IT USUALLY BEGINS WITH AYN RAND

by Jerome Tuccille ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1971

Tuccille's long, resolute quest for the ""liberal idea"" (i.e., classical Liberalism, now called Conservatism) began back in the '50's with Ayn Rand and The Fountainhead/Atlas Shrugged cult (all the individualists had ""strong, jutting jaws,"" etc.). Today Tuccille's still questing or still tilting, whichever you prefer -- he's still wondering how in beck to get the welfare out of Uncle Sam's capitalism. In point of fact, his search for laissez faire has led to one disillusionment after another: Ayn Rand, individualism's foremost apostle, fell from grace when she systematized her philosophy (Objectivism), laying down hard rules for everything from smoking cigarettes to sex (""According to Rand, it was the height of immorality for a man and woman to hop in bed simply because they liked the shape of each other's buttocks""); Barry Goldwater showed promise (""that jaw! Jumping Jesus on roller skates, his jaw could have been chiseled by Rand herself"") but we all know what happened to him; Tuccille flirted with Bill Buckley for a time (""the Golden Boy of the New Right"") but ultimately couldn't square Buckley's advocacy of a powerful military with the best government-least government premise; next ""Nixon wasn't the one, and everybody knew it."" Finally, in 1967, Tuccille becomes a ""responsible"" anarchist, sees a connection between his new position (sometimes called libertarianism) and the radical left (they both oppose the Vietnam War, government snoopery, etc.), and devotes all his energies to ""creating a viable Left-Right political coalition."" There have been disappointments of course -- for some reason the lefts and rights seem to be extraordinarily prone to internecine feuding when they get together for a convention and the purists on both sides call the centralists deviationists. But, in the main, Tuccille is optimistic for his newfound brand of liberalism, though he says ""total voluntarism and total individual freedom"" won't be achieved ""within the foreseeable future, if ever."" This is not a book of first importance but it is damn interesting.

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION