Letter from the Editor: Mad as Hell
by Sherrie Gossett(TNI's Executive Editor)
A full three-quarters of American voters are “angry” over current federal policies and believe “neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today,” according to a February 2010 poll by Rasmussen Reports. “Americans are united in the belief that the political system is broken, that most politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers,” Rasmussen explains.
Exactly who is angry? Eighty-nine percent of Republicans, 78 percent of independent voters, and 61 percent of Democratic voters.
The total percentage of those who are “angry” is up 9 points from September, just after the rowdy town hall meetings took place. A full 45 percent are “very angry.”
Voter outage fueled the Tea Party movement, which is growing in influence. David Kelley, TNI’s founding editor put it succinctly when he wrote, “The movement has less to do with taxes per se than with outrage at the unfairness of punishing responsible people for the sake of bailing out the irresponsible.” (“Obama’s Era of Responsibility,” TNI, Summer 2009)
Those who are “mad as hell” and who “aren’t going to take this anymore” (to cite the classic scene from the film Network), have been taking a large part of their inspiration from novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, who may now be America’s most influential individualist. The trend shows no signs of abating, and The Washington Post has now dubbed 2010 the “Year of the Randroid.”
In this issue we explore the resurgence of interest in Rand, explain her core ideas which are inspiring tea partiers, and review two major new biographies. We also dissect 3 myths about Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism. As Will Thomas puts it, it’s not a philosophy of “live and let die” but rather a philosophy of “live and let live.” No wonder the “Don’t tread on me” crowd has a soft spot for Ayn.
A special thanks to Don Hauptman and Iris Bell for their work in compiling the recollections that make up “Remembering Ayn.” These pieces were originally collected for inclusion in a centennial Festschrift organized by Don. He graciously allowed us to publish them so that they might reach a larger audience.
Subscribers, please note that this is a combined Fall/Winter issue. You will still receive another four issues this year. We are also pleased to announce that the programming of our new multi-media, interactive website has been completed and we are now populating the site with content. This site was designed to better serve you, the reader. The site is scheduled to launch this spring and we hope that it will become a regular destination on the web for you, the independent thinker who values self-responsibility, productivity, achievement, reason, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness generally.