Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, is easily the most complete treatise in support of capitalism written during the twentieth century. This novel explores a world in which the high ideals of society eventually trump the high profits of the entrepreneur.
While Ayn Rand creates a powerful argument, I believe it has one fatal flaw. One realizes that the real perpetrators of the backroom maneuvering and political back-scratching are not the socialist academia, but rather the competing capitalists. From the first unjust law, to the final dying gasps of free society, the driving motivation is always the consolidation of power through the consolidation of markets. Those capitalists who can afford the political might are able to muscle out their competition. This argument shows not that which is wrong with socialism, but rather that which one should guard against in capitalism (or any economic model, for that matter). Whenever the strong few turn the muscle of military against the unprotected many, totalitarianism must follow. History has shown this to be true on the political left (Communism) as well as the political right (Fascism).
Atlas Shrugged presents many points that the attentive reader should consider correct and fair. Personal innovation should lead to personal profit, the freeloaders cannot harvest the fruits of the mind from the barrel of a gun, and the idea that no man should ever live for, or by, the sake of any other man. With all these points, I agree. It is because I find so much in this novel with which to both agree and disagree that I highly recommend it. Ayn Rand has created a masterpiece, one that is sure to arouse blessed debate with every reader.
--Lance Rulau
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Rating: (9) Perfect
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