Ayn Rand

TWENTIETH CENTURY MOTOR COMPANY

1. "there was something that happened at the plant where I worked for twenty years. It was when the old man died and his heirs took over. There were three of them, two sons and a daughter, and they brought a new plan to run the factory. They let us vote on it too, and everybody -- almost everybody -- voted for it..... The plan was that everybody in the factory would work according to his ability, but would be paid according to his need."

2. "None of us knew just how the plan would work, but everyone of us thought that the next fellow knew it...... they made it sound like that anyone who'd oppose the plan was a child-killer at heart and less than a human being."

3. "Do you know how it worked, that plan, and what it did to people? Try pouring water into a tank where there is a pipe at the bottom draining it out faster than you pour it in and each bucket you bring breaks the pipe an inch wider, and the harder you work the more is demanded of you, and you stand slinging buckets forty hours a week, then forty-eight, then fifty-six -- for your neighbor's supper -- for his wife's operation -- for his child's measles -- for his mother's wheelchair -- for his uncle's shirt -- for his nephew's schooling -- for the baby next door -- for the baby to be born -- for anyone anywhere around you -- it's theirs to receive, from diapers to dentures -- and yours to work,....... with nothing to show for it but your sweat, with nothing in sight for you but their pleasure, for the whole of your life, without rest, without hope, without end ...... From each according to his ability, to each according to his need ....."

4. "It took just one meeting to discover that we had become beggars --rotten, whining, sniveling beggars, all of us, because no man could claim his pay as his rightful earning, he had no rights and no earnings, his work didn't belong to him, it belonged to "the family," and they owed him nothing in return, and the only claim he had on them was his "need" -- so he had to beg in public for relief from his needs, like any lousy moocher, listing all his troubles and miseries, down to his patched drawers and his wife's head colds, hoping that "the family" would throw him the alms. He had to claim miseries, because its miseries, not work, that had become the coin of the realm -- so it turned into a contest among six thousand panhandlers, each claiming that his need was worse than his brothers... what sort of men kept quiet, feeling shame, and what sort got away with the jackpot?"

5. "Overtime without pay, because you weren't paid by time and you weren't paid by work, only by need."

6. "What was it that they'd always told us about the vicious competition of the profit system, where men had to compete for who'd do a better job than his fellows? Vicious wasn't it? Well, they should have seen what it was like when we all had to compete with one another for who'd do the worst job possible. There is no surer way to destroy a man than to force him into a spot where he has to aim at not doing his best, where he has to struggle to do a bad job day after day."

7. "Amusement was the first thing they dropped. Aren't you always supposed to be ashamed to object when anybody asks you to give up anything, if it's something that gave you pleasure?"

8. "There was a man who'd worked hard, all his life, because he'd always wanted to send his son through college. Well, the boy graduated from high school in the second year of the plan -- but "the family" wouldn't give the father any "allowance" for the college. They said his son couldn't go to college, until we had enough to send everybody's son to college -- and we first had to send everybody's children through high school, and we didn't even have enough for that. The father died the following year, in a knife fight with somebody in a saloon, a fight over nothing in particular -- such fights were beginning to happen among us all the time."

9. "Then there was an old guy, a widower with no family, who had one hobby: phonograph records -- "personal luxury", they called it. But at that same meeting, Millie Bush, somebody's daughter, a mean ugly little eight-year-old, was voted a pair of gold braces for her buck teeth -- this was "medical need," because the staff psychologist had said that the poor girl would get an inferiority complex if her teeth weren't straightened out. The old guy who loved music, turned to drink instead."

10. "Babies was the only item of production that didn't fall, but rose and kept on rising -- because people had nothing else to do, I guess, and because they didn't have to care, the baby wasn't their burden, it was "the family's".

11. "Any man who tried to play it straight, had to refuse himself everything. He lost his taste for any pleasure, he hated to smoke a nickel's worth of tobacco or chew a stick of gum, worrying whether somebody had more need for that nickel."

12. "But the shiftless and the irresponsible had a field day of it. They bred babies, they got girls into trouble, they dragged in every worthless relative they had from all over the country, every unmarried pregnant sister, for an extra disability allowance, they got more sickness than any doctor could disprove, they ruined their clothing, their furniture, their homes -- what the hell, "the family" was paying for it! They found more ways of getting in "need" than the rest of us could ever imagine -- they developed a special skill for it, which was the only ability they showed."

