Rational Self-Interest
Atlas Shrugged
By Ayn Rand
Kyle with his paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged
“What greater wealth is there than to own your life and to spend it on growing?” That is a quote from the novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Some books become so intertwined with the culture that they must be read to fully understand what it means to be an American. In the political sense of that awareness are books like Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville, 1984 by George Orwell, and Atlas Shrugged, the most extensive statement of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. Released in 1957, the novel received many critical reviews but it has been cited by readers as a very influential novel and it remains a best seller.
Atlas Shrugged opens with, “Who is John Galt?” That mystery is slowly revealed over the course of this modern classic. Set in a dystopian United States somewhat like that of the mid-twentieth century, but with most travel being by railroad. Computers and jets are largely absent. The president is called the “Head of State.” Other countries are usually referred to as “People's States” with the implication that they are socialist or communist.
The novel is sometimes classified as science fiction because of the technologies that Rand creates within the book such as a motor invented by John Galt that is capable of harnessing static electricity from the atmosphere and transforming it into useful energy. However, central to the novel is a warning about the creeping growth and power of government and the allure of socialism.
The critical question asked by the book is what happens when the real titans of business go on strike and walk away from the economy. In the novel, the main business titans are Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and industrialist Hank Rearden. In the real world, Elon Musk comes to mind. Who would replace them? Would society survive?
In the later part of the book we see the inscription, “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.” This is the oath the titans of business recite when they join the strike and leave. Over the years since its publication, Atlas Shrugged has endured as Ayn Rand’s magnum opus, her most influential work. Today capitalism is rarely defended and most people could not provide a handful of its merits. However, Rand was a fervent defender of capitalism as both an economic and a moral system. In a lengthy monologue, often called the Money Speech, Rand has Francisco d’Anconia declare, “Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper.” Francisco concludes his monologue with, “When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice-- there is no other--and your time is running out.” Those ideas ring true for me.
Atlas Shrugged is long, the copy shown here is 1069 pages but, after reading it, I better understood Ayn Rand and her objectivist philosophy. While, as a Christian, I will never agree with her entirely, there are points of agreement. Like Rand, I believe in capitalism, individualism, self-discipline, limited government, and, in general, laissez-faire economics. Atlas Shrugged is a book every American should read to better understand this nation and the philosophical fight we are engaged in.
Have you read Atlas Shrugged or another Ayn Rand book? What do you think of her philosophy? Let us know your opinion in the comment section below.
