06 Was Ayn Rand a Conservative or a Libertarian?
Description
This article is from the Ayn Rand's Philosophy of Objectivism FAQ, by Chris Walker cwalker@aquila.ece.utexas.edu with numerous contributions by others.
06 Was Ayn Rand a Conservative or a Libertarian?
The answer to both parts of this question is emphatically no.
While no one is likely to mistake Ayn Rand for a liberal, some of
her statements sound similar to that of Conservatives and Libertarians.
However, she is neither.
In one way or another, both conservatives and Libertarians repudiate
the principles of a rational philosophy. Conservatives by believing
in an all-powerful, all-knowing God repudiate existence, reason and
any possibility of a rational ethics. On that basis, claims to
support individual rights can only be regarded as lip-service.
Libertarians hold the idea that there are many roads to liberty, all
equally valid and true, including religion or a relatively new
aberration, communitarianism. There is only one road to liberty, one
price to be paid for freedom, reason.
Here is a quote from Objectivist philosopher Dr. Harry Binswanger:
"The "libertarians"...plagiarize Ayn Rand's principle that no man may
initiate the use of physical force, and treat it as a mystically revealed,
out-of-context absolute....
In the philosophical battle for a free society, the one crucial
connection to be upheld is that between capitalism and reason. The
religious conservatives are seeking to tie capitalism to mysticism;
the "libertarians" are tying capitalism to the whim-worshiping
subjectivism and chaos of anarchy. To cooperate with either group is to
betray capitalism, reason, and one's own future."
Binswanger, "The Ayn Rand Lexicon", p254 from "Q & A Department: -
Anarchism," "The Objectivist Forum", Aug. 1981, 12.
Please refer to the article, "Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty"
by Peter Schwartz for details.
This tract and a condensed version which appears in "The Voice of
Reason: Essays on Objectivist Thought" are available at Second
Renaissance Books. (address below)
Read "Religion vs America" by Dr. Leonard Peikoff for an explanation
of why the revival of religion in America constitutes a threat to
everyone's freedom.
Continue to:
My Books
