Karl Marx and Ayn Rand, two individuals operating at polar opposites on the political spectrum, have far more in common than a superficial analysis might perceive. And it is my contention that Rand's political thought will contribute as much to the politics of the 21st century as Marx did to the 20th.

The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, gave way to a wave of social and labor reform whose effects are still being felt to this day. Where the factories once were deathtraps that considerably shortened the life of the laborer, they became safer, more efficient places to work and effectually helped in the Industrial Revolution's move to self actualization. The assembly line style popularized by Henry Ford, for instance, allowed workers to specialize in one area of the manufacture, causing greater efficiency and greater safety records due to familiarity with one's environment.

Once the social and labor changes were enacted, however, the more sinister aspects of socialist thought came to the surface. The factors of human greed and desire for control that Marx had never introduced into his thesis, became self evident, and few knew that better than Rand. Born in Russia, she watched as her once affluent family was reduced to poverty by the Bolshevik revolution and its aftermath. She emigrated to the United States forever affected by what she had witnessed in the genesis of the USSR, and her passionate appeals for liberty became evident in her works.

At this point in US and international history, socialist thought is fast becoming universal. Recent Supreme Court rulings on eminent domain, combined with the educational "reforms" enacted by our president, George W. Bush, are but two examples among the many of how we are devaluing the individual and constructing a socialist state. Where the deathtrap factories of the early to middle 19th century were one extreme, the totalitarian control of socialism is another, and where Marx's socialism represented the inevitable backlash of the workers against their 19th and 20th century oppressors, so too, will Rand's libertarian principles represent the inevitable backlash of oppressed members of a socialist society against their 21st century. Historically, every attempt to suppress liberty has met with revolution, all too often violent revolution, to restore it, and I believe our future will be no different.

Once time has removed the subjective feelings towards Karl Marx and Ayn Rand, they will be seen as the preeminent thinkers of their respective eras. And once the successes and flaws of each of their principles have been evaluated, each will be assimilated into a larger pool of human thought to make us a stronger and better society. As it is, however, we stand at a very frightening crossroads; not knowing our future causes us to fear it. And indeed, such fear may not be without merit.

But, "that which does not kill us makes us stronger"...and I feel the current crossroads will be no exception.