You can always tell when the Right is in trouble. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, with no real warning whatsoever, Right Wing hosts and commentators will site, in unison, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged as a classic tome of conservative values versus liberal socialism.
This, of course, is complete and utter crap.
Anybody who has ever read Atlas Shrugged in its entirety knows that any kind of comparison of Rand's Objectivism with any of the GOP's current positions is ludicrous. But I think the number of people truly familiar with the book are far fewer than anyone really imagines. That has to be the reason that they would attempt to draw any kind of connection between the two. The only way to get away with such a patently false deceleration is by assuming that the majority of viewers or listeners have never read Atlas Shrugged. To be honest, its a pretty safe assumption.
I would take a stab at trying to outline the myriad of reasons why the philosophical theories of Atlas Shrugged don't work in this context, but somebody else has done a far better job of it than I probably would have. Take a moment to read Ed Kilgore's entry at The Huffington Post, especially if you've never read Atlas Shrugged. It is also worth reading if you have, but odds are you haven't.
Ed Kilgore: Conservatives Lionize Their Bitter Enemy
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