Forgotten Books: Atlas Shrugged

Inspired by this post on the books we forget, and aided by finally being able to unpack all my books after years they spent in storage (sorry babies!), I’m going to start blogging about books I haven’t read recently.

Gene Veith quoted a great rant about in the wake of a Huffington Post article on the topic (which I didn’t read). It still amazes me how many Christians believe He was.

The rant, along with too many recent new stories, called to mind Ayn Rand, and Atlas Shrugged in particular (Amazon Affiliate link), which I read rather belatedly a few years ago. While Ms. Rand was a devout atheist and worships only ‘the human ability’ in her books, they still contain many kernels of political truth.

When bureaucrats begin to tell us how our hard-earned money should be spent, we have a problem. Liberals tend to forget that Rand lived through Russia’s attempt at true (open, named) socialism, and those horrors more than anything else shaped her political opinions.

A radio host (sorry, I can’t remember who) the other day expressed outrage when a college student called in and asked an honest, incredulous question: What makes you think you have a right to your money? The host explained he’d earned the money by trading some of his life (hours/labor) for it. By asking what right we have to our money, we’re asking what right we have to our lives. I believe the Declaration of Independence had something to say about that.

I constantly recommend Ayn Rand to others, and I plan to re-read Atlas Shrugged soon!