Ayn Rand’s Increasing Relevance

I find it amazing how quickly an icon can sprout, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus in mind. However what I find even more fascinating is how much more relevant a person can be after their time. Take Shakespeare, Kurt Cobain, and Emily Dickinson for some examples. Some are prophets, some are artists, and some are both. I can only figure that some kind of statement must have been made in the works of these people that rang true for the generations after them.

Ayn Rand’s novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ was recently put into movie form and her works—plays, books, and essays-- have experienced a surge in purchases. You may think that the fad is just no big deal and will die out as soon as the movie is forgotten, however Rand’s works have been on shelves for decades since their publication. Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957 and since, has sold more than six and a half million copies. The rate of sale in recent years hung around 139,000 copies a year but tripled last year. There have been three autobiographies published about Rand in the last two years. While Rand was a great writer, it was her philosophical beliefs and literary messages that have caught on more than ever recently.

"Atlas Shrugged" is usually revered as a tale that illustrates the importance of the free market. Atlas being the Greek Titan who holds the world in its place; ‘shrugging’ as in "I’m tired of carrying you." The author  shows the importance of the free market to human creativity. This is something usually lost in the arguments over economic efficiency and productivity. Most conservative or libertarian leaning intellectuals talk about how the free market will increase employment, increase buying power, raise the quality of life, and spur competition between businesses for better products at lower prices. Rand, on the other hand, uses her literary devices to demonstrate that human creativity is inhibited by government intrusion into the market. This is because the law is manipulated to serve the existing corporate giants instead of fairly treating all businesses for the defense of property rights. In the book, businesses seek legislation to put competitors out of business rather than create a better product or service.

But what does all of this mumbo jumbo have to do with modern society? Maybe the fact that entrepreneurs and investors are told that they are only welcome to create jobs if they obey hundreds if not thousands of pointless restrictions—all bound  in layers and layers of regulatory legislation. Maybe the fact that little kids are being told that they can’t have a lemonade stand in front of their houses without paying the county $150 for a vendor permit, paying the city $75 for a home-based business license, going before city council to seek that home-based business license where all of the other beverage vendors of the city can come and make arguments against allowing the child to make $.50 a cup, and then let the County Health Department fine the child and confiscate all the lemonade for not having a proper hand washing station behind the table.

People are beginning to realize that creativity and productivity are co-dependant, and without one, the other is very hard to find. Creativity is the means by which opportunities for productivity are found and productivity is necessary for the full realization of one’s creative work.

Ayn Rand may have died in 1982 as a counter-cultural influence, however her ideas and works have proven to be prophecy of the encroachment of government upon these two basic needs of man’s nature. Rand will continue to grow in influence and popularity, but the real question is, “Will our leaders stop trying to control productivity by limiting creativity, and vice-versa?”