13. "But Gerald Starnes, doped by his own publicity, got huffy and went around, with an air of moral superiority, demanding that businessmen place orders with us, not because our motors were good, but because we needed the orders so badly."

14. "What good would our need do to a power plant when its generators stopped because of our defective engines? What good would it do to a man caught on an operating table when the electric lights went out? What good would it do to the passengers of a plane when its motors failed in mid-air? And if they bought our product, not because of its merit, but because of our need, would that be the good, the right, the moral thing to do for the owner of that power plant, the surgeon in that hospital, the maker of that plane?"

15. "Yet this was the moral law that the professors and leaders and thinkers had wanted to establish all over the earth. If this is what it did to a single town, where we all knew on another, do you care to think what it would do on a world scale?....... To work -- with no chance of an extra ration, till the Cambodians have been fed and the Patagonians have been sent to college. To work -- on a blank check held by every creature born, by men whom you'll never see, whose needs you will never know, whose ability or laziness or sloppiness or fraud you have no way to learn and no right to question -- just to work and work and work -- and leave it up to the Ivys and the Geralds of the world to decide whose stomach will consume the effort, the dreams and days of your life. And this is the moral law to accept? This -- a moral ideal?"

16. "Our agony took four years, from our first meeting to our last, and it ended the only way it could end: in bankruptcy. Ivy Starnes made a short, nasty, snippy little speech in which she said that the plan failed because the rest of the country had not accepted it, that a single community could not succeed in the midst of a selfish, greedy world........ A young boy -- the one who had been punished for giving us a useful idea in our first year -- got up, as we all sat silent, and walked straight to Ivy Starnes on the platform. He said nothing. He spat in her face. That was the end of the noble plan and of the Twentieth Century."

17. "But what about John Galt? ....... it was something that happened at the first meeting at the Twentieth Century factory...... The six thousand of us were crowded on bleachers built way up to the rafters of the plant's largest hangar...... Gerald Starnes yelled through the noise, "Remember that none of us may now leave this place, for each of us belongs to all the others by the moral law which we all accept!" "I don't," said one man and stood up...... He stood like a man who knew that he was right. "I will put an end to this once and for all," he said. His voice was clear and without feeling........ Gerald Starnes cried suddenly after him, "How?" He turned and answered, "I will stop the motor of the world." Then he walked out....... years later, when we saw the lights going out, one after another, in the great factories, that had stood solid like mountains for generations,...... when it began to look as if some silent power were stopping the generators of the world and the world was crumbling quietly,..... we began to wonder and to ask questions about him. You see, his name was John Galt."

Ayn Rand was perhaps one of the greatest philosophers who ever wrote in the United States. Unlike most philosophers throughout history, who wrote in a somewhat dry manner, Ms. Rand uses the novel as her vehicle for espousing her philosophical thoughts. While Ayn Rand has written many books, her signature work is her excellent novel, Atlas Shrugged. In this masterpiece, she provides a vivid description of the differences between a capitalistic system and, a socialistic or communistic system. To Ms. Rand, there is only a small percentage of individuals in any society who possess the scientific knowledge, practical know-how and, creativity to achieve greatness and serious technological progress. These are the people with the big ideas -- the ideas that lead to progress and the production of great wealth. These are the individuals who possess the ability to design a functioning steel mill, an aircraft factory, an automobile plant, a jet engine, a space ship, etc., etc., etc. It is these ideas and, the demand for the products which they create, that leads to a wealthy nation and full employment. In other words, every one benefits from the great ideas of a few extremely bright and creative people. Citizens either benefit directly by working in the factories created from these great ideas or, through building there own business's which thrive because of the economic wealth of the nation and its citizens. It is only a matter of time however, before the most base side of human nature rears its hideous head -- envy on the part of the workers toward the creative geniuses who amass wealth and, greed on the part of politicians who cultivate envy among the workers to enhance their own political power and wealth at the expense of the nation. Atlas Shrugged depicts this erosion of the economic system and the society by removing these productive "men of mind" from the society when the base human traits appear. The men of mind go on strike so to speak. The result is a blow by blow description of a society that is in free fall economic decline and chaos. Finally, toward the end of the novel, the main character, John Galt, speaks to the citizens for the "men of mind" explaining to them the error of their ways. This is the heart of Ayn Rand's philosophy and, will be quoted, in the quotes section of this page, in detail. Ayn Rand's unique style of presenting her philosophy in novel format make her one of the most interesting and popular philosophic writers of modern times.
Ayn Rand gives a vivid and distrubing account of what happens to a company or, factory, when it moves away from capitalism toward socialism, in her account of the Starnes, Twentieth Century Motor Company. The company was extremely successful under its founder Mr. Starnes. Because of his ability, he employed many skilled individuals who became prosperous through their abilities and contribution to the company. Unfortunately, Mr. Starnes dies and his liberal children inherit the company. The heirs attempt to transform the company from one that believed in the individual and the motto, "from each according to his/her ability; to each according to his/her contribution", to a company that believed in the collective and the motto, "from each according to his/her ability; to each according to his/her need". Ms. Rand writes graphically about the effect such a socialistic policy had on this once proud company and its employees. The first group of quotes are from her writings about the Twentieth Century Motor Company.

