"So Sorry To Interrupt..." But Where Are The Objectivist Reviews?
from gulcher wdonway on Facebook:
"Doubtless people just failed to see this...
So sorry to interrupt, but, knowing the importance of reviews on Amazon, how can there be ONE review of the new TAS book by Ed Hudgins on the civil war underway in the Republican Party?
One?
Again, so sorry to interrupt the cartoons on Obama, the catty links on Hillary Clinton, the self-gratifying little "let's all applaud" comments on Obamacare. But Ayn Rand in articles like beacon fires atop mountains warning freedom's warriors to muster, demonstrated again and again that we could win--if we win at all--only by the depth and consistency of our philosophical premises.
"The Republican Party's Civil War" asks: What were the underpinnings of the party in political philosophy, what are they today, and what must they become if the party is to stand for the rights to live, liberty, and happiness? They are important questions for those who realize that in America, at every election, there are only two parties.
Is the success of "The Republican's Party's Civil War"--which puts in no uncertain terms the choices that America faces--and exposes the futility of the businessmen who pour money into the party and suppose they have done all the can--and refutes the all-too-justified perception that the Republican Party is the pal of Wall Street's crony capitalists--worth the time it takes to compose a few intelligent sentences for an Amazon review? If just the Objectivists who are my Facebook friends each took a few minutes to rate and review this book, so that a couple hundred reviews appeared on Amazon, it is almost certain that the Amazon editors would take notice and designate this book an "Editor's Choice" or one of several others categories. And suddenly thousands of readers would be buying this book and would read David Kelley's take on the philosophical battle for the Grand Old Party, see Ed Hudgins's take on how current issues depend on philosophy, and, yes, see Walter Donway's take on how the failure to distinguish laissez faire capitalism from the crony capitalism of the pull peddlers is alienating a whole generation from the Republican Party...
What doesn't this happen? What keeps us from coming together in an effort such as this that, for each us, would be so easy, but in effect would achieve so much?
As Ayn Rand warned almost 40 years ago, "Don't Let It Go!" Why should a rare book exposing the real battle over who shall govern America, and by what principles, vanish unnoticed when you and I could do so much--if only we cared.
You can make it happen by posting a rating and a few sentences on Amazon. And by sharing this post and urging your Facebook friends to act.
It is as simple as that. And yet, why is it so improbable? What is stopping us?"
"Doubtless people just failed to see this...
So sorry to interrupt, but, knowing the importance of reviews on Amazon, how can there be ONE review of the new TAS book by Ed Hudgins on the civil war underway in the Republican Party?
One?
Again, so sorry to interrupt the cartoons on Obama, the catty links on Hillary Clinton, the self-gratifying little "let's all applaud" comments on Obamacare. But Ayn Rand in articles like beacon fires atop mountains warning freedom's warriors to muster, demonstrated again and again that we could win--if we win at all--only by the depth and consistency of our philosophical premises.
"The Republican Party's Civil War" asks: What were the underpinnings of the party in political philosophy, what are they today, and what must they become if the party is to stand for the rights to live, liberty, and happiness? They are important questions for those who realize that in America, at every election, there are only two parties.
Is the success of "The Republican's Party's Civil War"--which puts in no uncertain terms the choices that America faces--and exposes the futility of the businessmen who pour money into the party and suppose they have done all the can--and refutes the all-too-justified perception that the Republican Party is the pal of Wall Street's crony capitalists--worth the time it takes to compose a few intelligent sentences for an Amazon review? If just the Objectivists who are my Facebook friends each took a few minutes to rate and review this book, so that a couple hundred reviews appeared on Amazon, it is almost certain that the Amazon editors would take notice and designate this book an "Editor's Choice" or one of several others categories. And suddenly thousands of readers would be buying this book and would read David Kelley's take on the philosophical battle for the Grand Old Party, see Ed Hudgins's take on how current issues depend on philosophy, and, yes, see Walter Donway's take on how the failure to distinguish laissez faire capitalism from the crony capitalism of the pull peddlers is alienating a whole generation from the Republican Party...
What doesn't this happen? What keeps us from coming together in an effort such as this that, for each us, would be so easy, but in effect would achieve so much?
As Ayn Rand warned almost 40 years ago, "Don't Let It Go!" Why should a rare book exposing the real battle over who shall govern America, and by what principles, vanish unnoticed when you and I could do so much--if only we cared.
You can make it happen by posting a rating and a few sentences on Amazon. And by sharing this post and urging your Facebook friends to act.
It is as simple as that. And yet, why is it so improbable? What is stopping us?"
To do what you suggest, I would have to actually be concerned about the future of the Republican Party, which I am not. It is just as statist as the Democratic Party, but pays off a different set of campaign contributors. The Republicans have made their peace with the welfare state, high taxes, government control of the economy, central banking, a fiat currency, and the US as the world's policeman. The last Republican president started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that have yielded the US nothing and have cost thousands of US lives and trillions of dollars. He promulgated the doctrine that the US is justified making war anywhere it thinks there are terrorists, and started the undefinable and never ending war on terrorism. He signed into law the Patriot Act, which was the foundation for our present national security state. He signed a prescription health benefit to add to the unfunded liabilities that are bankrupting our country and allowed discretionary spending to rise at a far faster rate than Clinton had, adding to our staggering debt. He pushed massive bailouts of the banks under the too big to fail doctrine. I think both parties are statist nightmares and I'm hoping when we have our inevitable crash, some sort of new political party, dedicated to liberty and limited government, will emerge from the rubble. I refuse to lend any kind of intellectual or moral support to the Republican party or anyone who has the stomach to examine it.
I don't think the book disagrees with most of what you say, but the question is will there be a pro-freedom party in the US? We know it will not be the democrats, but the Republican core has really been the fiscal conservatives (not true freedom, but close) which has been co-opted by the religious right and the establishment Republicans. The book explores the issue of the libertarian party and whether that is the way to go for pro-freedom voters. I think it makes some interesting points. Points that Rand considered in her day.
Personally I think the US will sway between a environmental/socialist and theocratic dictatorship until the next crisis. I write so that people understand another alternative.
Producers on this site can check out quite a treat: Rand's personal copy of Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative," with her handwritten notes (copious) in the margins. While there was much she disagreed with, there was also praise.