Jennifer Burns

Yeah, and of kind of pushing back against that movement towards communism, social democracy. But one difference that I really should emphasize is Rand is a writer of fiction. She's a philosopher, but she's also a writer of fiction. So she is working almost in the mythic register, much more in the psychological register.

Yeah, and of kind of pushing back against that movement towards communism, social democracy. But one difference that I really should emphasize is Rand is a writer of fiction. She's a philosopher, but she's also a writer of fiction. So she is working almost in the mythic register, much more in the psychological register.

Yeah, and of kind of pushing back against that movement towards communism, social democracy. But one difference that I really should emphasize is Rand is a writer of fiction. She's a philosopher, but she's also a writer of fiction. So she is working almost in the mythic register, much more in the psychological register.

She's creating characters that people identify with and people relate to experiences they've had. And that's one of the reasons she hits so deep. And she's also offering people, you know, I read all the fan letters to her. People would say things like, I read The Fountainhead and now I'm getting a divorce. You know, having just these incredible realizations.

She's creating characters that people identify with and people relate to experiences they've had. And that's one of the reasons she hits so deep. And she's also offering people, you know, I read all the fan letters to her. People would say things like, I read The Fountainhead and now I'm getting a divorce. You know, having just these incredible realizations.

She's creating characters that people identify with and people relate to experiences they've had. And that's one of the reasons she hits so deep. And she's also offering people, you know, I read all the fan letters to her. People would say things like, I read The Fountainhead and now I'm getting a divorce. You know, having just these incredible realizations.

Milton Friedman didn't get such things. Or, you know, I'll meet someone and they'll say to me, you know, Ayn Rand is the reason I went to medical school. You know, like a woman said this to me a few years back. It never even occurred to me that I could be a doctor until I read Ayn Rand. And I said, I'm going to go to medical school. And so she has that really intense impact on people.

Milton Friedman didn't get such things. Or, you know, I'll meet someone and they'll say to me, you know, Ayn Rand is the reason I went to medical school. You know, like a woman said this to me a few years back. It never even occurred to me that I could be a doctor until I read Ayn Rand. And I said, I'm going to go to medical school. And so she has that really intense impact on people.

Milton Friedman didn't get such things. Or, you know, I'll meet someone and they'll say to me, you know, Ayn Rand is the reason I went to medical school. You know, like a woman said this to me a few years back. It never even occurred to me that I could be a doctor until I read Ayn Rand. And I said, I'm going to go to medical school. And so she has that really intense impact on people.

So she thought of herself as rational. She thought of rationality as... kind of what she was doing, but she was actually doing a kind of mytho-poetic psychological work as well. Whereas Friedman, on the one hand, was much more rational, and there's a whole set of economic thinking, and he provides a rational framework for understanding the world, and it's the framework of neoclassical economics.

So she thought of herself as rational. She thought of rationality as... kind of what she was doing, but she was actually doing a kind of mytho-poetic psychological work as well. Whereas Friedman, on the one hand, was much more rational, and there's a whole set of economic thinking, and he provides a rational framework for understanding the world, and it's the framework of neoclassical economics.

So she thought of herself as rational. She thought of rationality as... kind of what she was doing, but she was actually doing a kind of mytho-poetic psychological work as well. Whereas Friedman, on the one hand, was much more rational, and there's a whole set of economic thinking, and he provides a rational framework for understanding the world, and it's the framework of neoclassical economics.

At the same time, he does pull on mythologies of the idea of America in the Gilded Age, the frontier mythology, the individual immigrant, the settler mythology. He pulls on these, but he doesn't create them. He's more kind of playing a tune he already has.

At the same time, he does pull on mythologies of the idea of America in the Gilded Age, the frontier mythology, the individual immigrant, the settler mythology. He pulls on these, but he doesn't create them. He's more kind of playing a tune he already has.

At the same time, he does pull on mythologies of the idea of America in the Gilded Age, the frontier mythology, the individual immigrant, the settler mythology. He pulls on these, but he doesn't create them. He's more kind of playing a tune he already has.

Whereas I think Rand really does something a little bit deeper in her ability to reach into people's psyche and then take that emotional, psychological experience and fuse it to an intellectual world and a political world. And that's really what makes her so powerful. And so I think she comes back in emotionally.

Whereas I think Rand really does something a little bit deeper in her ability to reach into people's psyche and then take that emotional, psychological experience and fuse it to an intellectual world and a political world. And that's really what makes her so powerful. And so I think she comes back in emotionally.

Whereas I think Rand really does something a little bit deeper in her ability to reach into people's psyche and then take that emotional, psychological experience and fuse it to an intellectual world and a political world. And that's really what makes her so powerful. And so I think she comes back in emotionally.

to relevancy in a different way than Friedman does because I think in some way she's tapped into a kind of more universal human longing for independence and autonomy and kind of self-creation and self-discovery.

to relevancy in a different way than Friedman does because I think in some way she's tapped into a kind of more universal human longing for independence and autonomy and kind of self-creation and self-discovery.