Speaking of Ayn Rand…

Shortly after posting my last post concerning “atheist atrocities,” I ran across this short 1961 video clip of Ayn Rand that Doug Mataconis posted at The Liberty Papers. In this clip, Rand explains where the Republican Party and the conservative movement went so horribly wrong in the way they were trying to defend Capitalism and liberty.



Defending Capitalism and liberty on the basis of faith and/or tradition, is a prescription for failure. What’s amazing to me is that Rand saw these fallacies creeping into the conservative movement’s dialogue well before the Christian Right took over the Republican Party.

Now, fast forward to the 2008 presidential campaign: What are the central topics for debate on Republican side? Unfortunately, most of the discussion appears to be about Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and whether or not Mormons are really Christians. With every passing day, the debate gets even more absurd. Mike Huckabee was curious as to whether or not Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers!

Is this really what keeps G.O.P. primary voters up at night?

While the religious convictions of the candidates are and their willingness to defend traditions take center stage, issues concerning Capitalism and liberty are mere afterthoughts. Mike Huckabee shows disdain for “greedy corporations” and “outsourcing” in much the same way the Left does while promoting the Christian Conservative agenda. He’s basically a cross between Lou Dobbs and Pat Robertson – the worst of both worlds.

Mitt Romney wants government run healthcare, though he insists that Romneycare is very different from Hillarycare. Rudy Giuliani is a gun grabbing authoritarian (who claims that he has since changed his ways since being the mayor of New York City) who recently won the endorsement of Pat Robertson. John McCain thinks that free speech doesn’t apply to political speech. Fred Thomson has made some attempts to defend Federalism and Capitalism but apparently doesn’t really want to be president.

Only one candidate, Ron Paul, speaks about such things as liberty, Capitalism, and the Constitution with any credibility. Frudy McRomnabee laughs and mocks Ron Paul as he advocates upholding the Constitution and the principle of limited government.

These were the principles that Conservatives once cared about. At least when Ayn Rand recorded this video they were willing to defend these things even as flawed as their arguments were.