July 3, 2010

"The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world."

The Ayn Rand table at the Farmers Market — on the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin today:

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(Enlarge.)

20 comments:

Rose said...

"The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world."

Amen. And God, whatever you conceive God to be, keep us whole.

ironic captcha: noper

Unknown said...

I think we can all get behind that (by all, I, of course, exclude Freder/Montagne/Alpha and all our other National Socialists).

Kirby Olson said...

Rand was a virulent secularist. Other than that, I approve of this message.

dbp said...

It is better to love your country too much, than not enough. Or at all, as the case may be.

Deborah M. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LonewackoDotCom said...

The final stage for Randroids is to "go Galt": take their marbles and shiny trinkets and go home. In other words, the Randroids would turn their backs on the U.S. and those unlucky enough to share citizenship with them.

In addition to not being patriots, they're also inconsistent: they think they can go Galt in the U.S. Yet, if they did do that, they'd be "moochers" by their own definition: they'd be under the national defense protection provided by those they'd turned their backs on.

They're as insane as cults, and the only good thing that can be said about them is that they're very few in number.

P.S. Glenn Reynolds appears to be a Randroid, and that's not surprising at all.

rhhardin said...

It looks like a penumbra, to me.

Peter Hoh said...

Here in St. Paul, we like to keep a little distance between the state capitol and the farmers market.

jimbino said...

Lonewackodot:

I'm a Rand fan and one of those who designs those nuclear weapons and missiles.

I and my buddies have long considered taking our "marbles and shiny trinkets" and going someplace else!

Michael said...

Lonewackdotcom: I may be wrong, not being a devotee of Rand, but isnt' the "going Galt" thing about stopping your own production and living off the proceeds of your own previous labors? You can go semi'Galt by not selling stocks when the capital gains rate doubles, for instance. You can go semi-Galt by not hiring that extra person who will put you into a category the state deems big enough to whack extra hard. That kind of thing. As to national defense protection, I suppose you are right about that , but in another sense we have, most of us, paid in advance.

Opus One Media said...

shrug

Unknown said...

Ayn Rand was right. Even if she doesn't have a dopey theater troupe to say so this weekend.

Atlas Shrugged is filming now...should be interesting.

LonewackoDotCom said...

Michael: in her loonum opus, Rand had her characters retreat from the "moochers" who wanted their money into a special little place they'd built. Kind of like a commune, only without the Communism. That's what (AFAIK) "going Galt" refers to. Their special little place had its own protection: a force field.

Whether she acknowledged that - force field or no - her people were relying on a shared U.S. defense isn't known, since I got that from (yes) WP.

Via WP I also found out that her book includes a pirate. No, really. But, not just any pirate, but a very special kind of pirate: the reverse Robin Hood kind who steals relief supplies bound for Europe in order to give them back to the rightful owners: the rich people who were taxed to pay for the supplies.

Now, I'm not saying the all sociopaths are Randroids, but there's got to be a huge overlap between traitors, sociopaths, the insane, and Randroids.

Anonymous said...

I've never seen an Ayn Rand table. Last Sunday my local farmers market in Southern California had a Democrat table (with Obama-Biden signs) and a Green Party table. There's usually a table with free copies of the Koran too.

KLDAVIS said...

"When robbery is done in open daylight by sanction of the law, as it is done today, then any act of honor or restitution has to be hidden underground."

Ragnar Danneskjold (Pirate)

Kev said...

I've never seen an Ayn Rand table. Last Sunday my local farmers market in Southern California had a Democrat table (with Obama-Biden signs) and a Green Party table. There's usually a table with free copies of the Koran too.

Your farmers in SoCal (and Madison as well) grow some weird stuff. Our farmers grow wheat and corn and cotton and things like that...

Freder Frederson said...

I'm a Rand fan and one of those who designs those nuclear weapons and missiles.

It's amazing how many Rand fans and Libertarians (e.g., Jimbino--at hope you are not designing nuclear weapons for private agencies--, Glenn Reynolds, a good chunk of the hosts over at Volokh) work for government agencies yet seem to be totally unaware of the irony.

by all, I, of course, exclude Freder/Montagne/Alpha and all our other National Socialists).

You have no idea what a National Socialist (or even a regular Socialist) is. I would be offended. But if I were offended by every ignorant, uniformed, comment flung at me by the stupid people who comment on this site I would live in an eternal state of offense.

Freder Frederson said...

I would think from the perspective of Ayn Rand fans, the statement that the U.S. is the only "moral country" in the world isn't quite true. Seems to me their idea of a moral society would be an aks-no-questions tax haven like Barbados, the Cayman Islands or even Switzerland.

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Methadras said...

Message is on target.