Ayn Rand a Fixture of Tea Party Scene

by Liz Colville

Just kidding. She’s dead! But Ayn Rand’s books crop up in our culture whenever people start worrying the the government is going to take over society, which is roughly the plot line of her 1957 book Atlas Shrugged. So that would be, yes, now.

The Daily Telegraph reports that some 500,000 copies of that book were sold in 2009; it’s been recommended by such loud influential voices as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. I have shielded my eyes from the horror of the rest of the article, but feel free to dive in. Also, worrying that the government is going to take over society is sort of like worrying that you’re going to get in trouble for the very bad thing that you did.

Photo by Phyllis Cerf via Wikipedia