The mystics of Spirit and The mystics of Muscle.

Ayn Rand writes extensively of the "mystics of spirit" and the "mystics of muscle" -- the moochers and looters respectively. The mystics of spirit are the religious and cult leaders who, through their charisma and, claimed superior knowledge to know "the truth," convince their followers that mind and reason is not important. Faith -- in the leaders -- becomes more important than any rational thought. Followers are supposed to surrender their mind to the will of the cult leader and accept what is taught on faith not reason. Of course there are always sacrifices to be made -- in this life -- for the great causes dictated by the cult leaders. They promise their followers that, for their sacrifices, they will be rewarded after death. Whenever a human being hears a person calling for sacrifice, that individual must check to see who is profiting from that sacrifice. According to Ms Rand, sacrifice by some always means large unearned profits for others. Ayn Rand was an atheist so, she had little regard for those who would tell people to sacrifice their life, their reason and, their personal happiness, for the promise of peace and happiness after death. To Ayn Rand, this was not rational or logical and, was only a gimmick of the mystics which encouraged man to give up his most important assets -- his reason and his happiness -- for the benefit of the mystics of spirit who gained at their expense. To Ms Rand, it was man's reason and acquisition of knowledge, through that reason, that allowed man to produce, progress and, become successful and happy in this life -- the only life of which one can be sure. To her, perfect happiness in life, was living by one's reason and, that reason dictated that there be no contradictions within one's life style. To live with a contradiction was to accept some flaw in one's reasoning or logic. This flaw or inconsistency had to be corrected if one were to achieve perfect happiness. The highest moral standard was to use one's reason to live a productive life and achieve individual happiness. Man is a finished product who exists for himself and nobody else. It is only through profitable trade between willing individuals that men assist one another. Ms. Rand viewed the moochers as robbers of man's most precious possession -- the ability to reason and achieve happiness here on earth as an individual. In many of her quotes, you will see the "mystics of spirit" mentioned in a derogatory manner.
Not only were there mystics of spirit which man had to avoided but, also a more hideous, powerful group of individuals who were a serious threat to the productive efforts of man. These were the "mystics of muscle" -- the looters -- those who, because of their status within the governing authority, could demand that productive individuals sacrifice large amounts of their profits (the reward for their creativeness or productive efforts), in the form of taxes, so that it could be distributed to others for political support and favors. Thus the term looters. Ms. Rand claims that it has always been in times when these looters flourished that the "men of mind", the most creative and productive citizens, would eventually go on strike so to speak, dramitically reducing the amount that could be looted by these mystics.
While the mystics of muscle do not suggest that individuals sacrifice now for a greater reward after death, like the mystics of spirit, they do call for sacrifice. They call for sacrifice now, so that the individual's children or grandchildren can have a better life. Like the mystics of spirit, this is a sacrifice that never has to be paid off because, the sacrifices continue from generation to generation and the children or grandchildren are always in the future. It is the "mystics of muscle" who gain power and wealth at the expense of the productive citizens who are constantly sacrificing (willingly or unwillingly) for the future. It is the mystics of muscle who cry that every citizen has a right to a higher standard of living but, neglect to mention how that standard of living is to be provided or, by whom. It is the mystics of muscle who are most interested in power over the individuals and their minds. It is the thinking, rational individual (the men who will not sacrifice their own reason and logic) who is the biggest threat to these hideous looters. It is these men of mind, who ask the rational questions of these individuals, whom they must combat with their propaganda and willing accomplices within the society. It is these citizen's rationality and their ability to see through their scheme that they fear most. For man to use his mind is a very real threat to the mystics of muscle. Ms. Rand discusses the mystics of muscle extensively in her quotes.