Atlas Shrugged

By EmmaLovesBooks

It seems like, at this point, most people just agree Ayn Rand had some pretty awful ideas, and Objectivism doesn’t really get treated seriously. Still, I keep thinking about *Atlas Shrugged* and wondering if it actually works better as satire than anything else. I’ve always felt like there’s a decent mystery novel buried in it, and the whole thing about people getting complacent and then watching a society that runs efficiently start to fall apart—at least to me—that part hits uncomfortably true. I’m in a government job, and my day-to-day is basically in a pretty well-off but super bureaucratic kind of society. Part of my job is hiring, and after seeing all the obstacles and why they exist, I can’t help but ask how long it takes before leaders admit some policies need to change, like, now. Anyone else get that same vibe? If you strip out the extreme neoliberal stuff and the whole “commie scare” angle, and you imagine it’s meant as a parody, there’s actually a lot to chew on in there.