Ayn and Saipan

You may wonder what Ayn Rand, a Russian-born writer who emigrated to America, has to do with Saipan. Well, in a sense, she helped lead me to the Saipan Tribune. Rand was born Alissa Rosenbaum 100 years ago as of Feb. 2; she passed away in 1982. Let’s take the high road in this ignoble column for once, skip my usual thong bikini and beer references, and mark the centennial of her birth by pondering Ayn Rand.

OK, Rand is no Oprah, I’ll admit. And Rand has less name recognition than Jerry Springer, but I’m on a roll here so let me continue…

What I really like about Rand is that she drives socialists absolutely, rabidly, frothing-at-the-mouth bonkers. BONKERS! Every time I mention Rand, folks who have missed their medication send me really bizarre, wacko email.

Having lived under the germinating horrors of Soviet socialism, Rand understood the despair and the degradation that socialism entails. Her seminal novel, Atlas Shrugged, stripped socialism of its phony platitudes and unmasked it for the dark and grinding slavery that it really represents. It’s a controversial book, and highly unpopular among the liberal elite (i.e. socialists), since socialism’s biggest aim is to hide its true meaning, which is systemized, institutional servitude to the state.

A lot of folks in Saipan have read Atlas Shrugged. Heck, some of my best friends hate the book, but most like it, and, either way, I do recommend it to everyone. In fact, I’d like to hear from any teachers who assign it. Detractors (most of whom have never really read the entire book) like to point out that the book, and Rand herself, may fall short of perfection. I can’t name one book that is perfect…OK, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (whose author cites Rand as one of his early inspirations, by the way), but that’s about it.

Rand was an intellectual. I ain’t one. So I don’t claim to understand her home-rolled philosophy, called “Objectivism.” And, truth be told, I think her grasp of genuine economics was probably simplistic…but not even economists can cook up perfect theories, can they? Rand succeeded in bringing the case of free markets to the popular discourse, and how many economists have done that in recent decades? Uh…none? In fact, most economists these days are just pimps for socialist programs and/or are left-wing, beard-scratching academics, so Rand towers head and shoulders above all those crawling little tax-fed parasites.

Atlas Shrugged rivals Orwell’s 1984 for putting some human texture and flesh on the deceptively sterile concepts that are socialism’s skeletal frame. She doesn’t let business owners off the hook, either, and she brilliantly illustrates how big business can, indeed, be very anti-free market if it lets greed trump principle and honor. Incidentally, I don’t recall Rand using the term “socialism,” but you’ll give me the license to use some semantic substitution here in the interest of brevity.

Rand held rational minds in great esteem, though I readily admit that the human mob prefers stupidity to rationality at every turn. Furthermore, the masses crave authority, not freedom. Rand entertains me, but I don’t oppose socialism, that would be like opposing earthquakes. I may comment on them. I may try to avoid them. And I may flee them if they start ugly and deadly rumblings. But I don’t fight them, since I can’t change human nature any more than I can change seismology. People will fight, kill, die, suffer, bleed, and starve for socialism. They will condemn their children and neighbors to poverty, misery, and perpetual fear and degradation for socialism. Yes, the urge for authority is that base and basic. So I’m not going to ever stand in the way of that human wave, baby, the odds are lousy and I’ve got a dental appointment to keep.

About eight or nine years ago, when I was on Saipan for the second time and to establish it as “home,” I was sitting in my hotel room one quiet night. I decided to peek at whatever local fare the boob tube was offering. I caught Charles Reyes Jr. on a talk show. Charles mentioned Rand, and I was impressed by how well he presented Rand’s outlook…this would have been rare in big markets like Los Angeles or New York, so I was happily surprised to see such solid thinking thriving in such a remote market. I telephoned Charles, who was a total stranger to me at the time, and congratulated him on his good work. Charles was also a Tribune writer at the time, and his talent was an inspiration to me and to many others.

I harbor no crazy notions that the Commonwealth will embrace free markets in some Randesque rapture. But the CNMI has a lot of free market attributes nonetheless, and things are consequently far better in the Commonwealth than in most places in the world. As for Atlas Shrugged, I think it’s Rand’s best work, and, in fact, one of the best books, period.

And it’s locally available. Saipan’s Bestseller books has it in stock and it’s only $8.99 a copy. That’s an excellent buy…ain’t the free market great? Rand would be proud.