Washington on the Providence of Special Reasons

Booker T. Washington, like Ayn Rand, would not “sacrifice a greater value to a lesser one.” (Atlas Shrugged p. 44) He would not ask of his people one measure of hardship that he had not already endured and continued to endure for their sake. His highest moral cause was that of life, of setting the captive free to live according to his nature. The cause of Christ, the cause of the Reformation (foremost the work ethic taught him by Mrs. Ruffner), and the cause of his namesake; the irrefutable truths that built the country that proclaimed “all men were created equal,” and in which Washington recognized the Providence of God.

There are special reasons why we should have a part in the Jamestown Exposition. It was near this spot, nearly three hundred years ago, that the first representatives of our race were brought into America. It is especially fitting, therefore, that since here we entered slavery that on the same spot we should show results both in slavery and in freedom. When our first representatives landed here, we were only 20 in number, now there are nearly ten millions; when our first representatives landed here we had no uniform language, now we speak the English tongue. For the most part, we were pagan, now, we profess Christianity. (Washington Papers Vol. 9 321-322)

Washington and Rand

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Charity, Classism, Worldview

Washington on charity. To date, in all my knowledge of biographies I have not found one such as Booker T. Washington that had turned Ayn Rand’s orthodoxy into orthopraxy in such a practical way long before Rand penned her first objectivist sentence. Should he have read Atlas Shrugged I believe he would have found much in common with her logic.

My experience in getting money for Tuskegee has taught me to have no patience with those people who are always condemning the rich because they are rich, and because they do not give more to objects of charity. In the first place, those who are guilty of such sweeping criticisms do not know how many people would be made poor, and how much suffering would result, if wealthy people were to part all at once with any large proportion of their wealth in a way to disorganize and cripple great business enterprises…Very few people have any idea of the amount of money given away by persons who never permit their names to be known. I have often heard persons condemned for not giving away money, who, to my own knowledge, were giving away thousands of dollars every year so quietly that the world knew nothing about it. (Up from Slavery p. 182)

Please Choose One or Your Doing it Wrong

Atlas shrugged – part ii

As one considers the philosophy of Ayn Rand’s objectivism (which one should) — a clear eye toward worldview must be engaged at all times. For while some of the greatest conservative thinkers in our day have been inspired by her work in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged — her overall philosophy, which stems from her first principle that there is no God — should and must be vigorously opposed (if not for the sake of truth – at least for the sake of humanity).

It’s not JUST the weight of the world that is his problem — it is that the ground beneath his feet is shifting.

Rand’s rail against collectivism juxtaposed with individualism is attractive to the tea party, libertarian, and Republican ideal. She has made many valid points for capitalism. Her narrative in Atlas Shrugged is engaging. However, I am concerned that her praise of capitalism is distorted and extreme to a dangerous degree if for no other reason than that it stands on a faulty foundation.

While it is true that socialism, communism (from which Rand came and to which she despised), Marxism and other collectivist sorts of “isms,” are based on false premises regarding the nature and character of man (and God); but so is Rand’s philosophy. The fact that she “borrows” from a Christian/biblical worldview

The John Galt’s of the 20th Century

Collectivism Doesn’t Create – Individual Liberty Does

Samuel Morse invented the telegraph — a device later improved by Thomas Edison, who went on to invent the phonograph, the electric light, and the motion picture projector.

Charles Goodyear discovered the vulcanization process that made rubber useful, and George Eastman revolutionized photography with the invention of a new type of camera — the Kodak.

George Washington Carver, among myriad agricultural accomplishments, developed peanuts and sweet potatoes into leading crops.

Architects like Louis Sullivan and William LeBaron Jenney created the skyscraper, and George Westinghouse, the inventor of train airbrakes, developed a power system able to transmit electricity over great distances.

The penniless Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie built a vast company manufacturing steel, and John D. Rockefeller did the same in the oil industry.

John Roebling perfected the suspension bridge

Intellectual Abdication (a.k.a. “appeasers”)

When the ablest men turn into cowards, the average men turn into brutes.

“The truly and deliberately evil men are a very small minority; it is the appeaser who unleashes them on mankind; it is the appeaser’s intellectual abdication that invites them to take over. When a culture’s dominant trend is geared to irrationality, the thugs win over the appeasers. When intellectual leaders fail to foster the best in the mixed, unformed, vacillating character of people at large, the thugs are sure to bring out the worst. When the ablest men turn into cowards, the average men turn into brutes.” — Ayn Rand Disclaimer: While we do not support the wordview of Ayn Rand (Objectivism) — to the extent that she uses lumber from a Christian worldview to build her house – we would find agreement. We believe that what Schaeffer called “true truth,” and what Augustine referred to as “plundering the Egyptians,” belongs to God and to us as Christians. Therefore we do not shun truth whether it comes from Rand or pagans such as the philosophers.