The US Election: Let's Just Get It Over With

For once I have been speechless. It doesn't happen often, but the US elections have managed it. The attack ads, the lies, the blatant hostility to various groups of people, and the naked self-interest have reduced me to a form of soul-deadened despair. It seems there will never again be common purpose to this country, only the dog-eat-dog selfish survivalism that seems to have gripped our politics.

My complete numbness occurred when Citizen Romney selected as his running mate a man who espouses the "virtues" of Ayn Rand without recognizing that lady's place in time and space. Ms
Rand was in full revolt from communism, having moved to America from eastern Europe. No one then would dispute her opinions and no one now would ever espouse a communist government for this or any other democracy. But we have seen that capitalism has its own form of horror, and no one reasonable espouses a "pure" form of that either. There has to be balance. Balance is precisely what is missing in this country right now.

I look in vain for moderates who recognize the need for delicate balance in human affairs.

Until John McCain selected Sarah Palin, I was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. He was cranky and impulsive, but his record spoke for itself and he seemed a decent man with his heart in the right place. Until Sarah, that is, who most recently has said that Obama needs to have a big stick or grow one in dealing with foreign policy. Classy. All of a sudden, McCain became a crank by association with her.

Likewise with Romney. One could say that he as a moderate caught in the midst of a difficult divide in his party. He had to sound radical, in other words, to keep his party together. Now, he has his own version of Madam Sarah. When he pulled in an Ayn Rander, he also  became a crank by association.

What is so weird about Ayn Rand? After all, isn't she for free trade and the reward of talent?

As one of the people who have actually read her: here is my take.

The central idea in her novel Atlas Shrugged is that if the talented and visionary leaders of industry among us were to go on strike, leave the country in so many words, everything would collapse. Her main character, John Galt, is quite explicit: the value of a human life is the extent to which it is capable of generating profit. This is so opposed to Christian teaching that it's no surprise that Ayn Rand was an atheist, something that conservatives try to ignore.

My take on Ayn Rand is that she is all black and white. If the leaders of industry were to decamp a whole group of people would rise to the challenge and take on the mantle of leadership. That's the way it has always happened: lose a leader and another sees the need and steps forward. The world is not divided into can do and can't. It's much more likely to be divided on the basis of those who are given opportunities and those who are not. I am quite aware that I would not have been given the chance to earn a Ph.D. if there had not been generous state support of higher education--yes, that's a subsidy that the rich among us hate (it was a conservative push to loans rather than grants because they saw higher education as a private benefit rather than a national investment).

Sorry, Ms Rand and your followers. Your leaders of industry are replaceable and not even that useful. Many of them are just into greed and working the government to their own short-term profit. The future of this and any other nation lies with its children. And these are the very ones you don't care about because they don't have immediate commercial value.