Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's greatest work of fiction and without a doubt one of the most influential novels of all time, turned 50 years old this year.  As a novel it is pretty darn good, but as a statement of philosophy it is simply unmatched – it literally shook the collectivist worldview. Atlas has metaphors galore (one keeps finding more over time) and the philosophical meaning of her message is simply timeless.  There is no doubt in my mind that this book should be required reading for every high school student in America. 

Of course there are those that simply do not have the intellectual ability to grasp the full meaning of what Ms Rand was telling all of us, but then there are many who do and still more who have taken the time to honestly assess her work in this epic novel.  Also, there are many for whom Ms Rand is a pariah and the mere uttering of her name brings a scoff of indignation.  Without exception, those who take that view fall into one of two groups; either they have not completely read Atlas (or any other Rand work), or they have read it but did so with their own philsophical blinders on  refusing to seriously contemplate her ideas fully. 

I have read, re-read, and studied Atlas Shrugged and did so objectively.  When I first ran into her works, I was neither a fan or even knowledgeable about her.  What made it special for me was how it dovetailed with what I was already seeing and perceiving in the world around me.  Moreover, it reflected and echoed much of what one of my professors' covered in my days in college.  That professor challenged the way I thought and perceived the world around me, Rand simply reinforced and validated many of those ideas through a mere novel.   Over time (several years), I read virtually everything she had published.  Once you are introduced to her mind and her philosophy you must see it through to its logical end, and that's the true challenge of Atlas.  In order to fully understand the novel, you have to dedicate yourself to fully understanding and entertaining the philosophy it subsumes – a tall order for anyone. 

Admittedly, there are some more obscure newsletters which I have yet to fully contemplate but by and large I now have a pretty firm grasp on Rand and her philosophy. It is anything but dull or simple or superficial – it goes to the heart of our country's founding principals and the philosophical basis of its founding.  In my view, Ayn Rand would have stood very tall in the presence of Jefferson, Paine, Henry, S. Adam and J. Adams.  They were men of the enlightenment, Rand was a woman of the enlightenment.  They conceived a country premised upon the sovereignty of the individual over any government, stating that it is man's pursuit of happiness which is inalienable. Rand conceived and wrote about the very same sovereignty and inalienability, and illustrated that Capitalism, not Collectivism, is the most moral basis for a country so conceived. 

In Parts to follow I will highlight parts of Atlas Shrugged, pieces of the intellectual puzzle which Rand laid out for us.  Some will have rather obvious messages, some will not.  Yours truly will try to apply her ideas to our current "world crisis."

As a parting quote and to start things off on the right foot, below is a quote from Part Two / Chapter II – The Aristocracy Of Pull:

"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion—when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot."