[mikema63]

i have personally had problems with reconciling objectivism, libertarianism, and anarchism.

i have always liked objectivism (though i never subscribed to it) and was wondering if objectivism and anarcho-capitalism were at all compatible. i know Ayn Rand herself hated anarchists but it always seemed the natural conclusion of her philosophy and i have read others who came to the same conclusion, and Galt's gulch certainly seemed pretty anarcho-capitalist to me. she also hated libertarianism as well but it seems like she agreed with libertarian politics 99.9% of the time so i was also wondering about that.

are there even any objectivists on this forum? i was just wondering if anyone can help me out here.

[Eran]

I am not an Objectivist.

As far as I can tell (having read several Objectivist texts), the ideology is both very broadly-encompassing (from epistemology and metaphysics to arts and literature) and very VERY idiosyncratic. The Objectivist movement is also very cult-like in their hero-worship of Rand.

Rand wasn't just a statist, but believed in IP, strong military and other less-than-libertarian values.

[Phred]

I am very familiar with Objectivist philosophy and the writings of Ayn Rand in general. The political tenets of Objectivism hew pretty closely to those of the Founding Fathers as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers. There are also very few disagreements in principle with the major European Enlightenment philosophers (Locke, Bastiat, etc.)

It is true that Objectivist political theory recognizes intellectual property rights, as did the above-mentioned folks. It is also true that Objectivism recognizes the need for limited government - a government specifically limited to assisting its constituents in protecting their rights, including property rights. To this end, Objectivist political theory recognizes the validity of a government-run military, a government-run civil and criminal judiciary, and government-run diplomatic and intelligence organs.

Objectivism rejects Anarcho-Capitalism as a realistic system of human interaction for anything other than very small groups of like-minded individuals who are isolated in practice from the rest of humanity, since such a system fails badly in the presence of malefactors. Objectivists say it does no good to espouse individual rights while being unable to effectively defend those rights from those who would cheerfully violate them. Think of Objectivism as Anarcho-Capitalism modified to the point that it has a chance of surviving in the real world. And of course Objectivism rejects all variations of Left-Anarchism for obvious reasons.

Rand's seemingly paradoxical disdain of "Libertarians" (given the 99.9% agreement between her political views and theirs) is explained by realizing that her beef was primarily with the leading Anarcho-Capitalists of her time, not with the Libertarian Party of America. Rothbard and his followers liked to call themselves Libertarians rather than Anarcho-Capitalists.


Phred