Its Ayn Rand's America now: How the GOP stripped the country of its last shred of morality

[workinclasszero]

It’s Ayn Rand’s America now: How the GOP stripped the country of its last shred of morality
Neal Gabler, Moyers & Company 16 DEC 2017 AT 11:14 ET


If you have any doubts that the phenomenon of Donald Trump was a long time a’coming, you have only to read a piece that Gore Vidal wrote for Esquire magazine in July 1961, when the conservative movement was just beginning and even Barry Goldwater was hardly a glint in Republicans’ eyes.

Vidal’s target was Paul Ryan’s idol, and the idol of so many modern conservatives: the trash novelist and crackpot philosopher Ayn Rand, whom Vidal quotes thusly:

“It was the morality of altruism that undercut America and is now destroying her.

“Capitalism and altruism are incompatible; they are philosophical opposites; they cannot co-exist in the same man or in the same society. Today, the conflict has reached its ultimate climax; the choice is clear-cut: either a new morality of rational self-interest, with its consequence of freedom… or the primordial morality of altruism with its consequences of slavery, etc.

“To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men.

“The creed of sacrifice is a morality for the immoral…”

In most quarters, in 1961, this stuff would have been regarded as nearly sociopathic nonsense, but, as Vidal noted, Rand was already gaining adherents: “She has a great attraction for simple people who are puzzled by organized society, who object to paying taxes, who hate the ‘welfare state,’ who feel guilt at the thought of the suffering of others but who would like to harden their hearts.”


https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/its-ayn-rands-america-now-how-the-gop-stripped-the-country-of-its-last-shred-of-morality/

[Turbineguy]

1. Atruism? What the fuck?

Having sick people who are contagious and can spread diseases is a dangerous policy for a society where people can freely move about.

None of these fucks can stand with characters like Dagney Taggart or Hank Reardon. Nobody is demanding that people give up their creations for "the good of all". Nobody is working for free, unless they want to.

[smirkymonkey]

2. +1000

"America is in moral crisis. Many Americans seem far more interested in making sure that those they consider undeserving — basically, the poor — get nothing than in making sure that they themselves get something" This is the problem right here. Most republicans, particularly Trump voters, hate liberals, the poor, minorities, gays, feminists, etc. more than they love their children or their country.

It is not enough for them to get more of the pie, in-fact, they often don't care as long as they can stick it to somebody who is a member of a group they hate.

He brings up a parable that illustrates this perfectly:

"There were three farmers: a German, a Hungarian and an American. Each had a cow. One day, misfortune befell them, and their cows died. Each remonstrated against God, saying God had failed him, and each lost faith. God realized he had to do something to make amends. So he came to Earth and approached the German.

“What can I do to restore your faith?” He asked. And the German answered, “God, I lost my cow. Please give me another cow.” And God did so.

“What can I do to restore your faith?” He asked the Hungarian. And the Hungarian answered, “God, I lost my cow. Please give me that cow and another to compensate.” And God did so.

And finally God came to the American, and He asked, “What can I do to restore your faith?” And the American answered, “God, I lost my cow. Shoot my neighbor’s cow.”