Ideas fuel a society.  Ideas ignite vision.  Ideas form the language of the logic that drives decisions and establishes priorities.  Yet I wonder if the ideas that we Americans consider are ones that open our minds to something greater than what we have become.

Some of the biggest ideas in America today seem dominated by Ayn Rand, who championed radical self-interest–something she proudly called selfishness. Followers of Rand claim that 400,000 copies of her political-economic novel Atlas Shrugged are sold every year.  A book of the month club national survey showed that Americans rate the most influential books of their lives as first the Bible and second Atlas Shrugged.

It seems very strange to me.  The Bible and Atlas Shrugged? Jesus Christ and John Galt?  They just don’t seem to go together.  Maybe I am missing something, but what I understand Christ taught was treat everyone the way you want to be treated and love your enemies.  He criticized all forms of materialism, elitism and coercion.  He heatedly criticized ruling religious hierarchies who claimed that following their rules was mandatory.  He castigated the arrogant and judgmental.  He embraced the poor, educated, sick and outcast.  He ate with tax collectors, rescued adulterers and accepted gifts from prostitutes.  He talked to and taught women, slaves and people considered to be from inferior races.  Perhaps his most radical message is that all of us are equal, all of us are welcome.  This all-inclusive embrace of humanity is perhaps Jesus’ most amazing message in a world that divided itself in groups of chosen people, castes, peasants and slaves.  But that’s not all.

He also taught that we have an obligation to help people who don’t deserve it.  His Samaritan paid for the health care of a stranger.  His beatitudes set a much higher standard than the Old Testament’s Ten Commandments.  While the commandments focus on don’t, the beatitudes focus on do’s.  They speak of peacemaking, empathy, humility, tolerance, acceptance…a very high standard.  One message that seems clear is that the purpose of life is all about “we” and not about “me.”  In fact the very way we develop a character fit for heaven is to serve others.  Especially others beyond our families, tribes and friends, even people we may otherwise disapprove of.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that CEOs consistently rank Rand’s book as the most important book they’ve read.  Her influence is more than minor.  Alan Greenspan, the father of deregulation and asset bubbles, was a friend and fan.  It’s not surprising that Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh often recommend her novels or that her narcissist-capitalist hero, John Galt, is often found on posters at Tea Party rallies.  What’s curious about Americans fascination with Ayn Rand is that her objectivist philosophy is routinely embraced by church going Christians.  And now this sweet and sour mix of materialist Christianity is becoming a major political movement.

In the past 50 years many Americans have embraced a philosophy of survival of the fittest.  Its economic roots come from Friedrich Hayek’s Road to Serfdom and most especially Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, a 1957 novel whose hero, John Galt, is the mouthpiece for an economic system that rewards winners and ruthlessly punishes losers without restraint.  Ayn Rand was a Russian-born avowed atheist who endorsed child labor while she supported unfettered abortion rights.  She also apposed anti-trust regulations. It seems that for Rand, big banks are good because the men who run them are ruthless capitalists.  She opposed public education and all environmental laws.  Most famously, she proposed that selfishness is the highest virtue of men and that any influence of morality on law making should be, well, illegal.  She expressed outrage that compassion or charity were considered virtues.  (If you think I am overstating Rand’s philosophy just check out Ayn Rand at wikipedia and see for yourself.)

In Atlas Shrugged her hero, John Galt, divided humanity into two groups.  The “Atlas’s” who like John produced things of value (like steel, oil and chemicals) while all others were “freeriders” who were the parasites of the wealthy.  Her novel is the story of the wealthy going on strike.  John Galt and his industrialist friends quit working in order to create an economic collapse so they will be begged by the rest of us to return and give us and our children jobs.  Rand’s view may not be that different from Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sach’s chairman who last year declared that he was “doing the work of God.”  In fact Atlas Shrugged is the chief argument as to why we have the same bankers today even though they caused the financial crisis.  They successfully claimed they were the only ones smart enough to run our “private” banking system.  Whatever.  Maybe I am confused but when I read Atlas Shrugged, John Galt seems to be the ultimate immoral narcissist.

So what’s the point?  Randism is the meat and potatoes of the Libertarian movement that today is driving much of the Tea Party movement (No regulation!)  and the Republican economic agenda.  Republican congressional nominee, Rand Paul, says we’re being too hard on both B.P. and coal mining executives who ignore safety rules that kill people.  He says “accidents happen.”  He’s serious.

