Atlas Shrugged the movie

Geoffrey Lawrence


Our friends at the Reason Foundation have a behind-the-scenes review of the first installment of the upcoming trilogy of Atlas Shrugged movies. Atlas Shrugged: Part I premiers in theatres on April 15 and is sure to ignite enthousiasm – particularly within the Tea Party movement, whose supporters frequently sport t-shirts bearing the question, “Who is John Galt?”

This movie series should also inspire controversy from across the political spectrum. Already, the “progressive” intelligentsia is labeling the film “socially dangerous.” Well…at least the ideas portrayed by the film are dangerous for the national-socialist agenda to which the modern American Left adheres.

However, I’m guessing that some of the film’s biggest critics will come from the political Right. Ayn Rand’s most loyal disciples, the “Objectivists,” are notoriously difficult to please and I would expect them all to voice dissatisfaction with any attempt to adapt Rand’s masterpiece to the silver screen. This trait has also inspired many of the more prominent Objectivists to lead intellectual attacks against philosophies similar, but not identical, to their own (i.e. libertarianism). Libertarians have responded to these attacks in kind over the years, which has fostered some level of antagonism between the two schools of thought. In fact, perhaps the most critical attack on the Objectivists was made not by the Left, but by none other than Murray Rothbard: “The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult.”

As an Austro-libertarian myself, I have never made a secret of my affinity for Rothbard. However, I will be the first one through the door to see Atlas Shrugged on opening night and I look forward to seeing the excitement the movie will generate.

Geoffrey Lawrence

Geoffrey Lawrence

Director of Research

Geoffrey Lawrence is director of research at Nevada Policy.

Lawrence has broad experience as a financial executive in the public and private sectors and as a think tank analyst. Lawrence has been Chief Financial Officer of several growth-stage and publicly traded manufacturing companies and managed all financial reporting, internal control, and external compliance efforts with regulatory agencies including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Lawrence has also served as the senior appointee to the Nevada State Controller’s Office, where he oversaw the state’s external financial reporting, covering nearly $10 billion in annual transactions. During each year of Lawrence’s tenure, the state received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award from the Government Finance Officers’ Association.

From 2008 to 2014, Lawrence was director of research and legislative affairs at Nevada Policy and helped the institute develop its platform of ideas to advance and defend a free society.  Lawrence has also written for the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation, with particular expertise in state budgets and labor economics.  He was delighted at the opportunity to return to Nevada Policy in 2022 while concurrently serving as research director at the Reason Foundation.

Lawrence holds an M.A. in international economics from American University in Washington, D.C., an M.S. and a B.S. in accounting from Western Governors University, and a B.A. in international relations from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  He lives in Las Vegas with his beautiful wife, Jenna, and their two kids, Carson Hayek and Sage Aynne.