Friday, August 17, 2012

Rand, Paul Ayn's Idol, Was Hypocrite Who Took Social Security, Medicare

By Manifesto Joe

Republican vice presidential pick Paul Ayn has gotten by with some prospective voters by flashing them that shit-eating grin. But not everybody has forgotten about his past pronouncements of admiration for the garrulous swill of would-be novelist Ayn Rand.

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," said Rep. Ayn at a D.C. event honoring the so-called author. On another occasion, he proclaimed, "Rand makes the best case for the morality of democratic capitalism."

Let us recall that this demented slut Rand, who characterized those who take government payments as "moochers" and "parasites," took Social Security herself, and Medicare, too, when the inveterate chain smoker was confronted with self-inflicted lung cancer at the age of 69. She had previously proclaimed scientific warnings about smoking to be a hoax.

Here's a link to an article on the subject.

Just in passing, let us note that despite a cult of mentally ill admirers, Rand is generally regarded by serious critics as a vapid purveyor of nonliterature. Her seemingly endless railings were so awful that Whittaker Chambers, a darling of the far right after he was a witness against Alger Hiss, was essentially exiled from much of the right-wing twit "movement" after he wrote a scathingly negative review of Atlas Shrugged for the National Review in 1957.

As a novelist, she just plain sucked. OK, we'll put that aside for a moment. The horrific effect that her toxic, selfish ideas have had on generations of American pseudo-intellectuals is yet another issue. And now, with a likely vice presidential candidate who's a "disciple" of this ugly slattern, we've seen the poison of her influence come to full fruition.

I suppose it can be argued that, since Rand was the ultimate spokesperson for selfish opportunism, it shouldn't be surprising that she'd be a hypocrite who would cash in on the welfare state when she got the chance. She would just characterize something like that as her good luck, and somebody else's bad luck in a less prosperous and charitable time.

Slick Willard Scumney does his best to project himself as the captain of his own vessel, but make no mistake -- his choice of Paul Ayn as a running mate is a clear overture to the "GOP's" powerful far right wing. For a while he didn't seem like one of them, but he's made clear that he's telling the "I've got mine, so fuck you" wing of the Republican Party that he'll generally do what they tell him to do.

Unfortunately, we've had a few powerful folks in Washington who have been "disciples" of the Ayn Rand Cult. Longtime Fed chief Alan Greenspan immediately comes to mind. Yet even he, as the U.S. economy came dangerously close to collapse circa 2007-09, eventually had to admit that his "free market" dogma may have had some points of error.

I would have hoped that the near-collapse of our economy would have relegated these sophomoric trolls to the back waters of American discourse, where they belong. I suppose I was being too optimistic, because even the Great Depression couldn't educate Rand, who became popular as a "literary" apologist for robber barons during that very era.

Even if the Scumney-Ayn ticket loses in November -- and I pray that Obama and Biden will do everything possible to expose this cult follower in the meantime -- Ayn will probably be peddling his opportunistic snake oil again in 2016. This kind of venom just never seems to go away, no matter how discredited.

Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

re:
>>this demented slut Rand, who
>>characterized those who take
government payments as "moochers" and "parasites"

I do think "demented" is an apt description for these people. I recall Jim David Adkisson, the gunman who shot and killed 2 and wounded 7 at the progressive Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Besides his "hatred" of Liberals and African-Americans, Adkisson said the shooting was motivated by the fact that his food stamps were being cut.

Was Adkisson a lone nutcase, unique in his beliefs? Perhaps. But I personally know many Republicans who have identical beliefs. They rail against the Liberals and the "n*ggers" who are ruining America. They all have guns. They're all full of extreme rage. And many of them are quite capable of doing what Adkisson did.

Anonymous said...

Because I must be a masochist, I've been reading about Ayn Rand and her philosophy lately. So I went to go read this entry when another blog I read pointed me to it. I was all excited when I got to "garrulous swill of would-be novelist Ayn Rand" (though, honestly, even if I dislike her, she is still a novelist), but had to stop when you called her a slut. There are many legitimate ways we can vilify her, but do you really need to slut shame her?

Manifesto Joe said...

Ever seen the movie "The Passion of Ayn Rand"? The cuckolded wife wrote that book, that the movie was based upon.

