catch up.  At the end, he's literate and is given a copy of Atlas Shrugged.  His reaction? In Barbrady's words, "Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read.  It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  I read every last word of this garbage and because of this piece of s--t, I am never reading again."  My reaction upon finishing it was a little more positive, but I have my own criticisms...

The setting of Atlas Shrugged...at least at its beginning...is an America of the mid-twentieth century that initially, at least on the surface, roughly corresponds to what it was really like.  The protagonists are visionary industrialists steel producer Hank Rearden and railway magnate Dagny Taggart. They exemplify the author's ideology of realism and objective reasoning as opposed to the social engineers and mystics around them who try to sabotage their efforts at success.  The political tide turns against "creators" like Rearden and Taggart as "second-handers" and "looters"...neither of which contribute anything real to the economy...take over.  While this is all going on, innovators, rationalist thinkers, and industrial leaders are subtly disappearing...where are they all going?  And who is this John Galt we keep hearing about throughout the narrative?  Mr. Galt finally makes his appearance late in the story...and delivers a monstrously long televised discourse explaining his worldview and why the moochers are doomed to failure...

I'm going to stick to my general pattern of book reviews and avoid telling how it all ends.  I will say, though, that unlike the fictional and hysterically funny Officer Barbrady from South Park, I knew in advance to read Atlas Shrugged more as a treatise of Ayn Rand's ideology than as a traditional novel.  That's a good thing, because the characters came across more as stick figures, with the "good guys" all sounding pretty much like the same person and the villains so similar to each other that they were often only distinguishable by name...and the dialogue was so contrived and unnatural that I found myself laughing at it.  The bottom line is this: Rand believed that pursuing one's own self-interests, especially economic self-interests, is the highest form of morality and that an unrestricted and unregulated economy...based on the gold standard...is the greatest social system ever devised.  Conversely, those who seek to use taxation to fund the government, form labor unions to collectively bargain working conditions and wages, spread any religious or ethical doctrine promoting altruism or social justice, or impose any sort of government regulation are operating from a moral framework of evil...in the author's clearly enounced opinion.  Yeah, I've got lots of problems with the message in this book.  Yet...

I did pick up on a couple of important points that I think Ayn Rand was trying to convey.  There is a blatant degree of hypocrisy in our society as so many openly criticize materialism and those who enjoy the material fruits of their labor while expecting to be handed those same material benefits without having played any substantial role in bringing them about.  Also, on a more personal level, from childhood I have often felt isolated and even shunned whenever I demonstrated special skill, intelligence, and accomplishments in a social setting...the default attitude in this society that outwardly pretends to reward initiative and success but vilifies those responsible for it seems to be that it's okay to achieve or be smart as long as you keep it hidden from others.  That folks would rather seek to be seen as one of the "people" instead of rising above others is a surefire sign of a stagnant, if not sinking, society that exalts mediocrity and conformity over excellence and ambition...