Ayn Rand's Influence on the 21st Century

originally posted by: xuenchen
I think people are flipping out because of the mass hysteria from the November elections last year.

I hear the knees shattering.

I see the fingernails bitten off.

I see Ayn Rand being used as a blame scapegoat for things she was observing not creating.

Hundreds of tangents and red herrings all over the place.

I see many social and economic failures caused by the highly educated Left Wing experts in charge.

I see many out of touch people preaching unrealistic goals.

Roaring DaaHaHaHa

I don't think Ayn Rand has much to do with anything, her views/philosophy aren't really even fully understood by most Republican voters, those who do understand her views simply use them as an excuse to push "free market" policies.

If we look at what's been going on in Washington, since Reagan's administration the Democrats have ditched traditional left wing economic and foreign policy views. The Neoclassical approach has been melded into Neoliberalism and sprinkled with a small amount of Keynesian macro policies. The democrats remain somewhat left wing on social issues but they've made a rightward shift on stuff like cutting (reforming) welfare, cutting Medicare, pushing privatization of public schools in the form of charter schools and the tax rate is still far far below that seen during the post war boom. Even Obama talks about "tough choices" on Social Security and we all know what that means.

America is run by corporations and banks. Even the so called "socialist" healthcare law was written by drug/insurance companies. Speaking of....Ayn Rand ended up using Medicare after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She also backed tobacco companies when they said smoking wasn't bad for you....because, you know, the mighty capitalist never lies. Her life literally ended up being a massive contradiction and this also rings true for the countless older conservatives who rely on Social Security and Medicare....then vote for politicians who are seeking to slash these programs so corporations can pay a lower tax rate.

Back to the democrat politicians, there are very few actual left wing democrats left since the end of Reagan's administration. Bill Clinton, the Blue Dogs and the Democratic Leadership Council absolutely transformed the party in the 1990's. As a result there's not much of a left wing in America. The New Neoclassical synthesis facilitated by the Federal Reserve is what we get as far as economic policies. War is what we get as far as foreign policy. The two parties generally operate with corporate interests in mind first and foremost. This myth that Democrats are some left wing socialist cabal needs to end. It's simply not true.


edit:

For reference: New Neoclassical Synthesis

en.wikipedia.org...