Earlier this year, March 15, 2009, The Wall Street Journal raised this thought and question: "In ATLAS SHRUGGED, Rand tells the story of the U.S. economy crumbling under the weight of crushing government interventions and regulations. Meanwhile, blaming greed and the free market, Washington responds with more controls that only deepen the crisis…" The summary concludes with this question: "Is Rand Relevant?"
John Stossel recently left the ABC Network and affiliated with Fox Business News. His first program will be on Rand’s Book, ATLAS SHRUGGED. His reason is: “I reread the novel recently and was stunned. It was as if Rand had seen the future. Writing half a century ago, she predicted today's explosion of big government in shockingly accurate detail - The "Preservation of Livelihood Law." The "Equalization of Opportunity Law." The "Steel Unification Plan." Don't these sound like laws passed by the current Congress? All were creations of Rand's villain, Wesley Mouch, the evil bureaucrat who regulates business and eventually drives the productive people out of business. Who is today's Wesley Mouch? Barney Frank? Chris Dodd? Tim Geithner?” The Library of Congress once asked readers which books made the biggest difference in their lives. ATLAS SHRUGGED came in second, after the Bible. Atlas is still a big bestseller today. This year, it reached as high as No. 15 on Amazon's bestseller list. Clearly there's some magic in ATLAS SHRUGGED. Yet elites and the MSM hate Ayn Rand. When Atlas first came out, The New York Times wrote that the book is written out of hate. College women's studies courses rarely mention her. One professor says her department head asked: Why would you study that fascist?”
Stossel continues: “Why such antipathy? Rand celebrates business and free markets. The elites don't like business. In every newsroom where I've worked, and at my college, Princeton, capitalism was derided as selfishness. And lately, as a failure. On one website, someone wrote: "You'd think it was a joke, when the global economy was collapsing because of greed, that anyone might turn seriously to the purple prose of crypto-fascist (!) Ayn Rand and think it was the answer to anything" (http://tinyurl.com/cswqhe). Well, I, for one, think her prose answers much. The embrace of freer markets has lifted more people out of the misery of poverty than any other system -- ever. The World Bank says that in just the last 30 years, half a billion people who once lived on less than $1.25 a day have moved out of poverty. But now, Wesley Mouch -- I mean, Congress and the bureaucrats -- tell us they are going to "fix" capitalism, as if their previous "fixes" didn't hamstring the free market and create the problems they propose to solve. Who are they kidding? Rand had it right. She learned it the hard way in Soviet Russia. What makes a country work is leaving people free -- free to take risks, to invent things -- and to keep the rewards of their work. Critics say Ayn Rand promotes selfishness. I call it "enlightened self interest." When free people act in their own self-interest, society prospers.”
Someone wrote the following and stated it well: “The Word of God reveals three specific responsibilities that God has in connection with work: 1. God Gives Talents And Skills. “Every skillful person in whom the Lord has put a skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work”- Exodus 36:1. 2. God Gives Success. “The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man” - Genesis 39:2. 3. God Controls Promotion. “God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another” - Psalm 75:7. In the New Testament, Paul was direct concerning work: “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). God's Word implies that there is dignity in all types of work.” Some things inferred by Rand’s approach may include: (a) the loss of creativity in industry; (b) the diminishing of quality in production; (c) the loss of incentive to invent and invest. In other words – demoralization sets in and antipathy becomes a reality. The work ethic should remain constant for the avowed Christian – whether during oppression, recession, depression, or other hardships – one’s work ethic and effort should always be to please the Lord. Consider these things with me!
John Stossel recently left the ABC Network and affiliated with Fox Business News. His first program will be on Rand’s Book, ATLAS SHRUGGED. His reason is: “I reread the novel recently and was stunned. It was as if Rand had seen the future. Writing half a century ago, she predicted today's explosion of big government in shockingly accurate detail - The "Preservation of Livelihood Law." The "Equalization of Opportunity Law." The "Steel Unification Plan." Don't these sound like laws passed by the current Congress? All were creations of Rand's villain, Wesley Mouch, the evil bureaucrat who regulates business and eventually drives the productive people out of business. Who is today's Wesley Mouch? Barney Frank? Chris Dodd? Tim Geithner?” The Library of Congress once asked readers which books made the biggest difference in their lives. ATLAS SHRUGGED came in second, after the Bible. Atlas is still a big bestseller today. This year, it reached as high as No. 15 on Amazon's bestseller list. Clearly there's some magic in ATLAS SHRUGGED. Yet elites and the MSM hate Ayn Rand. When Atlas first came out, The New York Times wrote that the book is written out of hate. College women's studies courses rarely mention her. One professor says her department head asked: Why would you study that fascist?”
Stossel continues: “Why such antipathy? Rand celebrates business and free markets. The elites don't like business. In every newsroom where I've worked, and at my college, Princeton, capitalism was derided as selfishness. And lately, as a failure. On one website, someone wrote: "You'd think it was a joke, when the global economy was collapsing because of greed, that anyone might turn seriously to the purple prose of crypto-fascist (!) Ayn Rand and think it was the answer to anything" (http://tinyurl.com/cswqhe). Well, I, for one, think her prose answers much. The embrace of freer markets has lifted more people out of the misery of poverty than any other system -- ever. The World Bank says that in just the last 30 years, half a billion people who once lived on less than $1.25 a day have moved out of poverty. But now, Wesley Mouch -- I mean, Congress and the bureaucrats -- tell us they are going to "fix" capitalism, as if their previous "fixes" didn't hamstring the free market and create the problems they propose to solve. Who are they kidding? Rand had it right. She learned it the hard way in Soviet Russia. What makes a country work is leaving people free -- free to take risks, to invent things -- and to keep the rewards of their work. Critics say Ayn Rand promotes selfishness. I call it "enlightened self interest." When free people act in their own self-interest, society prospers.”
Someone wrote the following and stated it well: “The Word of God reveals three specific responsibilities that God has in connection with work: 1. God Gives Talents And Skills. “Every skillful person in whom the Lord has put a skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work”- Exodus 36:1. 2. God Gives Success. “The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man” - Genesis 39:2. 3. God Controls Promotion. “God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another” - Psalm 75:7. In the New Testament, Paul was direct concerning work: “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). God's Word implies that there is dignity in all types of work.” Some things inferred by Rand’s approach may include: (a) the loss of creativity in industry; (b) the diminishing of quality in production; (c) the loss of incentive to invent and invest. In other words – demoralization sets in and antipathy becomes a reality. The work ethic should remain constant for the avowed Christian – whether during oppression, recession, depression, or other hardships – one’s work ethic and effort should always be to please the Lord. Consider these things with me!
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