Traditionalist Pioneer Spirit

by Clifford F. Thies

Commentators are taking notice that Rand Paul, who recently won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky, not only shares his last name with his father, the libertarian Republican Congressman from Texas, but has a first name that connects with Ayn Rand, the author of the once-again best-selling book Atlas Shrugged. Unfortunately for the name-callers, Rand Paul’s name is actually Randal, and Rand is only a nickname. And, what would it matter anyway? What if his middle name were Hussein? Would that matter?

Yes, Rand Paul is from the suddenly vibrant libertarian wing of the Republican Party. But, he is not from the Ayn Rand wing of libertarianism. If I can surmise from my long association with his father, Rand Paul is from the Laura Ingalls wing of libertarianism, a home-grown, All-American version of libertarianism.

In the mid 20th century, in 1942, two books were published that provide a convenient way to differentiate between libertarians: Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (eventually made into a pretty good movie starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal) and The Discovery of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Laura Ingalls (photo). Most of us know Laura Ingalls through her series of children’s books, The Little House on the Prairie, continued first by her daughter and later by Roger MacBride, and by the television series co-produced by MacBride and Michael Landon.

Ayn Rand's atheistic libertarianism; Rose Wilder Lane's traditionalism

In The Fountainhead, a visionary architect resists the tendencies of the corporate world to suppress the individual, to force us all to conform, and to repress free expression. Years later, when the U.S. Postal Service honored Ayn Rand with a postage stamp, an imposing skyscraper provided the background for her image. At a time when just about every intellectual in the world was some kind of socialist, Rand boldly proclaimed the virtue of selfishness: that each of us has one life, and, for each of us, the choices of values we make gives sanctity to those values.

As it turns out, the heroes of Rand’s later works were men and women of enormous accomplishment. They were able, from sheer inner will, to triumph over the freedom-repressing establishment. This communicates a certain elitism to Rand’s version of libertarianism. But, I will point out that her earlier works were much more sweet, much more human. In her quasi-biographical novel, We the Living, her female hero is a young woman who finds herself in an impossible situation, who feels betrayed by the social institutions of her day. I am sorry if I am giving away the plot, but, in the end, this young woman chooses to reject those social institutions and to rely only on herself.

If Ayn Rand’s immortal soul was lost to atheism, whose fault was it? Hers, for choosing to be strong, or the church’s, that had accommodated itself to “semi-socialism,” and had replaced reason with ritual and mysticism. I thank God that I was inoculated against the faults of the church by my Italian grandfather. He told me, “I believe in the church, not in the priests.” I have never expected much of the church with regard to the issue of socialism versus freedom, and I have not been disappointed.

Some Background from the Editor - Dr. Thies was a close friend and political ally of 1976 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Roger Lea MacBride. They served together for the first 5 years on the National Committee of the Republican Liberty Caucus. MacBride was Chairman, Thies was Vice-Chairman. Upon MacBride's untimely death in 1995, Thies assumed the Chairmanship.

MacBride was the adopted grandson of Rose Wilder Lane, and heir to the Little House on the Prairie fortune. Before his death MacBride authored 4 more books in the Little House series.