Traumatized Rand's philosophy is folly

By Dan Ruetenik

Commerce Township resident

There is a small philosophical gem by George Santayana: “Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.” The market crash, like the 2008 bust, was driven by the exact same motivations — intense greed (banks), pure selfishness (Wall Street), and outright theft (Bernie Madoff and the Ponzi people). Delightful ideals for Ayn Rand, but horrible for good people. You know? Us. Social creatures that work together. Remember … socialism is not communism. Check any dictionary.

The great crash of 2008 was under a Republican White House, the house of the “achievers.” The house of the “deciders.” The house of the “job creators.” A house of horrors. And we all lost. Eventually so did the Republicans.

Enter “the socialist.” The guy with the bone-in-his-nose, Barack Obama — the non-American, Muslim, communist, anti-Christ. There he sits in the Oval Office “scheming” of ways to redistribute wealth from the dripping, soaking, satiated “one percenters.” Ya know? The hyper-rich. Now the Tea Party-types and the hee-haw yokels like Hank Williams, Jr. are comparing Obama to Hitler. Seems Obama Care is similar to the Nazi plan? Huh? I think seriously that Hitler’s health plan was a bit more … terminal. Ask any Jew. So we live here now. In the present. And the past … our true past, is the guide forward.

Healing the sick (Obama Care) and feeding the hungry (food stamps) are old ideas. Very old. Compare that to Rand’s philosophy which suggests that altruism is folly, where greed supplants sharing the individual reigns over the group. Ya know? We the people.

Search Ayn Rand. Look deep. You will find a traumatized woman, a sociopath of the first order — and also a person who didn’t learn her history lesson. Indeed. Ayn Shrugged. o