For months now I have watched the political field of action, players, on-lookers, naysayers and pundits. Is there no clarity?
My highest regard for that clarity sometimes springs from this very site, its authors, contributors and readers. So today, I introduce again a contributing voice to the clarity that originates from reason, Ayn Rand.
Watch her eyes throughout this. She understands what is to come in the form and substance of the questions, and when given the opportunity, she is clear, resonant and reasoned. Oh, and she’s right by the way.
Greg Swann says:
Oh, thanks for that. I have read a ton of her writing, bur I’ve never seen video of her before. I think the Mike Wallace interview and the Phil Donahue interview are available for purchase, if you’re interested.
September 3, 2009 — 3:00 pm
Brian Brady says:
“Separation of State and Economics, like we have Separation of State and Church, begets harmony and good will among men”
Pretty powerful shit. Again I’ll restate what I said last week; we don’t know what could be because we have NEVER lived in a TRUE unregulated economy. Listen to Wallace. He can’t imagine a world where the State didn’t use force to redistribute wealth and opportunity….because he NEVER lived in a free market.
You can’t criticize the free market because you’ve NEVER lived in one; especially if you were born after World War Two.
September 3, 2009 — 4:25 pm
Missy Caulk says:
Love Ayn Rand…love Atlas Shrugged.
September 3, 2009 — 6:34 pm
Greg Dallaire says:
Is it just me or is the idea of a TRUE FREE Market economy common sense. Sadly in my viewpoint I feel the government is creating more of the problem then anything else.
What are we doing to our wonderful country?
Can’t we be student of history and actually learn from our mistakes. There is so much powerful information that we can and should learn from but it seems like we’re going 120 mph the exact opposite way from common sense.
Sorry for the rant from a common sense american!
September 3, 2009 — 7:31 pm
Scott Cowan says:
Dan-
Great clip. Did you see the other segments of this interview? I just watched them on You Tube. Very interesting thoughts and views.
The one thing that I thought was “funny” was seeing Mike Wallace sitting in his chair with a cigarette. Since that is so not accepted anymore it really was a visual that made me do a double take.
Ayn’s basic viewpoint is such a powerful kernel of truth that it makes me shudder when I think about it. Remember I am a recovering Social Rotarian….so this is really very powerful stuff. I hope that more people will begin to open their own eyes and see for themselves the path that we are racing down with such reckless abandon is not the path we should be going down at all.
September 4, 2009 — 7:14 am
Don Reedy says:
“The one thing that I thought was “funny” was seeing Mike Wallace sitting in his chair with a cigarette.”
Skip (I mean Scott), what you noticed I also noticed. It’s so human of us, and almost pure, to take note of things when they just “appear” to us, sort of out of context.
Consider Ms. Rand’s ideas just intellectually, purely, as if you were a freshman back in college with your head filled with ideas and dreams and hopes. Those thoughts ring true, and like Greg and you, I have taken some time to watch some of the other videos as well. Then, as you savor those ideas, let Mike Wallace’s smoking waft back into the process.
No matter how long the time, pure discourse is often interrupted and stripped of its clarity because of a smoke screen of some type; anger, poor reasoning, rudeness, noise, fear, greed.
There’s a fair piece of smoke in play in just about every discourse we as a nation are undertaking. I hope that anyone seeing this video will remember, the next time they are engaged in discussion, that smoke distracts, fouls the air, clouds what could otherwise be clear and convincing.
Watch this again. No right versus left. No noise. No smoke.
September 4, 2009 — 8:18 am
Scott Cowan says:
Don (notice I got it right this time) =)
I love the way you suggest that I should “Consider Ms. Rand’s ideas just intellectually, purely, as if you were a freshman back in college with your head filled with ideas and dreams and hopes.”
When we can think clearly and without the distraction of life and the media we would realize that what we are doing and where we are going might not be what we should be doing or where we should be going…. back to college I go..
September 4, 2009 — 9:10 am
Sean Purcell says:
Thanks for posting this Don. Very powerful. I’m going to go and watch the other clips on YouTube right now.
For me, Brian already stole the thunder. Ms. Rand’s comparison of the separation of church and state to separation of economics and state is overwhelming. It leads me down so many exciting new paths all at once that I don’t know which to explore first. So I’ll begin here: this statement gains much of its power from the realization that religion and economics are very, very similar. They are both based on faith rather than any real, empirical evidence. For decades now economics has tried to establish itself as science in our institutions of higher learning. I remember in the 80s when I was a Psychology major we were doing much the same thing. But Religion, Economics, Psychology.. these are all Social Studies not Social Sciences.
Understood in this light, it is so much easier to understand the personal rancor and vitriol we so often hear in debates about welfare/anti-trust/market/labor/etc. These are debates about closely held beliefs and carry the same emotional charge as does religion.
In the old days we would say you should never discuss politics or religion with friends. Add “economics,” the new secular religion.
September 4, 2009 — 4:49 pm
Don Reedy says:
Sean,
You and Brian have nailed the issue that Rand lights up for us to examine.
I emailed a few friends with this post, mostly because they are people who are intellectuals and introspective, and I’ve been a pain in their proverbial asses over many years with some of my faith based leanings, analysis and thoughts. I wanted to see if I could get a reaction from any of them. Here’s a response from a very good friend after he watched the video.
“Not only does she talk like Dr. Strangelove, she is completely full of crap and divorced from reality. Stick that in your Howard Roark. Love, Den”
“In the old days we would say you should never discuss politics or religion with friends. Add “economics,” the new secular religion.”
Sean….consider it added!
September 4, 2009 — 5:34 pm
Robert Worthington says:
Don,
Great video. I am a conservative & capitalist and have not seen this video. Truly amazing that people long long ago started seeing that coming. Barack is just carrying us to Socialism at warp speed. I could talk till I’m blue in the face, but the point is well taken…nobody & no company is to big to fail.
September 5, 2009 — 8:53 pm
Doug Quance says:
Atlas Shrugged is an 1168 page document that, like the health care bill, the President will never read.
I find it ironic that Ayn Rand – who was born in Russia – was more American than Zero will ever be.
September 6, 2009 — 5:01 pm