By Sam Konopczynski

For those who are unfamiliar with the novel, Atlas Shrugged, a novel by Ayn Rand,
details how a combination of corrupt socialist governments and a strike of intellectuals resisting said governments bring America and the rest of the world into poverty and chaos. More than a simple story, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rands magnum opus / manifesto on her philosophy of Objectivism.

Objectivism is built premise by premise, with the first premises being the most obvious and reasonable and the latter being the most controversial and partisan. Premise by premise, it goes1. Reality Exists and is not affected by our perceptions, rather our perceptions give us a reasonable insight into reality (existence) 2. Therefore, there can be no contradictions (identity)
3.

To determine reality, we perceive things (consciousness)

Existence, consciousness and identity are the base of all knowledge (we have to be conscious to think about Objectivism, Things Exist and Things have identities.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

It follows that, the only valid way to perceive reality is though ones own mind So-ones own mind is the highest principle human beings are rational Thus one should use ones mind with reason and perception ( also from 4) Thus There is no god (also incorporates 2) or fairies, excreta There is only one true answer for every question that can be logically deduced by individuals (from 5 and 2) Thus the only way to act and live is through reason The only reasonable goal is self-interest, it is moral to be selfish Thus the moral view that it is good to help others (altruism) is wrong because it prevents others from working for themselves Therefore, churches and governments and institutions that attempt to provide for the poor are bad

13. The best government is a libertarian one where political and economic freedoms are almost absolute and capitalism is prevalent, the only functions of government are national defense and justice (mainly protecting property rights) 14. The most moral people are the people who work for their own good, and the most valuable people are those who are most successful 15. Money (especially gold) is an objective way of determining someones value 16. Thus, barons of industry are prime movers- people who produce the most for society by directing people with their minds- deserve all the money they earn for it would be immoral to reduce their value (by taxing them) unless they support the service they are paying for 17. Also, sex and gluttony (not the word she used but the only one I can think of that described what she described) are OK because they fulfill selfish desires 18. In short, the class pyramid looks like
Successful artists, barons of industry, and inventors who provide the most to humanity, all other classes owe these people for the value their minds give to them; Prime Movers receive no intellectual value from lower classes

People who have the minds to be prime movers, yet work to further the looters agenda (Warren Buffet)

Socialists and Communists who live off the efforts of Prime Movers and Intellectuals (42%)

Engineers and clerks of lesser minds do simple mental tasks for the prime movers

Workers who benefit from being able to produce value through the help of prime movers- in return they provide the physical labor

Whew Well now that is out of the way, on to the stuff I said I was going to write about