"Why does the right wing worship Ayn Rand? " Well worth reading as always: Hal Crowther

[Mira]

Why does the right wing worship Ayn Rand? 
If corporate feudalism is your dream for America, Ayn Rand is the prophet for you.
by Hal Crowther

The Republican Party's slapstick search for a leader would be heartwarming and sidesplitting but for the tragic knowledge that one of these scrambling midgets will collect tens of millions of votes in the presidential election of 2012. Never have so many amounted to so little, talked so much rubbish, dreamed of an office so far above their abilities. Blood pressures rose among party elders when Donald Trump, marginally Republican and one of the greatest fools in the solar system, momentarily tossed his hairpiece into the ring and became the instant favorite.
The GOP dilemma—a golden opportunity to rule but nothing to say and no one to say it—is so desperate that my instinct is to help them sort it out. Could we start, at least, by dismissing candidates who called for President Obama's birth certificate or raised the specter of Shariah law in America, followed by briskly ushering offstage lunatics who dismiss global warming as a socialist plot? That would leave plenty of unbalanced extremists still in the running, yet reduce the stench of sheer evil and madness. The "birther" and Shariah cults reek of cheesy talk-radio racism; climate-change denial is a stranger faith yet, a political assault on basic science that insults a ground squirrel's intelligence and casually threatens the survival of life on Earth.
The party that produces birthers and global-warming deniers no doubt harbors End-of-the-Worlders, too, Christians who packed their bags for heaven with the senile prophet Harold Camping on May 21. Though none of them, I suppose, would commit to the time and expense of a presidential campaign, just to preside over a nation of sinners expiring in fire and pestilence.


read the rest of it here

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/why-does-the-right-wing-worship-ayn-rand/Content?oid=2634848

[JDPriestly]

1. K&R

Delightful article. I was laughing and laughing at the descriptions of Ayn Rand and her novels.

So true.

And Ayn Rand is the antithesis of Christianity. How the Republicans reconcile the two totally divergent philosophies is beyond understanding.

[patrice]

2. Whew! I "need a cigarette"! Thanks for posting!

[nxylas]

3. So, we exclude the birthers, sharia creeps and global cool-aid drinkers

Who does that leave, exactly?:shrug:

[hifiguy]

4. This paragraph is especially apt.

"Albert Einstein, of my father's persuasion if not of his party, once wrote despairingly, "The tyranny of the ignoramuses is insurmountable and assured for all time." But the coalition that poisons this struggling republic is an unnatural one, made up of rich cynics who supply the money, and poor ignoramuses who supply the votes. They have nothing in common, except that the cynics will say anything and the morons will believe it. There must be something, optimists insist, that could drive a wedge between the exploiters and the exploited—some irresistible revelation, some fraud or contradiction so flagrant that the most obtuse voter could see how callously and criminally he's being used."

But it seems there is not.

[Larkspur]

5. Excellent!

I too laughed at the descriptions of Ayn Rand and the Rethugs.
I just hope we can survive this time of trials with our souls intact.

[PA Democrat]

6. Great read. Thanks for posting.

[Mira]

8. He is one of my all time favorite writers. Every single time it is of great value,

and we go way back together - to the days of Jesse Helms.....

[immoderate]

7. Recommended reading. Funny.

And I know funny! :+

--imm

[truebrit71]

9. +1

Very entertaining and informative..

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. As one who never made it more than five pages into one of her novels,

I thank Mr. Crowther for giving me a good reason not to bother with the other 1195 pages.