by Mugurel Stejar

Created on: April 17, 2008   Last Updated: December 01, 2011

I came across Ayn Rand's novels in one of the least expected places to find them: in Ozaukee County Jail, WI serving time for a wrongful conviction that I have been fighting for a few years. The scope of this essay is not to debate my reasons for being in jail, even as my appeal is been going on, however it was an irony that I read "Atlas Shrugged" in a county jail in America.

Her book struck a cord with me, because in a way I shared some of her life experiences and ideologies.

I was born behind the Iron Curtain in a country which was much influenced by the social and political upheaval which happened in Russia of the 1917s. I was born quite a few years after the Russian Revolution, but I was born in a time which was very similar to the transformations she saw in her childhood. The country I was born in was a break away from the Russian ideology in the sense that the big dreams of the communist leaders morphed into the personal ambitions of a man who not only lacked education of any kind, but had serious mental problems. Actually he was a shrewed politician, and in spite of the fact that his electability consisted of his young age, and the impression that was an easy pushover, he showed the world that first impressions are wrong. He was not educated, schooled and presented mental challenges, however he managed to terrorize that country for a couple of decades. I was fortunate enough to live during his times and to understand the real value of life and freedom.

I was mesmerized by the American Dreams of Democracy and Freedom and I made the mistake to look through the wrong colored glasses, refusing to acknowledge reality. I thought that the other side was so bad, that nothing can be worse, in much the same manner Ayn thought.

And this is where I split the ideology with Ayn Rand. She was lucky enough to enter circles that isolated her from reality and she was lucky enough to live a sheltered life in which she could develop her social and political views.

Although I like her style and her sensibilities, going through some similar experiences with her, I can see her point of views and I can explain why in the end she is betraying in a way her true ideas.

I am totally on her side when it comes to the aversion against dictatorship, lack of freedom and democracy, but after living half of my life under the other side of the fence, I may say with a certain degree of certitude that Ayn Rand's Capitalism is not better than its mirror on a troubled surface.

Had I

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