Howard Roark and Me

We have been hearing a lot about the philosophy of Russian/American writer Ayn Rand recently. "Objectivism" is the philosophy she espoused in her famous books, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and Anthem. Like a lot people, I read Rand's books as a high school and college student. I went back and re-read The Fountainhead years later. I have seen the famous film version of The Fountainhead several times, always enjoying the performance of Gary Cooper as the protagonist, lone wolf architect Howard Roark. Gary Cooper is my favorite actor of all time. The Fountainhead is one of my all-time favorite books.

Hearing all the talk from Republicans, in particular Rep. Paul Ryan, citing Ayn Rand as inspiration for much of their political philosophy, I decided that, although Ayn Rand made some interesting--even profound--points about living in society, her contempt for "collectivism" really doesn't resonate with me as a fundamental blueprint for a modern society. Indeed, as some commentator pointed out, Ayn Rand's "Objectivism" philosophy is grounded in the fictional world of a novel. Good novels for sure. Maybe not the basis for a society.

A few years ago I was watching C-Span one Saturday and I stumbled into a meeting of the Atlas Society, made up apparently of dedicated followers of Ayn Rand's philosophy. I listed for over two hours to various speakers. All the speakers seemed well-educated and well-spoken. The one detail I remember is that one of the speakers spent a good deal of time on his claim that Global Warming was a hoax made up by the [said with complete disdain] "collectivists" for the sole purpose of exercising control over us rugged individualists. I have heard a number of "Global Warming Deniers" speak over the years but I had never heard this particular take on the issue. All in all, I got the impression of a bunch of grown men who read Ayn Rand as adolescents and never got over it, as most of us did about the time the next fraternity party came along.

But, after thinking about it for awhile, I have to admit that my life has been deeply affected by Ayn Rand's work, especially by The Fountainhead and the determined individualist Howard Roark. I thought that Howard Roark was meant to represent in some way the determined individualism of Frank Lloyd Wright, legendary architect of the early 20th Century. My impression was that Howard Roark was determined to follow the idea of form follows function, even when the paying clients wanted tacky fru fru. As readers will recall, Howard didn't get many commissions early on, given his disdain for the customer's excesses. He finally blows up his own building in protest of "collectivists" and the mangling of his design for the building.

I believe that I have taken something from Howard Roark's example. A law partner years ago said that I reminded him of Howard Roark. I think he was referring to my insistence on making the decisions of how a lawsuit is handled without necessarily always accepting the client's ideas on what should be done. I made the mistake a couple of times early of doing something in a case that the client wanted done but that I thought was a mistake. And I got burned but good, as did the client ultimately. My insistence of handling legal business according to my own judgment as to what is best for the client rather than the client's judgment also rubbed law partners the wrong way from time to time. This no doubt explains in part why I have no partners. Several times I have had to advise a client that there are other lawyers out there who will carry out your wishes. A few have taken me up on that. A good deal of a lawyer's time can be taken up by trying to convince the client not to do something that will ultimately hurt his own case.

In any event, I certainly admire Ayn Rand's literature. In fact, I just today ordered a used paperback copy of Anthem to read it again. However, I think that enjoying Any Rand's novels is a long way from accepting that her philosophy of "Objectivism" is an appropriate basis for a modern functioning society. We Americans pride ourselves on being rugged individualists, independent as can be. However, in order to have a functioning society, we have to do some things in a collective way. I fear that Paul Ryan and like-minded Republicans will have us back to the old west, where everyone is on his own and the devil take the hindmost. If Ryan and Grover Norquist ultimately do manage to shrink government down to where it can be drowned in a bathtub, how do we run our country? Republicans believe that business, left to its own devices and free of government oversight, will ultimately act appropriately. Only safe drugs and automobiles will be produced. Banks and investment firms will make sound decisions on taking risks with depositor's and client's funds. Everybody will obey the traffic laws. A sage once said that if everyone would always do the right thing, we wouldn't need laws and government. Color me skeptical.