The Gravitation of Atlas

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not the desire to beat others." -Ayn Rand

With the advent of the Tea Party, there's been a lot of talk about Ayn Rand's work and Atlas Shrugged in particular. The first in a presumed three-part film series opens in theaters, appropriately on April 15th. With all the conservative and Tea Party buzz around Atlas and Rand, it stands to reason that some would be defensive of what they see as a co-opting of ideas they believe aren't rooted in conservatism. They site Rand's atheist beliefs and her focus on objectivism. Some call her a Libertarian, some say she was simply an individual. Others will readily tell you she had more in common with Margaret Sanger than she did with Sarah Palin. These people aren't wrong, they just fail to see the truth behind the conservative connection to individuality and works like Atlas.

The tax day opening of the film is an allusion to the theme that so many equate with the Tea Party; the belief that one should be able to keep their reward for hard work. So many Americans who see more and more of their tax dollars going to fund the comfort of those who simply refuse to work find solace in this theme. Many see it as glorification of selfishness, which taken on it's own, could certainly cause one to negate the importance of others. But this, like other sub-themes of Atlas, should not be the main focus. Respect for self and desire to be rewarded are outcomes of respect for the individual and must be kept in check.

No, individuality and flourishing potential is the true balm for the conservative heart, not the much maligned self-centered haughtiness, or the hand-over-fist monetary gain, or even the defiance of fat-cat government foes. Conservatives are drawn to and support the individual because they believe in exceptional innovation and drive. This is the fuel of the trail-blazing American spirit. These things lead to personal success, an idea that strikes terror into the liberal 'everyone is equal' mind. But what liberals fail to see is that personal success naturally leads to broad, culture-wide success. Without personal success and innovation, we wouldn't have any of the things that make us comfortable, happy, and safe today.

I don't believe Ayn Rand was anything other than what people say she was. I don't see her as a conservative and I don't see her work and beliefs as infallible. To do so would be to acknowledge her as some sort of deity, which would be foolish and illogical. Every story and every self-developed belief system is colored and poisoned by that person's life experiences. No one will ever have a life like Rand's, therefor her beliefs can never truly be shared fully by anyone else, not in a healthy way at least. Rand's abilities to paint success seem to have stopped at domination, selfish power grabs, and amassing of fortunes. This is unfortunate as it causes some to be instantly turned off from her work. But when approached with a level, objective mind, this can be put aside as a product of the writer's emotion.

A story, no matter how epic and sprawling, must be used only as a supplement to an ideal, not the complete framework for it. To believe everything someone writes or says to the letter is to completely negate one's individuality. Somehow, I don't think Ayn Rand would have liked that to happen. I don't know how she would feel to know her work is a rallying cry for the Tea Party and that being said, no one else can know for sure either. But as we individuals set our eyes on the horizon, we see the light of potential; knowing that in each of us is the power to make America exceptional once more. Denying the individual is what has quelled our pioneering fire. Imagine what we can do when we are allowed to flourish and do so together.

Return to Exceptionalism

The new frontier, that's what we were. At a time in history, we were known as the New World, a strange and wonderful place of untold beauty and treasure. America used to be exceptional. We used to explore possibilities. We used to give credit where it was due. We used to create and innovate. We used to be an exceptional place; can we be exceptional again?

It appears we have agreed to be mediocre at best. We allow our skin color, social standing, and possessions to speak for us. We have a split-second attention span that only allows for split-second fulfillment. We work for the wrong reasons, we compete for the wrong reasons, we vote for the wrong reasons. The only possibilities we are ready to explore are the ones that lead us to a quick buck or an easy way out. We don't seem to tilt our bright faces to the indigo heavens quite as much anymore. We don't ask how something works, only if it will work faster and cheaper than it should. We believe in fairy tales, expect something for nothing, and never take the road less traveled.

Credit and praise aren't given for talent or hard work, they're given to the loudest voice of complaint. We have decided that entitlement can be justified by something as detached as the plight of ones ancestors. Those who truly deserve reward and praise are oftentimes overlooked because they don't fill a politically correct quota. Our stone-strong defiance of British oppressors has given way to quicksand resolve. The harder we fight the decline of civility and logic, the quicker we sink in the mire because no one offers a rope of sanity to pull us to safety. It is no longer the singularity of ones talents, mind, or content of character that brings acclaim. Who you know is now far more important than what you know.

Innovation is a slave to regulation. Our creativity is sanctioned by higher powers; powers who, many times, know nothing of that which they manage. Those who still strive to create and innovate are kept securely under the thumb of bureaucracy in order to secure the future of the entitled culture. Those willing to work have become a slave to those who live with their hands out. Meanwhile, our 'anything you can do, I can do better' mentality has clipped the wings of real exceptionalism. Good intentions of telling children they can do and be anything they wish has paved the road to a purgatory where everything is merely adequate. We no longer carefully cultivate the individual greatness we all possess. Instead, we strive to selfishly be we think we want to be, eschewing our genuine talents, because we're entitled to our every desire, no matter how narrow-minded.

Being exceptional isn't about who gets there first or who does so with the most flash or cash. Being exceptional is about the race, carefully plotted and traveled. Hard work, our backs to the wind of political correctness, will set us right again. In the novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, a single innovator set out to derail the country's suicidal run to failure. Art imitates life, or perhaps the other way around. Those of us who have the strength of character to say enough is enough, we must speak up. We must stop the engine of the world and start it again on our return to exceptionalism.