From FDR to Obama, here is a ranking of our presidents on the Karl Marx/Ayn Rand continuum.
For argument sake, let's consider Marx and Rand polar opposites on the socio-economic scale: Marx is the collectivist and Rand is the Social Darwinist.
Marx believed we are all in this together. We should have a common goal and create a world with the common good in mind. Many view his beliefs as "screw the rich." Rand believed it is survival of the fittest (richest) and to the victor go the spoils. She viewed people at the bottom cannot compete and deserve to suffer. Many view her beliefs as "screw the poor."
FDR was chosen as the starting point because he was the first president that presided over a large middle class (which he enabled). Basically, prior to 1932, our country was an Ayn Rand utopia. There was no middle to speak of; basically folks were rich or poor. The gilded class ran the show. In my humble opinion, we are sliding back to that time.
On a scale of 1-10 here is the Rand-rank of our modern presidents. Remember: Marx is a one and Rand is a ten.
Franklin D. Roosevelt 4
Harry Truman 5
Dwight Eisenhower 5
John Kennedy 5
Lyndon Johnson 4
Richard Nixon 6
Jimmy Carter 5
Ronald Reagan 9
George Bush Sr. 7
Bill Clinton 7.5
George Bush Jr. 10
Barack Obama 6.5
FDR was our most lefty president. He enacted the New Deal, but was pro-business. He believed in capitalism with strict constraints. That said, he still only got a four (not anywhere near Marx). LBJ was similar to Roosevelt. He passed civil rights legislation and enacted the Great Society legislation. For this, he too received a four ranking.
On the other side of the continuum are W. Bush and Reagan. Reagan tossed the middle class to the curb...W then ran them over with a Hummer.
As you can see, our overall Rand-rank is about 6, but over the 8 elections since Reagan arrived, the average is 8.1 (heavily Randian). Conversely, during the middle-class glory years (1932-1980), the average Rand-rank was 5.1. We may be overdue for a major correction -- a stretch of fours and fives (our historical lefty extreme) would bring us back to the mean. This would be required to return to an eighty year Rand-rank average of 6.
To return to the glory years, an indefinite string of FDR years is necessary. Please respond to the following poll. Let's find out who our most "Randian" president is!