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She’s not as well known today, but during the
peak of her influence Ayn Rand was a formidable foe of accepted
philosophy and religion. Her
assault on the Judeo-Christian ethics challenged the concepts to their
foundation. At one time she
attracted followers who made a cult of her ideas. A talented author, she wrote many profitable
scripts for Hollywood and novels which captured the nation’s
imagination. Probably her
most famous writing was “The Fountainhead,” a best seller that was
transformed into a movie for which she also wrote the script.
It starred Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal and Raymond Massey in this
1949 film. King Vidor was
the director. The movie was based on a character built in the
shape of an uncompromising architect such as Frank Lloyd Wright.
Cooper played Howard Roark, a dedicated man who would not alter
his principles for any price or threat.
His view was that a creative man owned his own work and it had to
be accepted on his terms or not at all. Another novel, “Atlas Shrugged,” carried the
idea even farther. Ms. Rand lived through different political
systems in time and geography. Born
in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1905, she grew up to see the nation move
from a czar to a communist dictator.
She graduated from the University of Petrograd in 1924.
Two years later she immigrated to America and found work as a
screenwriter, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1931. Six years later, she published her first novel, “We, the
Living.” That was about a
young woman caught up in the Soviet system under tragic circumstances. “The Fountainhead,” written in 1943, began
to develop her deeply conservative philosophy.
Her protagonist was a gifted architect who prevailed over
conformity to design and create buildings his own way. It wasn’t until 1957 that Ms. Rand reached the
peak of her social concepts with the publication of “Atlas
Shrugged.” It was a
science-fiction novel stressing the value of individuality and her
personal philosophy called objectivism.
She wrote on the theory that some ten percent of people have the
creative ability and the other 90 percent just hang on.
The book spoke against government regulation. It creates a fictional utopian community called
Dry Gulch where the elite capitalists disappear to let the world suffer
without their “genius.” Ms.
Rand carried laissez faire capitalism to the extreme. After the 50 years since I first read her novel,
the words are still embedded in my memory.
Pardon the possible misquotes from memory, but I recall the
lines: “I swear by my life and my love of it that I
will not live my life for another man, or ask him to live his life for
me.” Self sacrifice and denial to help others was in
conflict with her theory. Any
kind of charity or gift was alien. Everything
had to be paid for. Capitalism
was the extreme virtue. She came along and had answers for everything in
an era when people were looking for something to believe in. The violence of WWII and spread of Communism was in
everyone’s minds. Social
justice was in turmoil with the “have-nots” struggling against the
“haves.” People of color were struggling to find an identity and place
in a closed white society. There
was uncertainty over the atomic bomb and the economy. Money and capitalism was the key, in her mind.
The individual with his creative ability was supreme. Certainly it doesn’t take a committee to write
a great novel or paint a beautiful picture or write a lovely concerto.
Rembrandt didn’t bring in a group to decide on colors for his
canvas. Tolstoy didn’t
circulate a petition for suggestions on what to put in “War and
Peace.” And Beethoven
definitely failed to call a meeting of the musicians’ union to write a
symphony. These works had
to be created by individuals. An inventor deserves credit and profit for his
work. Medical pioneers
should be rewarded financially for life saving drugs and techniques. Writers, painters and musicians deserve to be compensated for
their talents. But everyone stands on the shoulders of those
who went before. Jonas Salk benefited from the works of Louis
Pasteur, Madame Curie and countless others.
Bill Gates had the advantages of the pioneer work of early
computer dabblers who tried and failed and tried again to master
computer programs. Each great genius in whatever field does not
work alone. He has looking
over his shoulder generations long dead who paved the way for his
creation. He has the
benefit of the work of so many known and unknown pioneers who walked the
lonely path of creation to lead the way. A committee supposedly developed a camel.
Individualism and capitalism are important.
But no individual, no company exists alone in a vacuum.
Should a chemist who developed a cure for cancer withhold it from
the world and sell it only to the wealthy?
No one has developed a product alone, without benefit of the
predecessors. There has to be a meeting between capitalism and
humanity. We all live in
the same world and must share it.
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