Ayn Rand Fiction to Reality

If you are familiar with Ayn Rand, the 20th century novelist, playwright and philosopher, you might want to pause for a moment and take a look around. What Rand called fiction now looks a lot like reality.

Rands political views are clearly reflected in her novels. The tenets of individual freedom, laissez faire capitalism, a constitutionally limited government and a strong objection to statism and collectivism are echoed throughout her various works. One of the more famous of these works is Atlas Shrugged, a novel set in a dystopian United States. In the novel a group of individuals refuse to be exposed to continued exploitation and go on "strike" against an ever controlling government and set out to establish a free society with a free economy. In an interview Rand indicated that the idea for the book came from a question that a friend posed to her, "What if all the creative minds in the world went on strike?"

The question is one that deserves considerable thought, and to take it one step further, doesn't collectivism kill the creativity, ingenuity and motivation of the human spirit? The answer to the latter is a resounding, YES.

Stop, take a look around, examine the situation. The federal government presently "owns" General Motors, a large percentage of the nations banks have been "nationalized" through bail-out money. The federal government is proposing a "take over" of the health care system, unelected officials have the power to cut executive pay up to 90% while remaining accountable to no one, the student loan system is completely in the hands of the government, cap and trade legislation will have a direct impact into the lives of every single American. The influence of Big Government is literally taking up a permanent residence in your home, move over and make room Big Brother is moving in!

In another interesting point, the working title of the book Atlas Shrugged was originally called, "The Strike." In my opinion the idea of being a thoughtless, emotionless drone in the bee hive of collectivism doesn't sit well with most Americans. Is it possible that the American people will say enough is enough and simply go on "Strike?"