[lbo-talk] Randists and social safety net

Ferenc Molnar ferenc_molnar at hotmail.com
Fri Sep 30 11:58:41 PDT 2011


My sense so far is that all of these tendencies within the right are much more complex and sectarian than the left understands. They're as complex as the left groupings that are hybrids of different political philosophies and historical moments. There is a deeply held American belief in self-sufficiency that finds an affinity in Rand and the Austrian School. Among the youth that belief is coupled with a growing sense that the U.S. government is no longer working in their interest or even functioning properly. That lack of faith in government also includes a hatred of large corporations and their owners. The Koch Brothers are seen as the destroyers of the Tea Party Movement by much of the radical elements of that movement rather than the funders or supporters. Large corporations are seen as standing in the way of The Free Market because they crush small businesses and strangle competition. So why not begin an alternative economic system in the shadow of the corrupt one. My sense is that the "Randian Utopianists" make up a small fraction of the OWS movement but across the country they are quite large and emergent.



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