Ayn Rand and Faust

To say that Ayn Rand would be against the current bailout is obvious, but her philosophy for the marketplace was very helpful in causing the current situation. How her books, especially The Fountainhead, came to be viewed as must read material for the corporate culture in the past 10 years is testament to the poor decisions of corporate America.

On one level Rand would have the opinion that the companies now facing extinction should be allowed to fail; after all these are the natural marketplace rewards for foolish choices. Furthermore, someone that views charity as something that is not a moral obligation, and should only be given when not an inconvenience and when the recipient is most likely to use the help as the donator sees fit, is not a person of much use in our current situation. But it is important to note that the culture of corporate America was influenced by her philosophy thanks to Alan Greenspan because he was an early follower of Rand and a subscriber of her philosophy of Objectivism early in his career.

Greenspan's disillusionment with the financial establishment's incredible shortsightedness was a pretty shocking admission before congress, especially after his previous warnings of irrational exuberance and the possibility of squandering the surplus were readily ignored.

For myself there were two moments of clarity that convinced me that America was heading in the wrong direction and had no idea how to change course. These incidents included a piece of work I had recently read by Ayn Rand, and an appearance on Meet the Press of Henry Paulson.

The The Art of Fiction is a posthumous book of lectures or discussions by Rand as advice to authors for developing a work of fiction. When discussing character development I was struck by the single mindedness she espoused for the characters; if the character was to have a belief in a goal then every action should lead to that goal (my paraphrasing since I returned the book to the library). I think her views are an insult to the complexity of the human condition. In short, the advice was a little simplistic and immature, which, by the way, is the same criticism of the philosophy of Objectivism. And anyone subscribing to this advice may produce writing that is downright boring.

My second moment was being awestruck by Henry Paulson on Meet the Press when he glibly stated that we must bailout big business but homeowners had options open to them that they should take advantage of to stay in their homes. This seemed pretty out of touch with the steady news reports of the numbers of people in financial trouble and the rising statistics of foreclosures. Perhaps there is an argument for not helping homeowners, apparently Obama has a different opinion, but to so blatantly dismiss such difficulties being experienced by so many Americans was cold, at best. At worst it displayed to the nation a political tone deafness that we have come to see many times by Paulson, and it showed that he really did not, and does not know if the steps he is recommending will actually work.

In Goethe's Faust Part Two we witness a climb to power with still the want for more. When Faust laments that he does not have a perfect view because it is obstructed by a small cottage he becomes obsessed with obtaining the “perfect” view. Mephistopheles, i.e.: Satan, comes to the aide of Faust and murders the elderly couple living there and burns the cottage to the ground thus providing the perfect view that Faust desired. Faust is distraught, but Mephistopheles assures him that when you are making an omelet that you have to break a few eggs. Faust does go on to salvation, but this was an important lesson for him.

And herein lies the rub. We should not idolize the type of corporations that Rand worships because the days of the cold war are over. The philosophy of Objectivism did work well when it directed its critical eye toward the communist philosophy, but then fell out of favor when we actually won the cold war. The work of Rand found a second life in sections of corporate America and this is where the shortcomings of Objectivism have become startlingly apparent. Like communism it removes the human spirit and ignores the cultural tendencies that can change any supposed outcome. In this way, Objectivism and communism are really just two sides of the same coin, and both as naive and immature as a philosophy to live or govern by.

We should be making Goethe required reading for the top echelons of corporate America. Of course at one time it was required reading because most people running large corporations used to receive the classic liberal arts education and this is the type of education that requires deeper thought about morals, values, and consequences. In short, the type of education that rewards long term success, not short term gain. The type of education commonly received by CEO's today is in business and this is an important distinction. When businesses fail it hurts a great many people, and in the end you want to think that it was the true marketplace that caused the hardship, and not for an instant payoff to a corporate gamble or because someone was striving for an office with a better view.