By Joan Hough
johough@swbell.net
I really do like John Galt. I wish he were here.
If you are unable to identify John Galt, read Ayn Rand's
Atlas Shrugged.
My impression of Ayn Rand's philosophy is somewhat different from that of some folks. I do not censure her work, because of her lack of religion. In fact I interpret her view of selfishness in quite a different way from the way it is viewed by many religious and many irreligious folks. I think that one can infer from what Ayn wrote--that if one really feels good by doing good, doing good is perfectly ok. The fact that the doing of good works brings one happiness might even be termed "selfishness," that is--I don't do something good for you because you need me to or you deserve it, but because it makes ME feel good! My motive as to WHY it feels good is mine--and not yours!
One should, for example, give to charity if by doing so one is doing what he/she really wants to do and it makes him feel good--and not because somebody else declares and demands such action--not because one OWES help to another person. The virtue of selfishness then--can be in doing what one wants to do because one wants to do it--not is ordered to do it or does it because someone makes him feel guilty if he doesn't wish to do it. One should do his good because he so desires to do it, not because the government will imprison him or others will treat him with scorn if he refuses to do it.
If one's religion inspires one to WANT to do good, that should not hinder the doing of good--even by Ayn Rand's standards.
Charity, in order to be charity- cannot be compulsory; it must come from the heart. Forced charity is but a form of looting. Frederic Bastiat explains looting as government-forced giving. America's Income tax is a worker's earnings stolen from him by the government and given to the wretched of the world (or rather to their rich leaders). Income tax, used for that purpose, is both an immoral and illegal. type of looting. Forcing people to pay taxes for abortions when they are absolutely opposed to abortion or government-paid-for abortion is not only unconstitutional, but against human rights that come directly from God. It is looting--robbery in all of its raw ugliness. To take by taxes from the "haves" and give to the "have nots" is Communism enacted--with the rich elites, of course, soaking up the cream while the others get only the skimmed milk. and only the dregs of that.
No, Rand did not involve herself with God, and that was her loss, but should not keep readers capable of independent thinking from rejecting her ideas
altogether.
It should be taken into consideration that Ayn Rand grew up in a nation in which all religion was scorned, belittled and made illegal. She was just as brainwashed against religion as the captive Americans and Englishmen were against capitalism while they were imprisoned by the Commies in Korea and Viet Nam. Rand's degree of brainwashing was intensified because she had years of it. She was, no doubt, more conditioned against all forms of religion than were Protestants, at one time against Catholics and as were Catholics against Cathars and Protestants.
Carl Jung said that if there were no God, man would be forced to invent one. God is needed and wanted by most Americans who have, so far, escaped the massive brain-wash program designed to eliminate Him and his Son and make Obama's words the truth---"the U.S. is not a Christian nation."
Luckily for America, the complete brainwash program unleashed by Communists on Ayn Rand did not fully take, so she was able to throw off the economic and personal portion of it--and realize that "I" (as in I am important) is not a filthy word and does not represent an unnatural concept. She grew to believe that collectivism and all powerful government were the enemies of the individual. Rand did accept the Communist programming--that the "State" (central government) is God and has the right to issue rewards and all punishments to the people living under it --that government is the source of all good things and has the right to dispense all rewards and all punishments.
Any thinking person must conclude that the Marxist-Communist-Socialist do believe that the state (the all-powerful, national government) IS God --that Communists revere and worship an all powerful government. They scorn God and plan destruction for all believers in Him and in Jesus Christ. Somehow they leave the Muslims alone for now, anyway.
The Marxists detestation of religion has a long history. It is believed to be one of the collateral motives for the 1861 Republican invasion of the Confederate States of America and for their importing vast numbers of Germans and other Europeans in 1863 or so to fight when the North was losing to the Confederate States.
It is reported that Ayn Rand aroused the wrath of Bill Buckley when she told him he was "too intelligent" to believe in God. Buckley, thereafter, or so the story goes, standing up for God, became Rand's critic and enemy. It is to be wondered, however, if religion was the real motive for Buckley's antipathy. Rand had a decided dislike of imperialism-- America's involvement in foreign wars--and there was Viet Nam which was highly approved by Buckley. Buckley is said to have grown to dislike George W. Bush's plan for the Middle East, but if Buckley was opposed to the Bush Republicans and top Democrats' New World Order there was no evidence of that. Some have concluded that Buckley, rather than the "Father of Conservatism,” was the first of the Neo-Cons and a big, dedicated imperialist.
