Introduction - The Role of Philosophy

     In college I was utterly fascinated with the writings of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism. Growing up in an area where her philosophy was not very popular, a lot of people disagreed with me and I could not understand why. Of all the philosophies I had read, her's (Rand's) made the most sense. There was no way people could live the strict Kantian "do unto others" philosophy or the Marxist socialist philosophy, but greed and self-interest were already part of human nature. Using reason and hard fact to explain things makes the most sense, how else can one describe something? Why didn't more people subscribe to this amazing philosophy?
     Well, people grow up and so did I. The more I looked around the more I realized that this philosophy was unrealistic, just like all other philosophies. It makes sense that we should not expect to be handed anything for no work, hard work should get just compensation, that people should exist for their own sake, and that to try to explain things without facts makes no sense; it is impossible to expect that everyone will adhere to this ideal and no one will take advantage of it. That is the downfall of Objectivism. Just like with the other philosophies, for it to work, everyone would have to believe it and practice it and not use it against others.
     The other issue with the writings of Ayn Rand (and other philosophic and religious doctrines) is that it has been used as a weapon by groups against other people. Like the Bible and the crusades, Communism in various dictatorships, and Mussolini's Fascism in early 1900's Europe, the Objectivist thought process (in combination with other things) is being used as a justification to vilify others to this day. Currently it is being used by the Tea Party movement which started in 2009.
     It saddens me to see Ayn Rand's ideals used as a basis to keep others down, especially because that in itself is against the tenants of Objectivism. Rational Objectivism does not object to any particular group, nor does it look down upon the poor, but I will get to those issues in another blog. Objectivism strictly states that everyone should have the same opportunities as everyone else. Also, to try to combine Objectivism and religion as the Tea Party movement does is also against how the philosophy works. Ayn Rand and her philosophy were strictly atheist. There is no room for faith and god in a philosophy that operates off of reason and hard facts. There are many issues with the logic of the libertarians, republican and other politicians but I will delve more into those issues later.
     What I am trying to say is the ideals of Objectivism (and other philosophies) are great, but they are ideals. It took me a long time to figure that out but I did. The role any philosophy, religion or ideology is to take the good ideas from them and apply them to your life, not use them as reason to look down on others. If you think I am wrong, let me know, I would love to talk to you and hear your perspective.