I wrote a message to an Objectivist:
Paul Crider just published an article in The Bulwark arguing that Trump and his minions resemble Ayn Rand’s villains more than her heroes.
Rand instilled in her followers a need for hero worship, and she gave them the impression these heroes were plentiful at the commanding heights of the economy, despite slotting many of her villains in these same lofty positions. She thus left her disciples unprepared for a world in which so many of the world’s wealthiest capitalists used the “aristocracy of pull” to amass their wealth, and sought that wealth not as a byproduct of their creative energies but as a means to dominate others. Being seenas dominant is just as important—that whooshing sound you hear is the black hole of Elon Musk’s self-esteem, sucking in its surroundings. And Rand failed to equip her followers to grapple with racism not from the underbelly of society but from its highest echelons.
I appreciated your post, particularly that part.
I came to a similar realization myself a few years ago which might interest you:
https://www.elliottemple.com/essays/capitalism-means-policing-big-companies
My essay argues that the rule of law is a prerequisite for free markets, and today illegal actions by businesses are so widespread (particularly fraud) that to move towards capitalism we need to improve policing of businesses (which are mostly run by villains). Shrinking government to try to move towards minarchy, without getting businesses to respect property rights and follow the non-aggression principle, won’t actually get us capitalism nor anything resembling it, just aggressor companies running even more wild than they already are. I think the almost total emphasis on shrinking government while viewing companies too positively, without much discussion of improving and making more effective the legitimate parts of government that would exist under minarchy, is a huge error by the Objectivist and libertarian movements. More emphasis on how tons of corporate behavior violates the rules of the free market and is incompatible with (classical) liberalism would also allow us to find more common ground with the anti-capitalist leftists who complain about big companies and are often correct that there is some sort of problem (even if they don’t understand the nature of the problem and suggest the wrong solution).