Confession: I am not a fan of Ayn Rand. I am not a fan of her thinking, her philosophy, or those who rabidly promote it, and I have resisted writing about her for a long time. Now, though, I find it necessary as the flag of her philosophy is more regularly hoisted high and used as a justification for the everyday flaunting of self-interest and outright greed. Please forgive this rant but do think about where you are in this and how you respond to its influence.

Ayn Rand has become a kind of patron saint of self-interested individualism. Born in Russia in 1905 and suffering the pains of the Russian Revolution and the violent infancy of the Soviet state, she came to America with a decided contempt for anything remotely collectivist or altruistic. Thus, she created a philosophy focused on self-centered thinking called Objectivism which became the common thread in her novels and speaking. She even shamelessly wrote a book called The Virtue of Selfishness to justify the ethical value of self-interest and confirm the destructive potential of altruism.

Essentially, Objectivism advocates self-regard above all. One should never sacrifice their own well-being to help others. Each individual has a duty to protect themselves and rely on themselves. There should be no help extended to anyone; every person is responsible for their own welfare (I can only imagine an unlucky soldier partnered with Rand in a foxhole during a military battle, “Every man for themselves, good luck”).

The following quotation summarizes Rand’s thinking and serves as a paean to those who worship at her feet: “Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.”

As a side note, it is ironic that Rand accepted help on several occasions in her life. Early on, she was aided by a relative who offered her boarding upon her arrival in the US. Later, nearer to the end of her life, she took public funds to add to her income even though she had argued for years that government benefits constituted an immoral redistribution of wealth.

Regardless of this hypocrisy, however, Rand’s message has become a rallying cry for many political and business leaders due to its endorsement of rugged individualism and self-reliance. Her message’s focus on self and doing whatever possible to reach personal success has been taken as permission by the powerful and influential to feel entitled to profit indiscriminately. Thus, Rand, in many ways, has made greed okay.

We can see the fallout on the political front in things like financial breaks for industry and wealthy donors in order to garner favor and gain personally as well as cuts to public services in order to increase societal self-reliance. On the business end, companies use manipulative, prohibitive, and ethically questionable tactics to put the firm’s and shareholders’ interests over those of employees, customers, and communities, not to mention the environment. And while a chosen minority has significantly benefited from this philosophical bent, many have suffered.

The point here is that Rand’s voice has been a huge influencer in the storm of competitive selfishness in which we are ensnared. Her novel Atlas Shrugged–seen by many as the greatest novel ever written yet largely panned by serious critics–has been used to push the self-reliance and self-interest message ad nauseam.

Rand’s thinking should be a warning for us all. History as well as our biology has shown that cooperative helpfulness is in many ways our human superpower. And if that is the case, Rand’s voice is its kryptonite. She and her followers have done much to cripple the strength of that which has helped us survive for hundreds of thousands of years, namely compassion, service, and teamwork. Consequently, we need an antidote, and that antidote is the creation of a choir of voices promoting compassionate, service-focused business and living. And we need those voices more and more. What say you, will you join the choir? We need you. We need people who care about building a better world that cares. I am on board. Please join me.

==> If you liked this post and want to know when new posts are published, CLICK HERE to subscribe.