Ayn Rand's: Atlas Shrugged

At 1168 pages this might be the longest book you will ever read but it sure won’t be the dullest.  Ayn Rand a defector from the former Soviet Union writes a masterpiece about the ills of big government and the slippery slope from a social safety net to an Orwellian society.  Set during the waning years of the industrial revolution the story follows several industrialists as they combat the ever increasing hand of a government set on doing “what is best for the people,” some give up and hand over their businesses to the government while others fight tooth and nail for economic freedom.  Ayn Rand highlights the press’s role in supporting all the new government regulations and actions and the media’s self-censorship on issues of economic freedom. 

Ayn Rand highlights the relationship between people and government and the sort of self-satisfying people who believe they can solve all the world’s problems if they were just given control of the world.  The tone Ayn Rand sets is very dark and not for the faint of heart some sections of the book had me bursting with anger and I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the government today.  I have been told that whole political lobby groups have formed with the expressed purpose of stopping the scenarios that Ayn Rand describes from coming to pass.

It is said that presidential candidate Mitt Romney made every member of his staff when he was in business read this book.  I would do the same.   I believe that if you only read one book during your life it should be this one it is truth it is objective it just tells a story.  There is no “lovey dovey” nonsense only precise statements of truth and through this medium we are told a sad story. 

I believe the emotions I have for this country are compounded by this book.  I would argue that it might be the most patriotic book ever written but it is also a critique against the welfare state mentality that threatens us even today and has already consumed Europe.  This book invokes fear it shows us what things will be like if we continue down the path we are on.  It shows how business and government are two beings constantly at odds no matter what the government says to the contrary.  It alerts us that our political freedom is even more so, now dependent on our economic freedom and that when the welfare state walls come crashing down around us like they have in Greece the solution is more economic freedom not less.  For if we don’t follow her warnings and advice we will face the Orwellian state that George Orwell imagined and the Soviet Union realized.