Correspondence
Correspondence A FOR AYN? READING JOHN PODHORETZ'S review of V for Vendetta ("A for Absurd," March 20), I wondered why a man who so much supports America would aggressively denounce a woman who...
...READING JOHN PODHORETZ'S review of V for Vendetta ("A for Absurd," March 20), I wondered why a man who so much supports America would aggressively denounce a woman who spent her life in awe of it...
...nor do I understand the mentality that drives airplanes into buildings or explodes suicide vests in crowds of innocents...
...AL SAIBINI Stafford, Va...
...For all her extremism, Rand was right: Conservatives have sold out on too many issues...
...But Podhoretz fails to acknowledge her contributions to our system...
...Instead, the item-by-item response to Our Endangered Values in the second part of Hayward's review is an example of arguments I can confidently share with my liberal friends so that they will be convinced by ideas rather than put off by ad hominem attacks...
...No fan of conservatives, Rand warned of their philosophical shallowness, their political opportunism, and their inconsistency...
...RUTH LITTMANN-ASHKENAZI Cupertino, Calif...
...But what is ludicrous about upholding the Founding Fathers, a free market, and the pursuit of happiness...
...I understood this book as an incisive analysis of a firefight that showed both the stoic heroism of the Secret Service and the desperation of the Puerto Rican nationalists...
...FIGHT OVER GUNFIGHT TOM KELLY'S "Terrorism, 1950" (March 27) is, I think, a review of a different American Gunfight than the book I read...
...Do I understand why Torresola and Collazo thought they could succeed or why they even attempted the assassination...
...Stephen Hunter and John Bainbridge attempted to explain, not justify, the nationalists...
...BE NICE I WAS SADDENED by the rancorous tone of Steven F. Hayward's "Pious the First" (March 20...
...I do understand the man that stands and does the job he's sworn to do, even in moments of surprise and fear...
...Hayward's use of terms like "the smallness of Jimmy Carter's soul," "Carter's essential fraudulence," and "it is too much of a leap of faith to hope for any substance behind this man's moral vanity" is of no help in a debate with liberal ideas...
...Rand's philosophy asserts principles that go beyond these basics, and for that she's a controversial figure...
...In fact, they should heed Rand's caveat well in advance of upcoming elections: In a battle among the morally correct and the morally misguided, the more consistent group will win...
...Conservatives like Podhoretz shouldn't poke fun at the likes of Rand...
...Not in the slightest...
...in so doing, they've become their own worst enemies...
...Podhoretz claims Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged "is a primer in Rand's own ludicrous Objectivist philosophy...
...Her contributions to "our system," however, are arguable, to say the least...
...PRESTON NOWLIN Powhatan, Va...
...That they didn't fully succeed says more about the misguided nature of the Puerto Rican nationalists than it does about the quality of this work...
...Carter may be liberal to the core, he may be totally lacking a sense of "statecraft," but those criticisms should not lead directly to impugning his personal faith...
...JOHN PODHORETZ RESPONDS: Ayn Rand made a great contribution to the coffers of her publishing house and to her own bank account...
...Hayward makes religious judgments that are harsh and, I think, beyond the ability of men to make...
...Though I would not expect Hayward to write a favorable review of Our Endangered Values, I might have hoped he would provide reasoned dialogue and disagreement with President Carter's views...
Vol. 11 • April 2006 • No. 29
