Saturday, March 29, 2008

Letter with "Ayn Rand" published in Wall Street Journal

A letter of mine that mentioned Objectivism and Ayn Rand was published in the March 26, 2008 Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120649438574664351.html

Here is the contents of that letter (To explain one reference (“Mamet-wording”), Mamet is so known for using the F-word that the columnist humorously referred to the F-word as “Mamet” in his column. Mamet recently renounced liberalism for free markets and other “conservative” ideas.)
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Dear Editor,

Daniel Henniger’s piece on David Mamet’s transition out of the socialist abyss of liberalism was (Mamet-wording) awesome. It instantly brought to this reader’s mind the memory of a friend who was devoutly liberal in college but who just two years out of college made the same startling transition after seeing not only the “theft” from her paycheck but also the real-world dregs who “profited” from that theft. I had never seen her so spirited in denunciation, and her words that spilled forth were sprinkled with “I” and “my”: “my life,” “my time,” “my money.”

Echoes of “I” and “my” came startlingly through in Henninger’s piece with its liberal (please excuse the expression) use of the word “autonomy.” This is a key word of enlightenment thought, a redirection toward the personal responsibility and happiness of the individual (the smallest minority).

The word also brought to mind another woman, whose name is synonymous with individual rights: Ayn Rand, whose fictional characters John Galt and Howard Roark are the archetypes of autonomy. If the younger generation is to have a fundamental grounding for its tendency toward self-directedness, it will need Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism as its guiding light.

If they do so, unctuous liberals like Kevin Spacey will not be able to deny or ignore all the falling trees in the forest.

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