Ayn Rand’s second wave
Here is an article from the The New York Times on the social influence philosopher Ayn Rand has had on American business. If you, like me, had written off Ayn Rand as an ineffective philosopher and an even worse novelist, think again. Sometimes simple ideas are the ones that survive. Rand advocated for an individual’s responsibility to pursue their own interest with abandon. Her everybody-else-be-dammed attitude has survived, and her book Atlas Shrugged remains a best seller. Perhaps her ideas have stuck in the American mind because they’re shrouded in the idea of hard work, excellence, and personal merit. Rand’s ideas are an impressive combination of the Puritan work ethic and secularism devoid of that other Puritan idea– grace. Of course, if you believe in God’s unmerited favor, it’s hard to maintain the position that you are self-made, and therefore unaccountable.