Rand's domestication on the right

Rand's social world view, though not necessarily her irreligion, has become increasingly mainstream, according to this review of two recent biographies of Rand:

From Wealthcare:

In these disparate comments we can see the outlines of a coherent view of society. It expresses its opposition to redistribution not in practical terms--that taking from the rich harms the economy--but in moral absolutes, that taking from the rich is wrong. It likewise glorifies selfishness as a virtue. It denies any basis, other than raw force, for using government to reduce economic inequality. It holds people completely responsible for their own success or failure, and thus concludes that when government helps the disadvantaged, it consequently punishes virtue and rewards sloth. And it indulges the hopeful prospect that the rich will revolt against their ill treatment by going on strike, simultaneously punishing the inferiors who have exploited them while teaching them the folly of their ways.

There is another way to describe this conservative idea. It is the ideology of Ayn Rand. Some, though not all, of the conservatives protesting against redistribution and conferring the highest moral prestige upon material success explicitly identify themselves as acolytes of Rand. (As Santelli later explained, "I know this may not sound very humanitarian, but at the end of the day I'm an Ayn Rand-er.") Rand is everywhere in this right-wing mood. Her novels are enjoying a huge boost in sales. Popular conservative talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have touted her vision as a prophetic analysis of the present crisis. "Many of us who know Rand's work," wrote Stephen Moore in the Wall Street Journal last January, "have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that Atlas Shrugged parodied in 1957."

Only Rand didn't invent this world view. It has antecedents in history, arguably even going back to Old Testament Judaism with its emphasis on the sanctity of property, and with prosperity as a sign of god's approval of your good character.

By contrast, the altruistic goody-goodness and indulgence of slack promoted by left humanists and liberal religionists grates against the sensibilities of many energetic and competitive men. Rand's "coherent view of society," the parts of which you can order à la carte, offers a justification for not tolerating dysfunctional behavior which others want you to subsidize through taxation.

Given that the social war really involves a conflict between women and men, with women using the political process to create substitutes for the provider beta males they despise, Rand's philosophy offers a way for all productive men to fight back against women's efforts to exploit and cuckold them.