Think About It. Atlas Shrugged. Looking back, I can’t remember when I was not a libertarian philosophically (small l). I just didn’t know the word for it. The way I figured it, if I didn’t interfere with your life, you shouldn’t mess with mine. My stuff was mine to keep or share as I chose. While slowly savoring my sundae anticipating that last bite, the sweet red maraschino cherry, I was accused by a faster eater of being selfish for not sharing. I felt that was wrong. Little did I know, that thought would result in my introducing the 1984 Libertarian presidential candidate, David Berglund at a fundraiser in Santa Barbara.
Truth is, it’s difficult to find a person who wouldn’t prefer a life unfettered by the coercion of others as long as they themselves are not guilty of the same. Business people I know of various political persuasions would rather not be told how to run their business. Other acquaintances would choose not be told whom they should love or what they should drink (or smoke) when it doesn’t directly affect others’ well-being.
Jane Fonda and her then husband Tom Hayden (of the riotous Chicago Seven) came to Santa Barbara after wreaking havoc with Santa Monica housing. Helping to form the Network, they set to work promoting rent control, presumably for the good of all. The problem was that when an apartment owner doesn’t receive adequate return on investment, he has inadequate funds for proper maintenance. That point was clearly made by UCSB professor, philosopher Tibor Machan, at a Chamber of Commerce meeting I attended. Our future friendship resulted in my learning that I too was libertarian.
Soon I learned Ayn Rand’s objectivist views of life. A person’s first responsibility is their own safety and pleasure, and that all knowledge can be learned through our senses. In his early teens, Tibor had fled Hungary. Ayn Rand more easily exited Russia. Both abhorred totalitarianism and were willing to stake their lives and livelihoods on that assertion.
While some of the Weaver kids (Wade, Jill, Shari and friend Julie) worked sprucing up the family hotel on a California beach, dad spent a weekend immersed in Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”. The mystery and intrigue first captured my imagination. Then came the reality that government interference and union “featherbedding” had withered the railroads and strangled the life of other industries. The book had become history rather than prophecy. As the question, “Who is John Galt? was slowly answered, I got the point.
First rejected by reviewers, the vivid discourse on rational business, love and life now sells over 200,000 copies a year, while 400,000 are provided to schools by the Ayn Rand Foundation. Yet many still do not know why people attach the bumper sticker, “Who is John Galt?”.
Whether you are already part of the growing body of fans or are new to the clan, you should come to know why Atlas Shrugged. Think About It.