Buckley's concept of religion did not prevent him from becoming a determined antagonist to the U.S. Constitution and the stated opinions of its creators--that the U.S., under no conditions, other than a direct attack on it , (not a 'red flag" one created by a President and his buddies) should the U.S. Involve itself in wars. The founding fathers were solidly against wars to, internationally, acquire more power or as a part of any "favorite friend-involvement" with other nations. "Friends to all, allies to none" -- was something the Founders believed in, but Buckley did not.
Buckley's history includes membership in the Skull and Bones Society, a grand award from George Bush, Sr., a denunciation by Buckley of anti-Communist Robert Welsh accompanied by the desire to see Welsh expelled from the Republican Party. Buckley, also was an opponent of the South's George Wallace, as were big Republicans.
Buckley was a prime mover in the establishment of a Martin Luther King recognition movement and holiday, causing some people to wonder if, despite Buckley's anti-Communism stance and his past as an intelligence officer, and the research he did for all of his spy novels, if he was unaware of King’s Communist background, including King's formal attendance in Communist classes.
Buckley was acclaimed by some as the father of Conservatism. Others might contend that it all depends upon how one defines Conservatism--that in Buckley's case, if he lived today the prefix "faux" would correctly precede the word Conservative because Buckley was more a Newt Gingrich type of citizen, than a Ron Paul type. Buckley was more likely, like Newt, to hold hands with the left wingers such as Pelosi than to admire a Judge Andrew P. Napolitano. Republican Buckley did, however present some defense of Joe McCarthy, but then the Democrat Kennedys, with the exception of Ted, enthusiastically supported Joe. (It should be noted that Buckley's defense of McCarthy, was not anywhere near the level of that of M. Stanton Evans in his book,
Blacklisted By History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and his Fight Against America's Enemies.I, personally, do not recall any big efforts on Buckley's part to correct some of the horrible amendments to the Constitution which were antithetical to its original nature, i.e. Federal Income tax (which became the law of the land after first being proposed by Karl Marx and put into being by that great Republican, Abe Lincoln, himself). Income tax passed out of existence only to be brought back again by radicals in Congress and became the law of the land in the strangest of fashions--quite illegally with its illegality championed as legal by the politicians on the Supreme Court and there was no questioning of its legality by Buckley.
Buckley, of course, while expressing his opinions on everything from shoes to Shineola, never made any attempt to tell the truth about either the Communist origination of the United Nations where he served as a U.S. Representative, or the Communist-initiated War of Northern Aggression-. Not one word did he utter about the Marxist-Republicans who helped created the Grand Ole Republican Party, then honchoed the invasion of the South as a continuation of their failed Socialist Rebellion in Europe.
Buckley eschewed the telling of any truths about the Communist-Radical Republicans genocide program imposed on white Southerners during the so-called "Civil" war. He never acknowledged that that war was an unconstitutional invasion-- constitutionally prohibited--treason committed against Southern states. Buckley had not the excuse the rest of us ordinary citizens had--he was not the victim of the U.S. public relations professionals, he was one of them!
Most of truly dedicated to America, citizens thought Buckley was a magnificent defender of America. We, back then, had no knowledge whatsoever about the Council on Foreign Relations and the hierarchy of powerful men controlling both political parties. We believed people were what they said they were--that nobody was a faux conservative or a pretend anything. It is natural that good people are usually compelled to believe all people are good, decent human beings until a loved one is raped in her own home in the wee hours of the morning by an intruder. Because normal, good Americans are incapable of plotting gigantic horrors, they are incapable of understanding that others are not.
How sad it is to realize that the great government of the United States gives financial aid (our tax monies) and the blood of our young in order to facilitate secessions in nations about the world yet will not even recognize the truth about its own murderous, genocidal conduct against the legally seceded Confederate States of America. One might think famed American writers and wheeler dealers such as Buckley would have sought the truth about America's past and written about it.
It would seem that religious people would seek truth because they are religious. It somehow seems strange that Bill Buckley loathed John Galt, Ayn Rand, Robert Welsh, and George Wallace, but LOVED Martin Luther King.
