AHC: Objectivist State in the Third World
- Thread starter Plumber
- Start date
I can see Objectivism reducing a state to Third World status, but this is an entirely different matter 
Basically an Objectivist comes to power as a dictator most likely. But I can't think of any offhand...I can see Objectivism reducing a state to Third World status, but this is an entirely different matter
Central America looks like a good place. You don't get more anticommunist than an Objectivist, and once he is on the good side of the state Dept and the Chicago School, he could rule for a long time.
It probably wouldn't look that different from, say, OTL Nicaragua or Costa Rica, with state power remaining intrusive in the name of fighting Communist insurgency (there would be one, of course) while allowing predatory oligarchs to use the authorities against the poor. It might be just a bit better if the people in charge had a genuine aversion to corruption, though once you have that kind of power, corruption tends to follow quickly.
I cannot imagine an Objectivist government surviving an election.
It probably wouldn't look that different from, say, OTL Nicaragua or Costa Rica, with state power remaining intrusive in the name of fighting Communist insurgency (there would be one, of course) while allowing predatory oligarchs to use the authorities against the poor. It might be just a bit better if the people in charge had a genuine aversion to corruption, though once you have that kind of power, corruption tends to follow quickly.
I cannot imagine an Objectivist government surviving an election.
NothingNow
Banned
Oh no. He'd have to be a company man through and through. And to do it, he'd probably have to be a School buddy of Greenspan's or another of Rand's inner circle.
And I'll second the notion that if he doesn't get done in by his Praetorian Guard, or a (Likely Soviet and Cuban backed) revolutionary movement, he could likely keep power for a few terrifying decades.
Let's say the objectivist clique gets serious about recruiting people for a separatist, not philosophical movement. Rand decides that making "Galt's Gulch" a reality is priority number one- a place where the rich and powerful can forge a world based off of Will alone. Jet-set, international, and active among the rich, the "Gulchers" become a small but financially very well off group.
....and one fine day in 1961, a recent French member by the name of Bob Denard tells Ms.Rand of a place perfect for the geniuses of the world to start anew. A place rich in resources ready to be exploited and tamed by human self-interest, a place under threat from savages and weak-willed collectivist internationalists. A place called....
Katanga.
....and one fine day in 1961, a recent French member by the name of Bob Denard tells Ms.Rand of a place perfect for the geniuses of the world to start anew. A place rich in resources ready to be exploited and tamed by human self-interest, a place under threat from savages and weak-willed collectivist internationalists. A place called....
Katanga.
Oh. My. God. That could make for one of the darkest African TLs ever seen.
There's a potential for some future history here, actually. Take a look at this article from the Economist (and this more in-depth one). Libertarian groups who do not believe in democracy are being granted the powers to run their own city-states inside Honduras as special development zones. It'd be easy for one of these to become an Objectivist dictatorship.
If Katanga become the first objectivist country in Africa, she will get a lot of initially political support from USA as seen as a bulkward against the commie; economic and military support will be assured even considering the influcence of the people involved.
More times will pass and more the country will become a paradise for the uberrich and an hellhole for the rest; considering the probability of a civil war or a persistent communist rebellion things will become ugly and a PR nightmare (think Rhodesia and South Africa), after the fall of communism and the end of the Cold war everybody in washington will prey that the world forget that they ever have something to do with that godforsaken country
More times will pass and more the country will become a paradise for the uberrich and an hellhole for the rest; considering the probability of a civil war or a persistent communist rebellion things will become ugly and a PR nightmare (think Rhodesia and South Africa), after the fall of communism and the end of the Cold war everybody in washington will prey that the world forget that they ever have something to do with that godforsaken country
With all due respect to the Objectivists, I believe this scenario--if one means a serious attempt to build a Randian society, not just some nutcase dictator mouthing slogans while killing his people--really belongs in the ASB category.
The simple, cheap`n'nasty solution; have Objectivism as a movement sellout to the same extent as most orthodox Rightwingers who love Rand but are, well, orthodox Rightwingers, and you could well end up with Pinochet claiming to be the leader of the world's first Dictatorship of the Galtian Overlords.*
Otherwise Rand's core believers are way too flighty to actually translate their original doctrine (her original doctrine) into a workable form of government. In practical, societal terms, if you compare them to the (very, very broad) revolutionary Left, they're not even at the stage as the various Christian socialists of pre-1900 history, let alone Marxist-Leninism.
*Thank you, American blogs.
Otherwise Rand's core believers are way too flighty to actually translate their original doctrine (her original doctrine) into a workable form of government. In practical, societal terms, if you compare them to the (very, very broad) revolutionary Left, they're not even at the stage as the various Christian socialists of pre-1900 history, let alone Marxist-Leninism.
*Thank you, American blogs.
I still don't really understand, but just thinking about it makes my head hurt.