What a difference half a century makes! With the gross expansion of government fully underway it was interesting to be privy to a conversation between a college junior and near sixtyish “boomer” discussing the philosophies of Ayn Rand, writer of the timeless 1957, juggernaut novel, “Atlas Shrugged.” As the old geezer explained Rand’s firmly held belief that government existed only to provide safety to its people and never to be entwined in capitalism as it is today, the university student asked, “Was she considered an anarchist?” The geezer howled with laughter and said, “What a difference half a century makes!” The inquiring student was puzzled. The gray hair explained, “No, as a matter of fact during her time, Obama’s ‘redistribution of wealth’ platform would have been considered anarchy.”   

     Not long before he died, my wife asked her precious father, of all the books he had read, which most impacted his life. His answer was instantaneous, “Atlas Shrugged.” She asked, “Why.” A man of few words, his response was, “Read it and you’ll know.” Taking his advice, we both read it. Everyone in the country should read it! It is a 60 year-old expose’ on where government may be headed in this country today. The book explores that age old battle between the “Makers” and the “Takers,” and the role of government in enacting legislation to protect industries, companies and individuals at the expense of the most productive. Our government produces nothing of material value. Industry and commerce produce all material value. Somewhere in between are you and I, small producers of some value. Spewed across the country are the “Takers,” companies and individuals relying on the government to provide for their survival. The “Makers,” being the only source of support available for the “Takers,” will most certainly find the government’s hands deeper into their pockets in the not too distant future. Such is unavoidable when the hard earned wealth of the “Makers” is the only means for a government, which creates nothing of value, to prop up a faltering society growing in “Takers’ by the day. After all, what is a trillion dollar stimulus package except life support for failed companies to be paid for by the thriving “Makers.”

    Ayn Rand developed a philosophy coined “Objectivism,” which simply put, as stated by Ms. Rand is, “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” In other words honoring self satisfaction as righteous, productivity as the measure of a one’s worth, and one’s own reason, acquired by one’s own experiences, as the only true reality. It is easy to struggle with a philosophy that extols the achievement of one’s own self interest as “heroic.” But in reading Ms. Rand, one finds that she does not oppose charity unless such largesse is, as she says, “at the point of a gun,” more succinctly put; as forced upon citizens by a government created to protect their rights. If this seems bothersome, consider the Declaration of Independence and its grand purpose. This remarkable document gave license to selfishness: the moral right to the life one chose, the right to the exercise of liberty, to pursuit of happiness, unfettered by the strong hand of a monarchy, a government or societal rules, living only for one’s self. Certainly, if Ms. Rand’s incorporation of this rational self-interest into her philosophy is considered morbid today, then is the Declaration of Independence, espousing many of the same tenants of true freedom, not equally morbid?   

     “Atlas Shrugged” is a novel that fearlessly explores the plight of the great industrialists of its time as the world around them becomes depressingly indifferent  as to its own productivity, giving way to the “intellectual” philosophy that man exists for the benefit of other men. A philosophy patently rejected by the great industrialists, Hank Reardon and Dagny Taggart. As the productivity of the “looters,” those who set out to gain at the expense of those who have earned, continues to falter, the government, sensing the “group thought” that the only good was that which serves the “common good” of society, embark on a dazzling legislative orgy intended to create fair business practices (read transfer wealth from the “Makers” to the “Takers”) to support those who have failed on their own.  Wealth is redistributed through new taxes and laws, government is “forced” to create agencies to “oversee” the management of the “Makers” and provide “bailout” scenarios for failing businesses and all manner of goods are distributed across the country according to the whims of the government. Sound somewhat familiar? Part two next week.

Chuck Elsey is the senior member of Elsey & Elsey, a general practice law firm located in Flower Mound.