Objectivism and Fundementalist Christianity

William Raspberry has a column in the Washington Post today on Yaron Brook of Ayn Rand Institute's statements on the situation in Iraq.

...."our problem in Iraq is not the questionable loyalty of Iraqi soldiers too hastily thrown into action, not our own overextended and underequipped troops, not the failure of the international community to help us out, not even the faulty intelligence and the monumental hubris that got us into Iraq in the first place. No, it is America's moral cowardice."

What he is saying is we should not hesistate to kill everyone in the Iraq if it is necessary to look out for our own best interests. Lest we think that only those who are radically religious can be complete nut cases we must not forget Ayn Rand.

Ayn Rand was a Russian Jew who came to the United States in 1926 at the age of 21. She founded a school of philosophy called Objectivism which was summarized in the appendix of her novel Atlas Shrugged.

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

Note the key words here;"his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life". What that means is look out for yourself and everybody else be damned. This is where Yaron Brook gets his inspiration for his statements on Iraq.
While we talk often about the influence of the Religious Right on this administration we must recognize that "Objectivism" that plays a part in the Big corporation/Cheney wing of the administration and the current Republican party. Radical Christianity and Secular Non-Humanism are a dangerous combination.