Doug French curates and reviews books for Laissez Faire Books and also blogs at Libertarian Standard. He mentioned us recently in a review of Nathaniel Branden’s book Judgment Day: My Years With Ayn Rand. He came right out with a reference to the age of Obamacare, saying, “… The writings of Ayn Rand are inspiring some doctors to push back. A small, but growing group of doctors want their patients to pay cash. That’s right, cash. Their own cash.” Then he went on to mention our practice. We’re flattered to have Atlas MD’s name beside an inspirational figure like Rand. Her philosophy guided us to where we are today, practicing medicine, changing people’s lives, and changing the way other doctor’s can change their patients’ lives.
French even says that our practice “sounds like Rand’s free-market Shangri-La — Galt’s Gulch.” Gulp. That’s a sweeping vision to live up to. Although we’re in good company. French reminds us in his review that Ayn Rand has had tremendous influence on the likes of other innovative entrepreneurs and business leaders: BB&T’s John Allison, Whole Foods’ John Mackey, and Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales to name a few. And we did release direct care’s first EMR, so we’ll admit that we’re ambitious. But our battle for common sense is ongoing.
ORDER JUDGEMENT DAY: MY LIFE WITH AYN RAND ON LAISSEZ FAIRE BOOKS
But enough about us, let’s get to the new book. If you’re interested in the wellspring of libertarian values, you should read Branden’s story. He was the man who knew Rand best and Judgment Day puts you into the living room where Rand’s “Collective” met to discuss philosophy, and then even ventures into (another gulp) the bedroom where Branden and Rand carried on a torrid love affair.
Rand said, “The thing I want you to understand is that no matter how hard the battle, it can be won. You can break through. So long as a society is semifree, you have a chance. Maybe, when your turn comes, it won’t be as hard for you. And if I can make it any easier, I would like that.”
We’re breaking free here at Atlas MD. Rand’s visionary writing influenced our dedication to practicing real medicine without sacrifice. In fact we do our job better because we like coming to work (crazy, right?). Making time to communicate with our patients, keeping them healthy, we enjoy that. They then can have more time to live and more money to make it meaningful. For starters, the hours saved on both of our ends means it’s more likely that our docs will have an opportunity to flip through Branden’s book, as well as our patients. Although, we’re disappointed: Our patients won’t have the chance to read Branden in our waiting room since they don’t do any waiting here.
Judgement Day: My Life With Ayn Rand is available for purchase.