I began rereading Atlas Shrugged a few weeks ago when I heard the terms nationalization and socialized being bandied about in the news. What I needed was a healthy dose of objectivism.
Apparently I wasn't alone. According to a recent Economist article, sales of Miss Rand's mighty tome have spiked four times in the past year. It climbed from an average Amazon sales rank of 542 and peaked at 33 on January 13. (I ordered my copy on January 18.) A website, GoingJohnGalt.org, pays homage to Miss Rand's philosophy by encouraging productive citizens to engage in a "calculated work slowdown."
Many news stations have called attention to this likeness of thought, especially Fox News. But you know it's really news when The Colbert Report features the story as The Word. ("Rand Illusion" was the word for last night.)
Maybe Miss Rand's ideas are extreme, and maybe he who runs GoingJohnGalt.org is a nut, but we should still pay heed to history and literature alike. And if nothing else, let's be impressed that so many Americans are reading a 1200-page novel.
Ah, but wasn't "don't you think your ideas are extreme?" the standard cry of many of the looters in Ayn Rand's novel?
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