Chicago Tribune: Steve Chapman- 'Atlas Isn't Shrugging'

Source:Chicago Tribune- Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand.

"Charlie Peters, a self-described "neoliberal" who edited The Washington Monthly, told me many years ago that the problem with liberals is they see themselves as heroes in a novel. Many conservatives today do the same thing, and they know just the novel: Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

My friends at the Atlas Society have posted an interview with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, an excessively devoted fan of the book. Much like Rand, he insists on reducing every policy issue to a simple fight for freedom against government oppression. He says business people can't operate under current policies. He thinks Americans support big government because they suffer from "Stockholm Syndrome." He says Obamacare is "the greatest assault on freedom in my lifetime."

From Chicago Tribune

I myself even though I'm not a follower of Ayn Rand, but a Liberal Democrat instead, (if you want to know where I'm coming from)  look at anything that government does and any policy that it may create based on one thing: does it advance the cause of freedom for the innocent or not. If it does depending on how it's structured, I tend to be in favor of it. If it doesn't and weakens individual freedom in America, I will not only be against it, but fight to stop it or prevent it from even happening. Whether it comes from the right or left. 

So my basic idea of what I want government to do is to protect and promote individual freedom for all Americans who currently have it and deserve it and expand freedom for Americans who don't have it, but deserve it and need it. And for government to do these things they simply have to have the revenue needed to perform these public services. But only what they need and no more and then be held responsible for spending our money responsibility. 

A lot of people from the Center-Left (let's call them Progressives) to the Center-Right (let's call them Classical Liberals and Conservatives) believe in at least some level of individual freedom, both personal and economic. What separates most of us from the Ayn Rand Objectivists and Libertarians on the world is that we're not anti-government. We're not looking to dismantle government. We just want it limited to defending our individual freedom and constitutional rights.