The Ayn Rand Institute --- Hypocrites?

[RandFan]

Dostoevsky?!? In what ways does Rand counter him?

Literature can be a powerful means of altering the public conscience. Like Steinbeck (grapes of wrath), Upton Sinclair (the Jungle), Dickens (The Christmas Carol) Dostoevsky often wrote about people living in extreme poverty. Such literature is more likely to align the readers views to more liberal ways of thinking. We feel empathy for these people. We want to help them. Such works often, intentionally or unintentionally, cast as the antagonist the business owners, the wealthy. As if the answer to social problems is to simply redistribute wealth.

Rand counters this natural tendency of humans and points out the importance of the entrepreneurs among us. They are seen as something that we should value and not to simply despise them because they are wealthy. We should value them because of the important role that they play in society.

I don't view the world simply as poor vs rich. Clearly there are many times in history when the rich exploited the poor. It was such exploitation that led to unions. I said that I am a fan of Sinclair, Dickens and Dostoevsky and I'm a fan of many others, throw in Pearl S. Buck. They have something very important to say about the human condition. But the problem isn't a simple dichotomy of rich vs poor. There is importance and reason for land owners, speculators and entrepreneurs? We need to be able to look at the complete picture and understand the importance of, and value of, those who would risk their capital and time and take the intitiave to start jobs, create opportunity and to solve problems and to create more wealth. I think there is a dearth of literature that offers this perspective. Rand fills that void, to some small degree, and does so admirably IMHO.

Thank you for the question,

RandFan

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VII, "Reply to New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association" (March 21, 1864), pp. 259-260.