The political correctness of Ra and the Confederation

[rva_jeremy]

Well, the difference is that Rand took it one step further.  She looked down upon those who weren't already reliant on the Self, referring to them disparingly as "collectivists."  Her philosophies were intended to actively break people of their reliance upon others and create a truly Self-focused society where collective positive action is basically impossible.  But Ra's certainly right about her being all about separating the Elite from everyone else.

(And even then, there are definite tensions within her own philosophy, since the entire plot of Atlas involves a cabal of Elites working together to achieve this.  She needs a lot of philosophical handwaving to explain why this isn't a collective action, despite appearances and her characters even ironically calling themselves "Strikers" in parody of collectivism.)

The funny thing is that she's inconsistent on this.  What is the state that she never denied the need for but an organ of collective benefit?  For that matter, the corporations she loves so much are collectives.  Corporations are little central planning organizations within society--in other words, there's no internal markets and pricing structures within the corporation.  Hell, even the market--that God that Rand exalts above all else--is a set of collective rules.  Private property is something that doesn't work unless we all collectively recognize it.

I've often wondered along with many of my left libertarian friends how Rand's objectivism is a sort of syncretic distortion rather than a coherent philosophy.  Because if you follow her principles to their logical end, you don't end up with the Western-style capitalism she loves so much.  But she wasn't really the most coherent thinker; nobody is when you're on that much speed.