The title of this post states the theme in a positive light. To state the matter another way, most conservatives have better ideas than most Objectivists on numerous important cultural and political issues. In this post, I limit my discussion to six issues, listed in order of importance, that I have already written about. To conservatives, I suggest you read the writings below to hone your good ideas on these subjects. To most Objectivists, I suggest you read these writings to correct your errors.
1. Masculinity, femininity, and derivative issues including sexual orientation, same-sex “marriage,” transgenderism, the LGBTQ movement, and eroticism.
For my thinking on this subject, see my book, Masculine Power, Feminine Beauty: The Volitional, Objective Basis for Heterosexuality in Romantic Love and Marriage. (The free Amazon sample is a good start.) Also see these recent interviews of me.
From my experience, conservatives—especially my Mormon friends in the Utah communities I have lived in—tend to be sympathetic to my ideas on these subjects. Most of them admire masculine men and feminine women; they consider marriage a union between one man and one woman; they have healthy contempt for the LGBTQ movement, especially in education (while remaining benevolent toward homosexual individuals); and they consider extra-marital erotic activities—such as pornography, masturbation, and pre-marital sexual relations—detrimental to their rational values.
From my personal observations, many if not most Objectivists take an opposing position on all these issues. Moreover, my personal observation of Objectivists indicates that they tend to be much more willing than conservatives are to have sexual relations even in the absence of romantic love. This last category includes—regretfully—a younger, less wise, yours truly.
When I wrote my first blog post (in 2013) opposing same-sex marriage, about 40 of my 160 Facebook friends unfriended me. A few of them were Left-leaning; the rest were Objectivists.
Leading Objectivist Leonard Peikoff has expressed ideas consistent with the normalization of homosexuality, although he has condemned transgenderism. (See also here.)
A minority of Objectivists have expressed ideas consistent with mine on at least some of the issues above. For example, Montessori educator Charlotte Cushman contributed an essay to the second edition of Masculine Power, Feminine Beauty; she also has been highly critical of the LGBTQ movement and of Objectivists who condone that evil movement. Also, Clemson Professor C. Bradley Thompson relentlessly condemns LGBTQ activism in the schools. But Cushman and Thompson are in the minority among Objectivists who express their opinion in public.
In my judgment, Objectivist normalization of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and the LGBTQ movement is deeply mistaken.
The intrinsicism of religious faith undoubtedly plays an important role in the sexuality of most Judeo-Christian conservatives. But fundamental sexual ideas of many if not most Objectivists, most obviously in regard to the LGBTQ movement, are downright tolerant of subjectivism, taking the sexual responses of certain individuals as not to be questioned or examined for underlying premises, and ignoring the cultural and political agenda of enemies of reason.
On a personal level, these issues of sexuality are enough of a reason for me to prefer to live in a community of Judeo-Christian conservatives than a community of Objectivists, if the latter ever were to come into existence.
Note: The foregoing criticism is not intended as a criticism of the ideas of Ayn Rand. In her own writing and public speaking, Ayn Rand was extremely critical of homosexuality and pornography. My own criticism of homosexuality, however, is not the same as hers.
2. The immorality of abortion after ensoulment
On the issue of abortion, I do indeed criticize the ideas of Ayn Rand herself. See my recent essay: An Objective Moral and Political Assessment of Abortion: The Pivotal Actuality is the Human Soul, When Accompanied by the Potentiality of Reason and Volition. This essay presents my own thinking on abortion, and also discusses the ideas of Ayn Rand and leading Objectivists on the issue.
3. The profound value of raising children
There are, of course, numerous Objectivists who are excellent parents. My point here is that the profound value of raising children is expressed much more in the writings of conservatives than in the writings of Objectivists. A wonderful exception is Prof. Thompson, who writes lovingly about his family. (See, for example, here, here, and here.) See also the section entitled “What is the moral responsibility of a parent?” early in my essay on abortion.
4. The need for strict control by government over immigration
See these essays of mine:
Why I Oppose Open Immigration, on Principle
It is the Submission that Causes the Violence
The Saudi Threat to Cedar City and All of America
Using Deadly Force to Stop the Caravan of Invaders
For the contrary position of the Ayn Rand Institute, see here.
5. The Second Amendment as crucial for freedom
See these essays of mine:
Americans Absolutely Need to Own Advanced Firearms
What Government Should Do About Crime and About Ownership of Guns by Private Citizens
Many if not most Objectivists, in contrast, do not consider gun ownership an important issue.
6. The attack on election integrity by the Left
Mass mail-in balloting (which continues even after the excuse of Covid is gone), relaxation of signature verification, unmanned drop boxes, ballot harvesting, same-day registration, resistance to cleaning dirty voter rolls, and resistance to voter ID are designed for cheating. The felony conviction of Trump was an instance of cheating in plain sight. By now it should be obvious that the Democratic Party cheated massively in the 2020 and 2022 elections, and is already cheating for 2024.
See these recent articles from the Heartland Institute:
Outdated and Inaccurate Voter Registration Rolls Subvert Election Integrity
See this article from the Heritage Foundation:
Biden Bucks: Executive Order 14019
See also these articles by me:
The 2020 Election and the Burden of Proof
Fight for Election Integrity, Continued
State Legislatures Should End Statewide Presidential Elections
Numerous leading Objectivists, in contrast, dismiss claims of cheating as “conspiracy theories.”
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There are other cultural and political issues about which I find most conservatives more reasonable than most Objectivists. Perhaps, dear reader, you can think of some of your own. And perhaps you can identify, as I would like to identify, how the Objectivist “movement” has fallen into this unfortunate state.
Ayn Rand was the greatest philosopher since Aristotle. Like Aristotle, she was wrong about some things—though astoundingly few. Her most popular advocates today are wrong about much more. But they are right about important principles—such as the primacy of existence (not consciousness), reason as man’s basic means of survival, rationality as a volitional faculty of the individual, the virtue of rational self-interest, capitalism as the moral social system—and their errors can be corrected.
The works of Aristotle led to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the United States of America. Great things still await humanity from independent-minded study of the works of Ayn Rand.
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I also disagree with most Objectivists, including Ayn Rand, on several important issues in epistemology. For my epistemology, see my book, A Validation of Knowledge: A New, Objective Theory of Axioms, Causality, Meaning, Propositions, Mathematics, and Induction.