• • How the Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like a Bunch of Teen Boys Gone Crazy 
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Make no mistake: all this Ayn Rand libertarian me-first-and-the-rest-of-you-go-to-hell stuff -- the there’s-no-government-like-no-government theology that’s now being piously intoned as Holy Received Truth by everybody, male and female, in the GOP -- is, very precisely, the kind of politics you’d come up with if you were a 16-year-old boy trying to explain away his dependence on Mom.      View blog reactions

• • The Self-Made Myth: Debunking Conservatives' Favorite—And Most Dangerous—Fiction 
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The self-made myth is one of the most cherished foundation stones of the conservative theology. Nurtured by Horatio Alger and generations of beloved boys' stories, It sits at the deep black heart of the entire right-wing worldview, where it provides the essential justification for a great many other common right-wing beliefs. [....] It's the foundational belief on which all of Ayn Rand's novels stand.      View blog reactions

• • • Ayn Rand Worshippers Should Face Facts: Blue States Are the Providers, Red States Are the Parasites 
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Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  |Going Galt  | If you’re a conservative who thinks Ayn Rand called it true with this producers/parasites thing, then by all means: let’s go there. All the way there — and then some. But fair warning is in order: you may not like where we end up. By way of a modest proposal, I hereby declare the birth of a new Progressive Objectivism — a frankly producerist personal-responsibility crusade aimed at getting these whiny red leeches off our collective blue hide. If they think they can get by without us, let’s not stand in their way. What these people need from us, at minimum, is some tough talk — the kind of stern, grown-up verbal whoop-ass the conservatives wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to unload on us if the roles were reversed.      View blog reactions