Ayn Rand believed that if political liberty and free market capitalism were to ever take another step forward in the history of mankind it would require a revolution among intellectuals. She convinced herself that intellectuals governed the political direction of a society.
Certainly intellectuals are influential. Many present day libertarians are too young to remember days when there were literally no libertarian influences on campuses, no libertarian magazines, no libertarian think tanks, no libertarian commentators in the media; days when one never heard the term "libertarian." So libertarians have since Rand's day made great progress in the realms usually thought to be intellectual realms.
But intellectualism cannot do the job completely, because human beings are much more than their intellects, and most people do not operate only intellectually. The continuing revolution toward greater political liberty can only finally succeed by reaching the vast majority of people on a spiritual level.
You are a spiritual being. Experiencing yourself in a physical body, you develop a self-identification known in modern times as your "ego." To state it simply, your ego is who you imagine you are, your spirit is who you really are.
To the degree you identify yourself in a physical body, you have concerns from the body's point of view ... food, shelter, etc. ... or stated most broadly "safety." To the degree you identify yourself as a spiritual being, the freedom to listen to and be guided by your spirit becomes paramount ... "liberty."
Libertarians sometimes refer to a statement which has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Of course, Benjamin Franklin would not have used those exact words because he knew both liberty and safety were deserved by everyone in spite of what their egos might think needs to be given up. But whoever did use those words was certainly sensing the difference between ego-vested interests and true interests in reality.
I reality there is no difference between liberty and true safety. Our spirit wants for us infinite peace and love and joy, the experience of unbounded happiness and prosperity. So our spirit guides us in learning, inventing, discovering, adjusting to circumstances ... our spirit guides us in every way that leads to true safety. But we cannot take advantage of all the amazing well-being our spirit would guide us to achieve if we are not experiencing political liberty.
Socialists and their liberal-progressive cousins cater to people's ego-vested interests. Their petty little agenda has to do with providing for bodies ... food, clothing, health care, condoms and abortions ... even at the expense of getting in the way of people following their spiritual guidance, even reinforcing in people the ego's impulse not to look to spiritual guidance.
Libertarians offer much, much more.
But to be successful in selling liberty it will be necessary to speak to people's spirit, not their intellect, since their intellect is only an ego tool. Think of it this way: people's being is like an iceberg in the sense that their ego is the 10% visible tip while their spirit is the 90% beneath the surface. Success is assured if you can move the 90%.
Ayn Rand thought of herself as an intellectual. But as a novelist she knew she was first and foremost seeking to reach and move her readers' spirit. Yes, there are readers of her novels who are so trapped in their intellectually preconceived ideas that they block their own 90% and react to Rand with intellectual nastiness. But the vast majority who read "Atlas Shrugged" feel inspired, meaning their spirit responds.
Don't limit yourself to the ego's intellectualism. Let your inner being break free and be free. Whatever you do to promote liberty, let it be your spirit reaching the spirit of others!
To understand the insane psychology of modern "liberal progressives," read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."
"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles
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