PAUL WEYRICH
In 1973 Paul Weyrich and Ed Feulner managed to talk the Coors family out of enough money to found the Heritage Foundation in order to counter the liberal influences of the country. Weyrich then went on to leverage the power and prestige he received from the Heritage Foundation, becoming one of the great conservative “leaders”.
HOWARD PHILLIPS
Like the two other conservative leaders Phillips became dissatisfied with the Republican Party in the mid 1970’s. He went on to found the U. S. Taxpayer’s Party, which evolved into the Constitution Party, which is basically controlled by Pastor Chuck Baldwin of the Crossroads Baptist Church in Jacksonville.
THE BETRAYAL OF REAGAN
What do far right conservatives and cannibals have in common? They eat one’s own.
The difference between the Far Left, Democrats, the Far Right and Republicans is quite simple. It has nothing to do with political ideology, and everything to do with infighting. It is quite rare to find the Far Left crunching and munching on Democrats. It happens, but not often.
Unfortunately Libertarians and the Far Right think nothing of sacrificing viable, highly successful Republican candidates and office holders at the altar of ideology, roasting them, and dining on them, then spitting out the remains. Let’s not leave moderates, and basic run-of-the-mill Republicans out of this mix either. We can be a little nasty at times, highly critical of those in our party. Perhaps we’re more intellectually honest than the left and Dems, then again, it could be this quest for “purity” that is destroying us from within.
There was a time when even Ronald Reagan was not pure enough for the same bunch who are castigating just about everyone but Dick Cheney and Mark Sanford.
This wasn’t always the way things happened in the political world here in the US. Things would get a little testy. Republicans have been consistent in their constant complaints about media bias, which does exist, and has existed for years. Perhaps the most fun events were the almost regular rants from Richard Nixon’s now disgraced VP, Spiro Agnew.
The fall of Richard Nixon was an absolute disaster for the GOP. History has shown that Gerald Ford was the perfect choice for the VP replacement of Spiro Agnew. The election of 1976 was not going to be a Republican year. Jimmy Carter did the GOP thing, though, and ran as a religious moderate, on a platform of “change”. I think we all know how the story ended.
Article comments
1 - Diana Hsieh
I'm sorry to report that you don't understand Ayn Rand's philosophy well enough to comment on it. Nothing about your summary was accurate.
(1) Ayn Rand wasn't a hedonist. She was a rational egoist. She held that life -- not pleasure -- is the ultimate good.
(2) She didn't think that "the ends justify the means," but rather regarded certain virtues -- like rationality, productiveness, honesty, and integrity -- as essential to the life proper to man.
(3) She didn't advocate that "you step over people to get your way." She advocated individual rights as the basic principle of her political philosophy -- and held that, in ethics, a person should not sacrifice himself to others or others to himself.
(4) She despised libertarians like Ron Paul and Bob Barr.
Perhaps you need to re-read Atlas Shrugged?
2 - Starchild
I have to wonder whether the author of this piece ever actually read Ayn Rand. Whether through ignorance or otherwise, SJ Reidhead badly mischaracterizes Rand's philosophy. Rand would never say that "the ends justify the means."
As a champion of non-aggression and not taking anything that you have not earned or paid for, Rand would also strongly opposed trying to prosper "by any means necessary" or "stepping over people to get your way." (I'm assuming here that Reidhead means "stepping on" people -- it's not quite clear what "stepping over" people is supposed to mean.) Although Rand believed in ethical egoism, I don't believe she ever said "greed is good." That slogan came from the 1980s Hollywood movie "Wall Street." Certainly Rand would have defended the right of people to acquire lots of material possessions, but "greed" is not merely the desire for plenty, it's the desire for what is unearned, and Rand would have wanted no part of that.
Also rather sloppy is terming Bob Barr and Ron Paul as "followers" of Ayn Rand. Once upon a time that label could have been justifiably applied to Alan Greenspan, but to my knowledge Barr and Paul were never "followers" of the author of Atlas Shrugged, merely admirers of her writing and philosophy. Both are Christian, so obviously they would not agree 100% with the atheistic Rand any more than Paterson would. Both Ron Paul and Bob Barr have been leaders in speaking out against big government greed and policies that hurt the poor, especially Paul's call to end the "war on drugs" and rein in out-of-control government that is destroying the earning power of their wages via inflation, etc., so the not very subtle attempt to brand them as defenders of "might makes right" falls flat.
Quoting Noam Chomsky as calling Rand evil, and implying that M. Scott Peck would have done the same, without bothering to say what is evil about a philosophy based on ethical self-interest and non-aggression, is intellectually lazy.
3 - Jeannie Danna
SJ, (It is quite rare to find the Far Left crunching and munching on Democrats. It happens, but not often.)
I love this sentence and I can almost "hear the bones" Now I myself am not a Democrat(I don't really belong to any party, at least I have never received talking points from one) But you have left out one political party in this paragraph, the "Conservadems"
I hope you jump in your comment thread this time SJ or I am sorry to say "I will have to stop giving you any of my energy." :)
4 - ZAC D.
You completely smeared Rand.
5 - John Wilson
Ayn Rand just stitched together a bunch of sampler homilies without natural connection.
And she was a dreadfully inept novelist.
I'm amazed anyone still pays attention to Rand.
6 - Rose
Your section concerning Rose Wilder Lane is incorrect. Rose Wilder Lane was a writer long before Laura wrote a word. And Rose didn't "inherit" the estate, she created through her background, and knowledge, and craft, her parent's "estate" for them.