Ayn Rand at 100: When Will Businessmen Learn Her Lessons About Politicians?
She called businessmen “America’s persecuted minority.” And today—as has been the case at least since the start of the Industrial Revolution—many businessmen and -women feel they are the victims of a special scorn directed at them not because they cheat or steal but, rather, because they grow wealthy through their own honest efforts by producing goods and services that they sell to willing customers. Politicians translate this disdain into higher taxes, regulations, and special criminal penalties on these producers. On the centenary of her birth, Ayn Rand remains a unique defender of capitalism. She showed in both her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged—published in 1957—and in her non-fiction essays the disastrous effects of mixing politics with economics. But she went further than other laissez-faire advocates, emphasizing the moral foundations of economic liberty. In this way, she provided an even deeper understanding of how freedom is lost and how it might be protected or restored. Beginni
