GUEST: Johann Hari, journalist and writer for the Independent of London, winner of the George Orwell award, and Amnesty International Newspaper Journalist of the year in 2007<\/em><\/p>\n![\"atlas](\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/3314554139_f9caf97e1b_b.jpg\")
A popular theme at conservative tea parties and rallies this year has been the libertarian writer Ayn Rand. Placards reading “Where is John Galt,” “Ayn Rand was Right,” and “Atlas Shrugs,” invoke the philosophy of a woman whose books published half a century ago, are selling more strongly than ever during this recession. Alisa Rosenbaum was born during the death throes of Czarist Russia, and grew up during the Bolshevik regime. Alisa’s family fled to the US when she was 21 where she changed her name to Ayn Rand. She arrived in Hollywood and began writing stories that reflected her belief systems based in libertarian capitalism and self-interest. Her novels featured larger-than-life characters with superiority complexes who resolutely resisted government interference in their wealth and entitlements. Now, two new biographies of the Russian American writer Goddess of the Market<\/em> by Jennifer Burns and Ayn Rand and the World She Made<\/em> by Anne Heller, attempt to understand her thinking and philosophy. But my guest Johann Hari claims that the real question is why Ayn Rand has such broad appeal among American conservatives. Today many conservatives tout Ayn Rand’s books as sacred texts that predicted the economic crisis and offer a way out – some have even blogged about “going John Galt” as an individualistic solution of opting out of the economy as a way out of the crisis. <\/p>\n