The Woodrow Wilson era arguably refounded the country.

Would the acid be "between the lines"? ;)

America has deviated from its foundational values in recent generations, as much financially as anything else. Technologically, America is in a position that is far beyond the founders' wildest dreams. Think of the refrigerator, A/C, the computer, telecommunications, etc.

I believe she would have an ulcer. Her thoughts, "How stupid these people must be" or "I warned them."

apples do not fall far from trees!
those who came to the USA from Europe in the 1800's encouraged their off spring to get educations. for the next 100 years that attitude prevailed, however once the government got involved in the education of the populous things began to change and it has gotten to where we are today. so many, most of the apples are rotten.
look at the arab world versus the Israel world. in Israel they educate their off spring and there is progress. in the arab world they read the Koran and that is their education so again we see what the arab youth are exposed too. the Israelis see new warriors and kill the youth if necessary but the arabs see knowledge and that is more dangerous to them than bullets. apples do not fall far from trees.

in the USA we have the same lone wolf activity from our citizens because they have these detrimental examples to follow. apples do not fall far from trees.

the end result is what we are seeing almost daily with a government that as far as I am concerned does not care about the demise. maybe the historians will see what has been happening clearly but if they do and write about it who will they have that has the ability to not only read it but comprehend it. apples do not fall far from trees!

I think she would smile sadly and just shake her head.

I think that she would cry, now, like I do. -- j
.

She'd say the same now -- because then as now, we're only "the greatest" by comparison to all the others. We've slid way downhill since America's peak of freedom around 1880.

Hello jbrenner,
I believe she would say, read AS. I warned you.
Regards,
O.A.

hear hear

I've heard the same. I believe there are at least a number reasons for this decline. Rules & regulations top the list for risk takers. But I think a bigger reason is students are being taught to grow up and get a job, not start a business. IMHO that is another progressive value. The more people that are reliant on someone else, the greater control the movement has over them. While small business is the lifeblood of this country, businesses that are too big to fail are the lifeblood of progressives.

edweaver,

just yesterday I heard on the news that the number of businesses that are opening in the USA is getting less and less. The idea that there are wonderful opportunities leaves quite a bit to be desired. We have 300 million people here and one sleeping bag company. That suggests more could open and be profitable, but that is not the case and will not happen anytime soon if ever.

If Ayn Rand used one word to sum up the USA now, that word may be "clueless."

I think that she would note the deterioration of the country, just as we do. She would also outline the causes, and suggest solutions. It would likely be written in acid.

And you actually think these things will be allowed to be produced ? I think they will be sunk into regulatory swampland for years and years. They might be allowed in other countries, like a lot of new drugs. USA is way behind.

So long as they dont conflict with socialist programs, and they dont interfere with the business models of the big corporations that support cronyism like Hildebeast offers.

If they do conflict, they will be mired in oceans of regulations and taxes which will either slow down or even stop their adoption.

I point to the 3d printing of guns as an example. Already anything deemed to be a medical device is controlled by FDA regulations such that small companies have a very difficult time launching new products (I know because I got out of the business entirely just because of that)/

It's an interesting thought... but dare I to say that when looking at what Ayn would have thought of something you need to look back to where she was, the society where she came from, what happened to it (while she watched), and how close she got to being stuck in that society (as were so many people).

I put it in this context... Had we fled the USA when I was young because it was being taken over by the communists (extrapolated ahead 50 years it actually seems pretty likely), and then watched as millions of "my people" were exterminated by a series of dictators while I watched from the safety of afar, I, too, would have not only been anti-communist, but would have been sharply pro-capitalist.

A lot of people forget Ayn came from a country (that was for all purposes a theocracy run by the Eastern Orthodox) in turmoil of revolution as a young child, and then watched from afar as, instead of healing itself, it went further and further into the morass of hell... it's no wonder she not only despised the premise and principles of socialist communism, but (from earlier in her life) was atheistic in her beliefs.

Taken thusly... it gives an insight to the MIND of Ayn Rand, Why she felt and believed as she did, and why she could write so eloquently and succinctly on the topics of her beliefs, commonly known as "Objectivism", and posit a reasonable and factual argument in support of these beliefs.

I'll give you the other side of this coin, however, as something ot think about... and it was the subject of a work of alternate reality science fiction - Had the early attempted assassination of FDR been successful, and Long became POTUS instead... and she, raised in aAmerica until she was 6 and fled the oppressive and potentially violent world here it could have become, say, to the safety of South America (I'll pick Colombia just for the sake of naming a place, not for any other good reason), and then wrote about it as a young-to-middle aged adult from that perspective - seeing Colombia as her place of refuge as a child, and the USA as the scene of turmoil, hatred, and brutality - it, too, would have been (from that alternate world / alternate reality view) evil, everything it stood for as being wrong and awful, and the system in Colombia as being ideal.

I'm not knocking her theory of Objectivism - far from it - but it's good to look at it occasionally, not as a faith system to blindly follow, but what brought about her conception of her reality to conceive of it, and to put it down into words.

And that she was able to build worlds - in her writings - around it; heroic works of heroic people worthy of legend, warning of the dangers of possibilities - exposes her brilliance. That those who disagree with her premises usually do so violently, forcefully, and with great emotion, says a lot about how well she could elucidate her positions.

Respectfully submitted for your perusal...
S

Absolutely. unfortunately Romney was right to say that nearly half the people just want freebies. THOSE are the people voting for Hildebeast. Look at the popularity of Sanders, a true socialist. Crooked Hildebeast got rid of him, but not by much.

But we have been on a sharp decline for at least 50 years now. The last 8 have been a steeper decline for sure, but Bush was no prize either. If Hildebeast gets in along with democratic congress, it will take an even steeper decline for sure.

Trump might be able to slow down the decline a bit, so he has my vote for the little that is worth.

I disagree that it was true at the time she wrote it. We had already gone through Roosevelt, the federal reserve, the income tax, among others. The philosophical seeds were already sown long ago.

Today she would say she was at minimum disappointed with how things have gone. I also believe she would say that it cannot be corrected!
Without a proven philosophy by which to live all dies. We do have a proven philosophy by which to live "OBJECTIVISM" but we have an abysmally dumbed down populous who just don't have a clue to understanding the philosophy.

jbrenner if you think that America can change for the good is a pipe dream. It is changing for the bad and that process is as you say speeding up.

I agree, these are very exciting. They have great potential, if we can keep the government out of the way. Not sure that will happen. One only has to look at vaping. What a great product that actually helps people quit smoking and it is being squashed.

Targeted drug delivery systems with encapsulated nano-Au as the reporter and either the radiation target or with a separately encapsulated chemotherapy dose and with the capability of targeting antibodies specific to cancerous tissues will be among the early fruits of this biomedical revolution. You probably have seen ads on TV that talk about immunotherapies for cancer treatment; these are related to what I discussed earlier, except without the Au for diagnostic purposes.

This is the kind of field that students who participate in the Florida Tech Nanotechnology Minor Program that is advertised in the Galt's Gulch Marketplace will be prepared for.