Pull Politics

One fundamental concept put forth by Ayn Rand in her ultimate novel Atlas Shrugged was the idea of Political Pull.  It’s here that a government operating under the Rule of Law is replaced by a regime that operates through the exchange of favors for the beneficial exercise of power.  The end result is a tyranny that denies real rights, breaks real laws, and benefits a ruling class.  Rand called this ruling class The Aristocracy of Pull.  For the purposes of writing this blog and for the present presidential campaign I have labelled this group the Nomenklatura after the name applied to the ruling class of the Soviet Union.

In Atlas Shrugged we’re shown the operations of the Nomenklatura and the adverse impact they have on the characters and the people in general.  The Nomenklatura renounces reason, rejects rights, and inflicts no end of damage in their pursuit of benefits at the expense of the victims.  
In relations between men the Nomenklatura rejects rational consent in favor of brute force.

The American People are the Sovereign Authority of the United States.   We The People grant the Federal Government the authority to act for our benefit, to protect our rights without exception.

The Nomenklatura don’t want to properly earn their profits. They wish to benefit from the favorable use of force.  In short they’re no different from the common criminal.
 

Warning!

Just Memories

I posted the following piece on an Objectivist mailing list:

Let’s take a moment to peek into an alternate universe according to Hunter at The Daily Kos:

Wayne LaPierre and Sarah Palin at the National Rifle Association is what an American Nazi Party rally would sound like if Germany had won the war. The flag, the cross, the obsession over the danger posed to the ruling class by violent minorities and the warning that arming yourself to the teeth in order to prevent the demise of the very nation at the hands of those violent minorities, the petty mocking of the rule of law and mocking of the quaint sensibilities of those who would not commit crimes against the nation's enemies. There's nothing Godwin about it, this is what it would look like. Does look like, in certain meeting halls and convention centers.

How do any of these people manage to get out of bed in the afternoon without killing themselves?  And does this apparent moron has the slightest clue as to what National Socialism was or how it would materially manifest in Nazi America?  A quick answer to the second question would be to tell the apparent moron to get a bath and a haircut, put on a uniform designed by Hugo Boss, and look in a mirror.

As described by Leonard Peikoff in The Ominous Parallels the vision of the American Left is essentially National Socialism without the Aryan frills.  Of course in the socialist mentality ignorance is a fundamental strength.  When I attended the NRA convention held in Minneapolis two decades ago an ignorant girl-child in riding in a passing car screamed the word “Murderer” at me.  As I was in normal street clothes two blocks from the Convention Center the clearly ignorant child could not have reached a valid identification on sight alone.

Is readership of The Daily Kos paying attention at all?  To read the hit piece I had to pass a pop-up calling for the silencing of the Libertarian Koch Brothers.  Here only the self-appointed Ministry of Truth is allowed to speak.

 

Pull Politics

Today I will get into a subject that is a bit slippery.

One fundamental concept put forth by Ayn Rand in her ultimate novel Atlas Shrugged was the idea of Political Pull.  It is here that a government operating under the Rule of Law is replaced by a regime that operates through the exchange of favors for the beneficial exercise of power.  The end result is a tyranny that denies real rights, breaks real laws, and benefits a ruling class.  Rand called this ruling class The Aristocracy of Pull.  For the purposes of writing this blog and for the present presidential campaign I have labelled this group the Nomenklatura after the name applied to the ruling class of the Soviet Union.

In Atlas Shrugged we are shown the operations of the Nomenklatura and the adverse impact they have on the characters and the people in general.  The Nomenklatura renounces reason, rejects rights, and inflicts no end of damage in their pursuit of benefits at the expense of the victims.

In relations between men the Nomenklatura rejects rational consent in favor of brute force.

So why bring up this apparently obscure subject?

Breitbart News has reported that  Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has annouced his continued support for the system of the Nomenklatura: 

On Wednesday, Tom Donohue, the President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, vowed to make the Tea Party "feel some heat" in 2014 in order to get amnesty legislation passed.

And:

As Breitbart News reported, the Chamber is planning to spend at least $50 million to crush the Tea Party, largely because of the movement's opposition to amnesty legislation, which the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of American workers and which the Chamber has been coveting.

Given that the standing Objectivist position on immigration is in favor of no restraints one may conclude that I would be in favor of Amnesty for illegal immigrants.

No.

Proper immigration to our nation is for the purpose of becoming an American.  One of the befits of being an American is to live under the Rule of Law.  A condition where the law is applied to and protects everyone equally without exception.

But Tom Donohue, the Lord of Pull, wants to block those who seek to restore the full Rule of Law.

He says:

If you can’t make them see the light, then at least make them feel some heat.

If we refuse to submit to him and his band of crooks then we are to harmed.  This is clearly the rule of the thug.

The American People are the Sovereign Authority of the United States.   We The People grant the Federal Government the authority to act for our benefit, to protect our rights without exception.

Donohue and his partners in Pull do not want to properly earn their profits. They wish to benefit from the favorable use of force.

In short they are no different from the common criminal.