I knew this wouldn't be PC. I've never said that PC was something I do on this site. Sorry, I refuse to be polite. I call 'em like I see 'em.

It has always seemed to me like, if they were really serious about what they're doing at Gitmo, they should lay off the waterboarding and make the detainees read "Atlas Shrugged." I'll bet they would get plenty to sign the papers.

Anonymous said...

There is a difference between being PC, being polite, and using pejoratives just because. Since up until just now, I had no knowledge of Ayn Rand's sexual prowess, I had no idea where your comment came from. Now that you have enlightened me, at least I understand where you're coming from (even if I dislike the term and disagree with the result). Thanks for enlightening me, and I'm sorry to have taken your blog on a ridiculous tangent. I'm going to finish reading your entry (and to try not to think of Rand having sex...because gross).

Manifesto Joe said...

Something I noticed long ago about the political right is that they decry ad hominem attacks just when they're getting ready to call you every name imaginable. They prescribe one set of rules to you, while not playing by those rules themselves. I decided to stop bringing a pair of boxing gloves to a knife fight.

Infidel753 said...

She had previously proclaimed scientific warnings about smoking to be a hoax.

Thus trusting corporate-funded fake "science" above real science -- so she's a precursor of the global-warming denialists too.

Infidel753 said...

Emmawolf: I don't like using "slut" as a pejorative either, not because it's un-PC, but because there's nothing wrong with being sexually adventurous. It's not bad because it insults Ayn Rand, it's bad because using it implicitly endorses the put-down of other, harmless women to whom it's typically applied.

Manifesto Joe said...

Re: use of the word "slut":

"Harmless?" I suppose one could characterize it thusly, if one has never been hurt in a relationship with an unfaithful partner, or been exposed to an STD, or such. I used to think in more tolerant terms. Eventually I saw at least secondhand what kind of "harm" people like that can inflict on others who have the misfortune of being close to them.

Rand basically destroyed a marriage. I'd call that harmful. Sorry to sound so "conservative," but I've become more of what could be described as a "social moderate" in my old age. I'd gladly trade in just a bit of modern licentiousness for more basic socio-economic justice.

Manifesto Joe said...

Oh, BTW, I don't excuse this behavior in men, either. It is equally irresponsible.

Manifesto Joe said...

I will also mention that I pulled a punch here. The original word I had in mind for Rand was even worse.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering what the word you originally had in mind was...if I'm correct in my guess, it's one I use all the time...oops?

"Oh, BTW, I don't excuse this behavior in men, either. It is equally irresponsible."

Thanks for this. This pretty much sums up my feelings about the s word--that there is no male counterpart and that it's normally considered ok for a man to act that way. I'm glad you are equal opportunities and that we had this conversation.

Manifesto Joe said...

The male version of this would be "cad" or "womanizer," which I would regard as quite appropriate for Nathaniel Branden, the unfaithful husband in the Rand affair. It comes to mind that he was yet again unfaithful to his wife with a different woman in the '60s, which so enraged Rand that she "excommunicated" him, so to speak. Branden and wife Barbara were eventually divorced.

I suppose "cad" or "womanizer" doesn't carry quite the same social stigma, so I understand your point. But I have seen a few men act this way, too, and the emotional pain it inflicts on their women is a sad thing to watch.

Anonymous said...

I knew a right-wing jerk in my "go-nowhere" years at Michigan State University who worshipped Ayn Rand like Jesus. He was a self-loving, Republican, smug @55hole who I should've ditched for his more progressive friends sooner. Now that dickhole has a PhD in electrical engineering and probably will become the next fire-happy, offshoring Jack Welch or Alan Mullaly at some major corporation.

-WageslaveZ-

Anonymous said...

Ayn Rand was a total hypocrite and walking contradiction. She hated social safety nets, but took Medicare and Social Security. She often had her "Strong Female Characters" get sexually assaulted to get what they deserved for going against the "Powerful Male Industrial Magnates" in her stories. I can't believe any logical human being could take her pap seriously except the mega-rich elite and right-wing power-brokers who seem to have made her dogma become ever more true, to the detriment of the 99% of the rest of us. Hello Plutocracy, goodbye freedom.

-WageslaveZ-