Diogenes Shrugged

Ayn Rand's classic novel, Atlas Shrugged, is being introduced to a new generation with the release of a movie by the same name this spring. The title comes from a line in the novel where a character asks what sort of advice one should give to the mythological Atlas considering that "the greater [Atlas'] effort, the heavier the [weight of the] world bore down on his shoulders". The response: "To shrug".

I do not share Rand's libertine, anti-religious world-view by any means. However, the world she fictionalized in 1957 is becoming fact in 2011. The collapse of society Ayn Rand predicted in Atlas Shrugged took place because government gradually took control of everything. Doubtless she was influenced by Orwell's 1949 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which also features a dystopian society brought about by an excess of government. Both authors share worthy cautions, but they misunderstand a significant element of American society as it was originally conceived.

Our nation's founders recognized that the government they envisioned could not exist apart from the moral underpinnings of the Judeo-Christian world-view. Rand and Orwell discount religion as an escape mechanism which harms rather than helps society. They have it exactly backwards. Without a moral compass the engine of commerce will inevitably drive the ship of state onto the rocks. As I said recently in my blog, "True Lies", dishonesty abounds today. Purveyors of false information seem to be multiplying like a cancer eating at the core of our world. Without good information, a republic cannot survive; it will devolve into some form of tyranny.

Allow me to present two more examples of the deceit which infects the decision making process in current national debate. New York's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is a rabid anti-gun advocate. He recently paid for a national ad campaign which declares that 34 Americans are murdered every day. This is deceptive on a number of levels. First, Bloomberg has the count wrong. FBI statistics for 2010 list 26 murders being reported daily, not 34. Even 26 is slightly overstated because police report as "murders" cases which are subsequently reclassified as other causes of death (negligent homicide, manslaughter, suicide, self-defense, etc.) Second, while any number of murders is tragic, in a population of more than 300 million depraved human beings, that only twenty-some are murdered each day might be considered remarkable. Third, not Bloomberg nor any of his fellow anti-gunners will report that states with liberal gun policies (like Arizona) have lower murder rates than those with draconian laws (like New York.) A 42 page study by eminent researchers concludes that European countries which have tried to eliminate private gun ownership have not seen a decrease in murders. Much to the contrary, Florida State criminologist, Gary Kleck has written that, "civilian ownership and defensive use of guns deter violent crime and reduce burglar-linked injuries."

My second example of public deception involves the link between vaccination and autism. The details on this issue are not yet clear to the public, but I think I know what is coming on this front. Government agencies and pharmaceutical companies have repeatedly claimed that there is no link between autism and vaccination. Yet just days ago a citizen group brought to light the fact that dozens of families with autistic children have been paid large settlements by the federal government's "vaccination court," a body established to protect private companies from lawsuits. Investigative reporter Trace Gallagher of Fox News recently asked, "If there is no cause and effect, why the multi-million dollar rewards?" Why indeed.

Trust is vital in any relationship. This applies double in the relationship between a people and their government. One need not be a Christian or any religious type to want the ninth commandment upheld in public enterprise, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." I fear the American experiment will fail at last if we do not rediscover the cost of deception and the value of honesty. Diogenes' search for an honest man might prove fruitless on Madison Avenue or in the halls of Congress these days. Pray he is not forced to shrug.