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philosophy

It usually begins with Ayn Rand

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Ayn Rand was born on this day in 1905. “It usually begins with Ayn Rand,” said author Jerome Tuccille of this Russian-American thinker, novelist and screenwriter. An amazing number of people have come to support a free society and a free-market economy through reading her novels, especially The Fountainhead (1935) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), in their student years. Those novels may not be works of great literature. The characters are little nuanced, more mouthpieces for Rand’s political and philosophical views. But decades on, they remain hugely influential, because they have what young people – and others looking for some purpose in life – actually want. Their weaknesses are the obverse of their strengths. Her heroes are role models: ambitious, purposive, independent and strong; ruthlessly self-interested and yet deeply moral. These are stories with a message, a coherent worldview that conquers all: the morality of rational self-interest. Atlas Shrugged, for instance, describes a world in which industry leaders overcome the stifling controls of over-mighty governments by closing down production and creating an alternate order based on freedom and strict respect for personal property. Unlikely, for sure: but it makes you think.

No surprise, then, that many of the world’s leading businesspeople have been influenced by this twentieth-century Russian émigré to America, whose fiction and philosophy has sold 25 million copies. One, Lars Seier Christensen, founder and CEO of the hugely successful online investment broker Saxo Bank, gave the Adam Smith Institute’s annual Ayn Rand Lecture in London last year. Even though Rand died in 1982, he observed, her robust individualist approach to economic and social life is needed more now than ever.

Rand held that the key thing that makes human beings unique is their reason. We betray our species and our selves if we do not use it. But to act rationally, we need a long-term view of the world. It might sound good to tax the wealthy and spend the money on education, welfare and much else. But there is no free lunch. Those short-term benefits come at a long-term cost, because taxation depresses risk-taking and enterprise. As in Atlas Shrugged, the majority cannot exploit the minority and expect them to put up with it forever.

The long-term view reveals that most regulation is irrational. Minimum wage laws, for example, might boost the wages of poorer workers; but by making it too costly for employers to hire unskilled or untested applicants, they deny hundreds of thousands of young people jobs and consign them to the welfare rolls. American regulations that forced banks to lend to poorer people gave families ‘affordable housing’ but created the sub-prime crisis and the crash.

It is the same in business. Rational self-interest means long-term self-interest, not short-term greed. Greed comes back to haunt you, as certain bankers will testify. It is interesting that about the only American bank to come out of the financial crash unscathed was BB&T, run by John Allison – an adherent of Ayn Rand’s principles and another past Ayn Rand Lecturer. There are only two stable relationships, he insists: win-win or lose-lose. You don’t need self-sacrifice or even altruism. You benefit yourself by benefiting others.

Money is not the end. Happiness is. If people in a business – from the CEO to the cleaners in the works canteen – know that they are part of an enterprise that makes a positive difference to others, they will have purpose and self-esteem. That will make it a better business – and will make them happier, more complete human beings.

Objectivism and modern society

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Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is polled to be the second most influential book in Americans' lives, coming in second only to the Bible. Whether this statistic is skewed or not, there is no doubt that Rand’s longest work has had a lasting impact on the hearts and minds of its readers since its publication in 1957. It may be too soon to know if it stands the test of time, but it has certainly persevered with power and passion. It’s hard to understand how Atlas Shrugged has remained so popular while the views of its author remain so controversial. Forget the left-wing masses—many self-proclaimed libertarians avoid being associated with her last name. In most circles (even sympathetic ones), the Randian badge is not worn openly.

Furthermore, she is consistently attacked by critics who paint her philosophy of objectivism as radical, rudely selfish and dangerous to modern society. When most people today—even on the right—recognise the need for some form of welfare or safety net, how can one include Rand’s voice in modern discourse?

At the ASI’s annual Ayn Rand Lecture on Monday night, guest speaker David Sokol addressed an audience of almost 300 attendees and reminded all of them why Atlas Shrugged transcends the criticisms and attacks on objectivism.

Unlike most philosophers and economists, Rand was able to connect philosophy and fiction in a way that inspired people to observe and revere the power of individualism. As Sokol pointed out, the right to have hope for yourself and whatever you choose to build is going to win against any promise a government can make.

Even in the 1950’s, Rand could see what direction governments was heading—that entrapments were disguised as promises, as governments increasingly encroached on individual's rights and property:

(Bureaucrat) Floyd Ferris:"You honest men are such a problem and such a headache. But we knew you'd slip sooner or later . . . [and break one of our regulations] . . . this is just what we wanted."

Rearden: "You seem to be pleased about it."

Ferris: "Don't I have good reason to be?"

Rearden: "But, after all, I did break one of your laws."

Ferris: "Well, what do you think they're there for?"

Ferris: "Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken.”

Today, some of the world’s most important leaders are looking to snare businesses, paint them as the enemy, and project the idea that the state is responsible for the success of business, job growth, and any individual achievement. It's an uncomfortable and deeply flawed narrative—and fortunately, not a particularly successful one. Regardless of bureaucratic narrative, Atlas Shrugged continues to inspire individuals in a way that collectivist approaches can't come close to; as such, Rand and her philosophy have secured their place in modern society.

To see photos of the ASI's Ayn Rand Lecture, click here.