7 ms·

He says his article is not partisan and I believe it is not meant to be, but there are political lessons to be learned. The market left alone doesn't always pi

He says his article is not partisan and I believe it is not meant to be, but there are political lessons to be learned. The market left alone doesn't always pick the best product, leading to the best outcome for society. Devout readers of Ayn Rand should take heed.

Steko 14y ago
Kevin Drum is an unabashedly left leaning blogger but he's of the Matthew Yglesias flavor that values intellectual integrity over beating the right. This piece was outstanding and he's consistently one of the highlights of my RSS feed each morning.
- SeanLuke 14y ago
  I believe Kevin Drum is one of the more broadly respected bloggers in the blogosphere. He is liberal, yes, but is famously cautious, thoughtful, and considerate. In fact, it's a bit odd for him to be at Mother Jones now: his temperament seems more apropos for his previous post, on the front page of Washington Monthly.
- DomreiRoam 14y ago
  Do you know blog/people to follow leaning right that value also intellectual integrity? I noticed it is possible to find left of liberal media that includes facts references. But most of the right media at some point use the "market is right" or "less gouvernement is good" without arguments or sources and I find it quite annoying. So if you know smart right media in English or French please give the references.
  - rdl 14y ago
    Becker-Posner Blog: http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/ http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/ David (son of Milton) Friedman: http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
    - Steko 14y ago
      Here's a short list I'd add: Tyler Cowen, Scott Sumner, Reihan Salam, Will Wilkinson, Conor Friesendorf. Picking just one conservative I'd choose Cowen without blinking because he's a volume blogger with a wide net so you'll often get the best of right leaning commentary on the subjects he's interested in.
      - DomreiRoam 14y ago
        thanks, subscribed in google reader for the first 2 for the others I couldn't find RSS feed :(
    - DomreiRoam 14y ago
      thanks, subscribed in google reader
mseebach 14y ago
"Devout readers of Ayn Rand" (and, y'know, most other people who like markets) don't claim that the market will always "pick the best product". They merely claim that governments "pick the best product" even more rarely than markets do, and when they don't, it's much much harder to rectify the mistake. It obviously doesn't follow that governments can never do anything right.
javert 14y ago
Ayn Rand was not a market anarchist, as you seem to be suggesting. Ayn Rand believed that the role of the government should be to protect people from other people. Putting harmful chemicals in the air is no exception, if they are truly harmful (as in this case). People constantly misrepresent Ayn Rand and slander those who agree with her. Please stop.
- jere 14y ago
  >Objectivism holds that the only social system which fully recognizes individual rights is capitalism,[72] specifically what Rand described as "full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)#Politics:_individual_rights_and_capitalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)#Politics... And here's a freebie from some googling: >As far as the role of government is concerned, there are laws--some of them passed in the nineteenth century--prohibiting certain kinds of pollution, such as the dumping of industrial wastes into rivers. These laws have not been enforced. It is the enforcement of such laws that those concerned with the issue may properly demand. Specific laws--forbidding specifically defined and proved harm, physical harm, to persons or property--are the only solution to problems of this kind. So perhaps Rand had nuanced views on this, but I don't hear the same nuance in her followers. And I don't see how the two quotes can be reconciled either.
  - javert 14y ago
    Ayn Rand thought the role of government was to protect individuals from initiating force against one another. Period. If you poison the air in a way that harms someone, that constitutes initiation of force. She called the economic and political system resulting from this "laissez-faire capitalism," or more commonly just "capitalism." In context of the partial quote you gave, "unregulated" means "without economic regulations," not "without any laws." So, that's how you reconcile things. There is actually no "nuance" here at all; this stuff is all totally "black and white," clear and consistent, in her writing. You say "I don't hear the same nuance in her followers," but I'm not sure who you're actually referring to here. Objectivists are quite few and far between. For example, most people in the Tea Party who are Atlas Shrugged fans don't actually understand Rand on an intellectual level.

Steko 14y ago

Kevin Drum is an unabashedly left leaning blogger but he's of the Matthew Yglesias flavor that values intellectual integrity over beating the right. This piece was outstanding and he's consistently one of the highlights of my RSS feed each morning.

SeanLuke 14y ago
I believe Kevin Drum is one of the more broadly respected bloggers in the blogosphere. He is liberal, yes, but is famously cautious, thoughtful, and considerate. In fact, it's a bit odd for him to be at Mother Jones now: his temperament seems more apropos for his previous post, on the front page of Washington Monthly.
DomreiRoam 14y ago
Do you know blog/people to follow leaning right that value also intellectual integrity? I noticed it is possible to find left of liberal media that includes facts references. But most of the right media at some point use the "market is right" or "less gouvernement is good" without arguments or sources and I find it quite annoying. So if you know smart right media in English or French please give the references.
- rdl 14y ago
  Becker-Posner Blog: http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/ http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/ David (son of Milton) Friedman: http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
  - Steko 14y ago
    Here's a short list I'd add: Tyler Cowen, Scott Sumner, Reihan Salam, Will Wilkinson, Conor Friesendorf. Picking just one conservative I'd choose Cowen without blinking because he's a volume blogger with a wide net so you'll often get the best of right leaning commentary on the subjects he's interested in.
    - DomreiRoam 14y ago
      thanks, subscribed in google reader for the first 2 for the others I couldn't find RSS feed :(
  - DomreiRoam 14y ago
    thanks, subscribed in google reader

mseebach 14y ago

"Devout readers of Ayn Rand" (and, y'know, most other people who like markets) don't claim that the market will always "pick the best product". They merely claim that governments "pick the best product" even more rarely than markets do, and when they don't, it's much much harder to rectify the mistake. It obviously doesn't follow that governments can never do anything right.

javert 14y ago

Ayn Rand was not a market anarchist, as you seem to be suggesting. Ayn Rand believed that the role of the government should be to protect people from other people. Putting harmful chemicals in the air is no exception, if they are truly harmful (as in this case). People constantly misrepresent Ayn Rand and slander those who agree with her. Please stop.

jere 14y ago
>Objectivism holds that the only social system which fully recognizes individual rights is capitalism,[72] specifically what Rand described as "full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)#Politics:_individual_rights_and_capitalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)#Politics... And here's a freebie from some googling: >As far as the role of government is concerned, there are laws--some of them passed in the nineteenth century--prohibiting certain kinds of pollution, such as the dumping of industrial wastes into rivers. These laws have not been enforced. It is the enforcement of such laws that those concerned with the issue may properly demand. Specific laws--forbidding specifically defined and proved harm, physical harm, to persons or property--are the only solution to problems of this kind. So perhaps Rand had nuanced views on this, but I don't hear the same nuance in her followers. And I don't see how the two quotes can be reconciled either.
- javert 14y ago
  Ayn Rand thought the role of government was to protect individuals from initiating force against one another. Period. If you poison the air in a way that harms someone, that constitutes initiation of force. She called the economic and political system resulting from this "laissez-faire capitalism," or more commonly just "capitalism." In context of the partial quote you gave, "unregulated" means "without economic regulations," not "without any laws." So, that's how you reconcile things. There is actually no "nuance" here at all; this stuff is all totally "black and white," clear and consistent, in her writing. You say "I don't hear the same nuance in her followers," but I'm not sure who you're actually referring to here. Objectivists are quite few and far between. For example, most people in the Tea Party who are Atlas Shrugged fans don't actually understand Rand on an intellectual level.