Objectivist States of America

If the U.S. were taken over by an Objectivist state some time in between 1935 and 1960, how would that state be run?

I know that literally everything would be privatized, but how could an Objectivist government be created in America?
 
Probably ASB. Maybe if you extend your timeline forward by four years, and have Goldwater come to power, and somehow manages to implement a hyper-libertarian agenda. Perhaps the segregationist holdouts might realize that they're best bet is not to pine for state-enforced segregation, but instead fend off the regulation of private businesses under anti-discrimination law.

Ayn Rand could rise to the fore as the hero of such a movement, but, as was discussed on a thread I started about her a while back, her anti-Christian ethos and general obnoxiousness would probably be a big turnoff in Middle America, especially the Bible Belt.
 
Probably ASB. Maybe if you extend your timeline forward by four years, and have Goldwater come to power, and somehow manages to implement a hyper-libertarian agenda. Perhaps the segregationist holdouts might realize that they're best bet is not to pine for state-enforced segregation, but instead fend off the regulation of private businesses under anti-discrimination law.

Ayn Rand could rise to the fore as the hero of such a movement, but, as was discussed on a thread I started about her a while back, her anti-Christian ethos and general obnoxiousness would probably be a big turnoff in Middle America, especially the Bible Belt.

Yeah, the government doesn't necessarily need to be truly Objectivist, just as libertarian as possible.
I'd welcome suggestions as to hyper-capitalist American politicians. Maybe someone not opposed to butchering Rand's ideas a bit to get the Bible Belt on his side.

BTW there already is an American Objectivist Party.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
With all due respect, you do know the history of

If the U.S. were taken over by an Objectivist state some time in between 1935 and 1960, how would that state be run? I know that literally everything would be privatized, but how could an Objectivist government be created in America?

With all due respect, you do know the history of third parties in the United States?

The last successful one were the Republicans, and that was in 1860.

The US electorate is quite happy with a two party system, both of which are willing to publicize risk and privatize gain for the appropriate campaign donors, sometimes to a slightly different degree. This is called democracy in the United States.

Wall Street (as in, the capitalists) LOVE this situation; they've maintained it as the status quo since the Eighteenth Century, and - for the most part - because the US has (generally) done well by its working class, they've gotten away with it.

Dissastisfaction with the above is so rampant the Liberatarians have made it to the lofty heights of - wait for it - one city councilman in Madison, Wisconsin.

https://www.lp.org/candidates/elected-officials

Cripes, the Socialists have done better.

The Whigs these people are not.

Best,
 
With all due respect, you do know the history of third parties in the United States?

The last successful one were the Republicans, and that was in 1860.

The US electorate is quite happy with a two party system, both of which are willing to publicize risk and privatize gain for the appropriate campaign donors, sometimes to a slightly different degree. This is called democracy in the United States.

Wall Street (as in, the capitalists) LOVE this situation; they've maintained it as the status quo since the Eighteenth Century, and - for the most part - because the US has (generally) done well by its working class, they've gotten away with it.

Dissastisfaction with the above is so rampant the Liberatarians have made it to the lofty heights of - wait for it - one city councilman in Madison, Wisconsin.

https://www.lp.org/candidates/elected-officials

Cripes, the Socialists have done better.

The Whigs these people are not.

Best,

I'm actually thinking of a capitalist dictatorship similar to Pinochet's Chile.
I know installing an autocracy in America is a longshot, but if you had the right military leaders at the right time . . .
 
Yeah, the government doesn't necessarily need to be truly Objectivist, just as libertarian as possible.
I'd welcome suggestions as to hyper-capitalist American politicians. Maybe someone not opposed to butchering Rand's ideas a bit to get the Bible Belt on his side.

BTW there already is an American Objectivist Party.

Here's a way of thinking about it...

Try to imagine a way for Ron Paul to come to get elected in 2008 or 2012.

Then, while making as few changes as possible, re-work that scenario for the time period you mention in your OP.

Because, while he might not be a pure Objectivist or even a pure liberatarian, he's about the closest there has been in a high-profile position in presidential politics.

And if you look at the image that Paul carries with large sections of the public, you might see why it would be such a challenge to get an Objectivist in the White House, ie. the darling of asocial tech geeks, preaching an economic gospel that, whatever it's merits, is gonna strike most people as incomprehensible esoteria.

And, unlike the more orthodox Objectivists, Paul was NOT a foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Christian zealot. So that's an extra handicap your scenario needs to overcome.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Third party is more likely than a coup, however...

I'm actually thinking of a capitalist dictatorship similar to Pinochet's Chile. I know installing an autocracy in America is a longshot, but if you had the right military leaders at the right time . . .

Third party is more likely than a coup, however, since there has been a sucessful third party.

There's never been anything close to a coup, and given the US actually has 52 armies (both active duty and reserve, and 50 of them led by individuals who wake up every morning and say "you know, I could be president"), two to five navies, and (at least) five air forces, good luck.

Best,
 
Maybe Robert Taft in 1948 could help turn the country more towards libertarianism. Maybe after his term, Goldwater gets elected in a different election. It would have to be gradual for it to be particularly feasible.
 
Yeah, yeah, I know, but the remaining 20% is about the closest there has been to an actual coup in the US.
Which should tell you how hard it is to have a coup in the US. The closest we came was a couple of rich assholes (several of whom ran New Deal programs) complaining about the New Deal and talking about how much better the US would be after a coup. The fact that they chose Butler, a well known pacifist and anti-corporate firebrand, to lead should tell you how serious they were.
 
With all due respect, you do know the history of third parties in the United States?

The last successful one were the Republicans, and that was in 1860.

Actually, the Republicans were never a third party. By the time they emerged as a national party in 1856, the Whig party was pretty much dead, and the only question was which party would replace it as the major opposition to the Democrats--the Republicans or the Americans (Know Nothings)? The 1856 election in which Fremont easily outpolled Fillmore answered that question.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
I was holding out for the Free Soil-National Women's Party Fusion ticket, myself

Actually, the Republicans were never a third party. By the time they emerged as a national party in 1856, the Whig party was pretty much dead, and the only question was which party would replace it as the major opposition to the Democrats--the Republicans or the Americans (Know Nothings)? The 1856 election in which Fremont easily outpolled Fillmore answered that question.

I was holding out for the Free Soil-National Women's Party Fusion ticket, myself.;)

But I think the above is not really disagreement.

Bottom line, Libertarians are and have been less successful in the United States in terms of federal or statewide officeholders than the Socialists, Populists, Progressives, Farmer-Labor, etc.

Best,
 
I was holding out for the Free Soil-National Women's Party Fusion ticket, myself.;)

But I think the above is not really disagreement.

Bottom line, Libertarians are and have been less successful in the United States in terms of federal or statewide officeholders than the Socialists, Populists, Progressives, Farmer-Labor, etc.

Best,

Fair enough. Libertarianism is the ideology of the rich.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Yeah, not really even that...

Fair enough. Libertarianism is the ideology of the rich.

Yeah, not really even that...

The real rich, as in multi-generational families that have handed it down from one to the other (or those who wish to), understand that to keep such requires stability (legal systems, for example, and patent law, and copywright, and land tenure and water rights, and, of course, courts that stay bought), and the fantasies suggested by Libertarianism are, by definition, utterly unstable.

Best,
 
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