I bought a Kindle last November, and downloaded Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged onto it. Last night, about 9:30, I finished it.
I have never been a big fan of Rand's magnum opus, and I have not been converted by this reading. My concern is mostly that it is too easy to take literally her dramatic device that prosperity depends upon the brilliant few, when, as you know, it depends on economic freedom for all. However, the allegorical approach makes for a better read, and there never has been a stronger literary advocate for individualism and economic freedom than Ayn Rand.
A few days ago, at the Club for Growth Winter Economic Conference -- about which more later -- I was privileged to attend a screening of the new movie Atlas Shrugged -- Part I, and to meet the writer and producers.
The Atlas Society is heavily involved in promoting the movie, the success of which will depend on word of mouth and activism by Rand's objectivist fans -- if that isn't an oxymoron! Please visit their web site
The movie -- to be released on April 15, Tax Day -- is a first class production and an excellent translation of the first third of the book into the movie form. The producers plan two more movies to wrap up the story, each to be released on succeeding April 15ths. I spoke the next day with a founder of The Moving Picture Institute about the movie. She expressed concern that the buzz for the movie wasn't developing quickly enough to affect the distribution buy.
If you want to see the film in a theater near you, go here to find out how you can help.
Why, if I don't care for the book, am I asking you to promote the movie? The answer is that we can not win over to the side of economic liberty the hearts and minds of the electorate with reason alone. I have long believed that by forfeiting the entertainment industry to the left we made the bed we now lie in.
So, please, forward this to everyone you know who has ever expressed an interest in individualism and economic freedom, Atlas Shrugged, or Ayn Rand's objectivism.
Or better yet, just forward it to everyone you know.
