OK.
Having watched the Colbert Report, and realized that there are actually nut-cases out there who think that the weirdo, repressed he-woman, Ayn Rand, had any points at all, except those in her brain-damaged head, I have to weigh in on this.
There is no virtue in selfishness. Well, there is to the evil among us, but in civilized society, among the moral, the religious, the sane, the normal people, caringness for everyone takes precedence.
Rand was an embittered woman, unappealing, most likely attempting to gain the attention of a remote father, or to be the son he'd wanted, a twisted person who, in the time of great national suffering, during which, as now, there were not enough jobs or resources for most people, she would smugly decide that others didn't deserve anything - a dog-eat-dogism - and that the successful ( oh, please, don't resurrect the old God pre-ordained blessings on his chosen thing! ), merely work harder...where is concern for others ? Has the human overpopulation crisis already caused this level of hatred for the under-productive ?
Which brings us to the point about which all this Ayn Randism has been dug out of a moldering grave to prop up the conservatives' notions about unfairness to them - the Obama campaign to bail out the mortgage holders. After all, who else do they have who would openly espouse selfishness as a virtuous thing to endorse (except for the odious pustule named Rush Limbaugh )? Why else would the hyper-conventional (they all dress alike ) Conservatives come out en masse for this extremely odd and subversive female writer ? Ordinarily they'd shun her like they would all other bohemian types!
First of all - if you own your own home, you're not desperate.
Why not help the ones who really need it? The renters?
These home-owners - many of whom heeded those stupid late-night ads and land-grabbed to the tune of, as in my neighbor's case, owning in excess of hundreds of rental properties - are not the desperate ones. I cannot tell you how many vacant homes I see every day in the beach areas. The Bush-men had given tax breaks to the greedy ones who wanted not one but TWO homes - and why not force these second homes to be offered (at a Federally-mandated low rate ) as rental properties for those who need homes?
This is a bail out to stabilize the banks, and the middle-grubbers in between them and the consumers, the mortgage industry creeps. The bottom-feeders who have the nerve to look down upon workers - whose industries have been closed down or moved to other countries ! Where is the sympathy and help for them ? The American Worker doesn't even have unions any more!
Oh, where is F.D.R. when we need him again ? Would that he, like Arthur, could return - but NOT Ayn Rand!
I, like many who voted Obama in, am not thrilled about many things the new administration is doing, but this is a move that should have the Repubs clicking their collective (Fascist) heels together!
It's giving money to the banks, essentially, which may or may not get to them if it's given to homeowners instead.
This could be good for stabilizing the economy, but it will do nothing to help the ones who sorely need help in this economy - those without jobs, without homes, renters, and so on.
I just cannot cry over those who own homes when so many others, less advantaged, are in trouble.
Why not choose another novelist to quote ? Let's go for Steinbeck now, at least, since he cared about the ordinary man - the masses - the disenfranchised - the elderly - the hungry kids - the single parents - the less-abled - the poor.
So do I.
Quotes That Matter :
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage. - John Steinbeck
Love others as you do yourself. - The Bible
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