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Interesting take on the philosophy of Ayn Rand

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Libertas:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/what-ayn-rand-got-right

I think in big ticket terms what she got right was exemplified in Atlas Shrugged as well as her other works and public statements.

The risk of letting totalitarianism to take root is real and obvious today.  The battle against We the individuals comprising the People is increasing in tempo and desperation...the UniParty/DeepState aka "they/them" HATE free thinking individuals freely exchanging their opinions and exercising their God-given rights! 

The real question was posed by Michael Anton in “They Can’t Let Him Back In,” a black-pilled essay he published in Compact last summer.

“The people who really run the United States of America,” Anton wrote, “have made it clear that they can’t, and won’t, if they can help it, allow Donald Trump to be president again.”

Who are those people?

Mostly Democrats, yes, but really, it’s a bipartisan, deep-state consensus, a uniparty assumption that Trump, being an existential threat to their continued existence must be kept from political power by any means necessary.

Think the 2020 BLM riots were awful?

They were, but they will seem like Lake Placid if Trump is reelected.

I put that down as a secondary reason to hope that Trump does win, but I understand that others disagree.

It is curious, as Anton also points out, that for all the fury directed at Trump the individual, the real target of deep state animus is not Trump himself but his supporters, his “base.”

Trump was right when he said “they’re not after me. They’re after you. I’m just standing in the way.”

Anton got to the nub of the issue when he observed that “Anti-Trump hysteria is in the final analysis not about Trump. The regime can’t allow Trump to be president not because of who he is (although that grates), but because of who his followers are.”

I think that is worth bearing in mind.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/unipartys-plan-save-our-democracy-unfolds

They/Them are keeping Ayn's wisdom relevant!

Some choice quotes -

"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”

“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.” - from The Fountainhead

“The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.” - from  The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism

“Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.” - from Atlas Shrugged

“Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them.” - from Atlas Shrugged

“There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” - from Atlas Shrugged

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

“When I disagree with a rational man, I let reality be our final arbiter; if I am right, he will learn; if I am wrong, I will; one of us will win, but both will profit.”

“I am, therefore I'll think.”

patentlymn:
I like the quote about how to make every one guilty. See Trump and Jan 6 people for example.

A couple more from memory. Especially re green energy. The German economy is going to tank thanks to sanctions and blowing up the BS pipeline. This was entirely predictable.
 
"You can ignore reality but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. "

"Engineering is truth. Science is dogma." 

The title of her excellent book is good on its own. "The New Left - The Anti-industrial Revolution." The essays inside are very good.


The newer version with extra stuff added is "The Return of the Primitive."

Libertas:
From a 1970 lecture IIRC...can you imagine the hippie heads popping?

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