Ayn Rand was a nut?

Maybe so. At the very least, she was very single-minded and dogmatic. And it is true that her philosophy does not accurately reflect the values of most conservatives, which is one thing that conservative need to make clear. Even if they respect and agree with part of what she taught.

Pej, who has a libertarian bent, puts the nuttiness of Rand in perspective:

–Peter Wehner. Having read Rand, I would say that she doesn’t even qualify as being a good novelist.

That having been written, I will take Rand over Marx anyday.

Even as a teenager, I didn't think The Fountainhead's story line, particularly the part about Howard Roark not even needing parents, was particularly realistic. But it offered some interesting insights into how the world works. I've never read Atlas Shrugged, but we are getting some business people withdrawing from business activity at this time because of a hostile regulatory environment, sort of like John Galt in the novel.

My theory is that Ayn Rand's rather obsessive and single-minded focus on individual liberty and related values was largely a result of her family's searing experience with Marxists. Having no religion to refer to for a more complete set of moral values, she went toward the opposite of Marxism in her philosophy. She thought that voluntary exchange of goods and services was more moral than police force in economic matters.

Which brings us, sort of, to the image many Progressives hold in their minds about Conservatives:

Our [Democrat] moral values, in contradiction to the Republicans’, is we don’t think kids ought to go to bed hungry at night. ~~ Howard Dean 5/22/2005

That one, sincerely offered and wholely indecent quote pretty much sums up the mindset of Progressives. Disagree with them, you can’t be mistaken, you are evil. What else can be concluded from the erstwhile chairman of the Democratic Party, who actually believes Republicans want children to starve?

It certainly is the basis of the arguments of those who want the nationalization of American Medicine . . . .