Rush Drummer Neil Peart Denounces Ayn Rand: I’m A ‘Bleeding Heart Libertarian’

In the latest edition of Rolling Stone, Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart opened up about his politics, calling himself a “bleeding heart libertarian” and renouncing his once-famous interest in the writings of Ayn Rand.

Peart once openly credited Rand for inspiring Rush’s 1976 album 2112, which contained a sci-fi plot loosely based on the Objectivist author’s novella Anthem. Many other Peart-written lyrics were clearly inspired by Rand-like views on individualism and government — for instance, Rush’s 1981 hit “Tom Sawyer” was about a strong individualist whose “mind is not for rent/to any God or government,” and their 1978 song “The Trees” was a parable about forced equality.

Rolling Stone asked Peart, “Do [Ayn Rand’s] words still speak to you?” He responded:

Oh, no. That was 40 years ago. But it was important to me at the time in a transition of finding myself and having faith that what I believed was worthwhile. I had come up about that moral attitude about music, and then in my late teens I moved to England to seek fame and fortune and all that, and I was kind of stunned by the cynicism and the factory-like atmosphere of the music world over there and it shook me. I’m thinking, “Am I wrong? Am I stupid and naïve? This is the way that everybody does everything and, had I better get with the program?”

This view of the music industry was best captured in Rush’s classic rock radio staple “Spirit of the Radio,” which champions the individualism and freedom of music, despite the pressures of a bureaucratic rock radio industry.

Peart continued:

For me, [Rand’s writing] was an affirmation that it’s alright to totally believe in something and live for it and not compromise. It was a simple as that. On that 2112 album, again I was in my early 20s. I was a kid. Now I call myself a bleeding heart libertarian. Because I do believe in the principles of Libertarianism as an ideal – because I’m an idealist. Paul Theroux’s definition of a cynic is a disappointed idealist. So as you go through past your 20s, your idealism is going to be disappointed many many times. And so, I’ve brought my view and also – I’ve just realized this – Libertarianism as I understood it was very good and pure and we’re all going to be successful and generous to the less fortunate and it was, to me, not dark or cynical. But then I soon saw, of course, the way that it gets twisted by the flaws of humanity. And that’s when I evolve now into … a bleeding heart Libertarian. That’ll do.

It’s always refreshing to hear someone who calls themselves a “libertarian” not worship the writings of Rand. Take it from this lowly libertarian blogger: libertarianism and Ayn Rand-worship are not inseparable. While her skepticism of government, and the cronies who “mooch” off it, was insightful and incredibly rare for a fiction author, the moral and cultural absolutism of her philosophy is a big turn-off for some of us. (Plus, her prose is pretty awful…she reads like a verbose romance novelist.)

Though, I wonder if Peart is aware that Rand hated libertarians, calling them a “monstrous, disgusting bunch of people.”

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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