Root Causes - Part Two

A few days after posting the Root Causes article I received an e-mail from an old friend, and fellow admirer of Ayn Rand, who suggested that I re-read the 1964 Playboy Magazine Interview with Ayn Rand in the context of today’s political turmoil. He did not reference the Root Causes article but it couldn’t have been more timely or more appropriate.

As I re-read the interview, which I had originally read when it was published and had saved that issue of Playboy somewhere, it was clear to me that she has never been more relevant. Her comments and their applicability to today’s unfortunate political situation could have been written yesterday. As my friend commented “she would go through Obama like the c___ through a goose”.

Back to “Root Causes”. In her interview she emphasizes throughout that what is truly evil in this world is that some humans do not use their reasoning powers. Asked to comment on Objectivism, the philosophy that she developed, she replied “It begins with the axiom that existence exists, which means that an objective reality exists independent of any perceiver or of the perceiver's emotions, feelings, wishes, hopes or fears. Objectivism holds that reason is man's only means of perceiving reality and his only guide to action.”

Another quote “Sadism, dictatorship, any form of evil, is the consequence of a man's evasion of reality.”

While I called the lack of critical thinking skills the “Root Cause” she far better describes it as the “consequence of a man's evasion of reality.”

My friend went on to lament that with her gone where do we turn to for an organization that can “Communicate, Educate and Activate” our philosophy”?

There are a number of organizations that provide this and one that comes to mind immediately is the Cato Institute. Below you will find links to the Playboy Interview, more about Ayn Rand and Objectivism and the Cato Institute.

The Ayn Rand Playboy Interview - http://www.ellensplace.net/ar_pboy.html

More about Rand and Objectivism - http://www.ellensplace.net/ar_more.html

The Cato Institute - http://www.cato.org/