Face Value

Ayn Rand might have made a good lawyer. Well-practiced, the law avoids responsibility by not saying anything. Incoherence is your friend. Ambiguity is good. What is to be done, in Rand’s incoherent world, with all the non-heroes?  What is to be done without the pastures where her protagonists frolic and romp their way to riches? Who provides the field?

Sometimes, face-value is all you need. Observe that adolescent boys are those most drawn to Ayn—those who are not providers but takers and suckers living on the daddy-dole, trying to assert themselves against the evidence of their undeniable dependency. They deny it anyway. Ayn’s followers aspire to live in adolescence forever. They don’t hate the nanny state.

They want a nanny so secure it is invisible. Observe the guys they cough up as presidential candidates, the office most associated with Randian heroism. Donald Trump. George Bush. Mitt Romney. Even John McCain got into college on a legacy, collected government checks all his life and married a wealthy woman. Look at those who openly espouse Rand’s ideals.

Rand Paul and Paul Ryan came from privileged families. Ryan collected government checks all his life and married a wealthy woman. Mitch McConnell collected government checks all his life and married a wealthy woman. This is what they stand for, free shit for them. Our role is to provide the free shit. Hence the denial. Hence the combativeness. Hence all the lies.