Sunset, Wednesday, 18 November 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.

This note is for anyone who might have been interested in my post the other day about Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Laurence Shatkin has posted a terrific essay at DailyKos on strained right-wing efforts to claim Rand as ideological godparent, excuse the expression. Shatkin simultaneously shows that the current crop of ‘conservative’ politicians and pundits hold positions completely at odds with Rand’s, and that, in any event, her ideas have been proven inadequate to the task of governing the country. His analysis of Sarah Palin as the apotheosis of what Rand called ‘the second-rater’ is priceless.