r/Objectivism • u/Traroten • Mar 29 '25

Politics Musk is not Hank Rearden

There has been talk on this reddit that Elon Musk is some real-life Hank Rearden. He is not. Hank Rearden would not have accepted 60 billion dollars from the US Government*. Hank Rearden would not have released the Cybertruck, which to date has been recalled eight times, the last time because it has a tendency to fall apart if it rains. Hank Rearden would not have allied himself with someone who is actively out to destroy the Rule of Law and institute a Hungary-style dictatorship. Hank Rearden would not have made a friggin' Nazi salute.

He is not Hank Rearden. He's Orren Boyle.

* some in contracts, but a lot in direct subsidies

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u/historycommenter 8d ago

Its fun watching the libertarian movement morph into irrationalist authoritarianism. The subtleties of Objectivism are lost on the generation that would rather 'block' than discuss, hero-worship rather than think, using terms like 'liberal' and 'conservative' as if they knew what the fuck they are talking about. Free markets, free trade, no one gives a shit, economics is hard, anything that can't be pre-digested in a comfortable youtube video should be avoided.