Atlas Shrugged is finished; I'm through with it. Outside of the pleasure of knowing I can conquer a 1000 page book, there is also a sense of nostalgia for Rand and her brand of thinking.
The other night, I went to Schlotzky's to get a sandwich. Debating whether to take AS in, I decided to get a few pages read, and I hate sitting there, with nothing to do but stare into space. I was alone, of course, and had to wait for a soccer mom with two screaming children to order before me. She took forever! After ordering, I went to get my drink and the soccer mom approached to do the same.
The soccer mom apparently saw my book and exclaimed, "You are holding my favorite book of all time! It changed the way I think about everything!"
I smiled, said something like "Yeah, it's interesting" and went to sit down.
So let me say this: I understand Rand's point of view. I know why she thought the way she did. She came out of communist Russia, born in 1905. She starved, saw the work camps, and the darkest face of communism to ever plague the planet. It's no wonder she embraced capitalism and thought it was the greatest thing ever.
I guess my problem with Rand is not with Rand herself but with the unnerving fact that people either love the book or hate. They either use it to qualify the Republican stance on little government and no regulation or they shake their head, roll their eyes, and blow Rand off as nothing more than a crazy egoist.
Is there no middle ground?! Am I the only one who can read it, not for the selfish egoism part of it all, but for the story? Surely not. I know there are others out there. Maybe it's because I'm not an extremist, I never have been. And I'd much rather understand the Republicans - a party I thought I was supposed to follow because my parent's did - than not know what they stand for. And they do not, I repeat, do not, follow Rand's philosophy.
What does Rand believe? Any involvement of the state in society is fatally flawed. Society cannot advance unless the "men of the mind" have free reign to invent, produce, and lead. Without these men, society stagnates. Society is better when these men are rewarded for their accomplishments, not impeded by regulation and taxes.
This novel is set entirely against God as well. Rand specifically goes after Augustine, the architect of much of Christian dogma.
I am glad I read AS. Rand is a phenomenal writer. Do I subscribe to her ideas? Not entirely, no. I think full blown capitalism won't work just as a full-blown democracy won't work. Alan Greenspan subscribed to Rand's ideas, his wife was a member of Rand's inner circle back in the day. Greenspan deregulated, deregulated, deregulated, and now the entire world is paying the price. Regulation is good in, like many things, moderation.
My next book, to counteract Rand's anti-religion stance, is Graham Greene's The End of the Affair. One of our profs has been pressuring me to read it for about a year. Right now, it's slimness looks awfully appealing!
Tomorrow...pics of Sookie.
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