Libertarian Republicanism has a long history preceding Barry Goldwater and Herbert Hoover that goes back to the first oil and steel cartels of the 19^th century and the pre-Civil War cotton plantations.  This strain of thinking elevates property rights above human rights.  Today Libertarians have asked us to reconsider legalizing racism allowing public businesses to refuse service to people not because of bad behavior but because of race.  Huh?  If the fruit of Libertarian economics is immoral laws and the protection of a financial aristocracy, John Galt can stay on strike.

But what’s the choice?  The “Progressive” left doesn’t have practical answers.  We know that welfare robs people of their inner dignity, self-esteem and self-determination. We also worry that our governments (state and federal) have way too many employees with guaranteed jobs, healthcare, and pensions the rest of us cannot afford to pay for.  Having a federal government workforce that on average enjoys 30% more wages and benefits than comparable private sector workers (USA Today) is not sustainable, wise, or fair.

I am pretty damn frustrated. Our founders clearly wanted to create the society envisioned by the great thinkers of enlightenment where every person had a legitimate opportunity to pursue happiness.  We know that the increasing concentration of wealth and power is corrupting our democracy.  And I don’t believe that private charity can scale up to systematically stop the suffering caused by Atlas Shrugged economics, racism or the exploitation of low power, low resource citizens. Our broken education system, health care and banking systems are problems far greater than thinking-as-usual and politics-as-usual can solve.  We have to get beyond where we are.  We must.

We all want change.  But not incremental, this-is-the-best-we-can-do change.  We need big vision change based on a new understanding of what’s necessary for a sustainable, abundant future.  We need new 21^st century ideas to propel our highest ideals.  So what’ the solution?  No one can say with certainty, but these are my thoughts on creating new institutions to solve our most difficult problems.

Something powerfully is rising.  It’s called “social” entrepreneurship, or Citizen Enterprise.  These are not old-fashioned charities but brand new enterprises or company spin-offs using the energy of innovation and urgency of competition to solve human problems like poverty, illiteracy, environmental healing, and pervasive health problems. Some Citizen Enterprises are organized as non-profit, others are for-profit but privately owned. The common concept is they seek to be financially sustainable rather than rely on charity or value-free capital markets.  Worldwide, the number of citizen organizations has skyrocketed since 1990 by over 400%.  Employment in the citizen sector organizations has grown two and a half times faster than the overall world economy.  Millions of us are now earning our living in the citizen sector.

Why?  Because we now realize that we can use innovative ideas and business discipline to ramp up save-the-world solutions faster than ever.  Faster than governments can ever do.  The evidence is in our face: entrepreneurial models work best for solving most problems.

That’s because governments are not good at delivery of direct services.  Bureaucracies are poor at value delivery because there is little competition and few rewards.  Governments are best at creating conditions of security, justice, and opportunity.  Life and Liberty.  That’s the first job of government.  And they need to do a much better job of it.

Citizen Enterprise is a quickly emerging “third force” in society. This citizen sector often collaborates with government and private enterprise to create new sustainable solutions.  The size, effectiveness, and growth of this force are unprecedented in world history. This is how it looks.

Government, the public sector, is the “first force.”  It provides laws, policies and resources to provide conditions of life (security) liberty (freedom/responsibility and equality/opportunity) so that we, you and I, can pursue real happiness with gusto.

The private sector is the “second force.”  It is the world of business and commerce and  creates opportunities to increase our material wellbeing and social mobility.  It does this by producing and delivering products and services.  As long as there are free, competitive, non-corrupt markets of voluntary exchange it does its job better than any system yet devised.

The citizen sector is the “third force.”  It provides solutions to problems of social justice, poverty, environmental destruction, public health and more.  It does this also by developing and providing products and services with a sustainable business model. (See PlayPumps, Grameen Bank, Nike’s Livestrong Clothing Collection, etc.)

Both the private and citizen sectors thrive when markets are free and fair because effectiveness and efficiency is rewarded. But there is one big difference that enables citizen sector organizations to do what private enterprise cannot.  Private enterprise is beholden to their shareholders.  They must be profitable in both the short and long term and the more profitable, the better.  That’s why oil company executives can still look at themselves in the mirror even if their profit strategies cause single moms to feed their kids baloney sandwiches so they can fill the gas tank to get to work.  That’s why drug company leaders increase older drug prices even if my mother is choosing between her pills or heat for her house.  The point is businesses are not directly accountable to single mothers or grandmothers who aren’t shareholders.

This also explains why some of the government’s experiments in privatizing prisons has resulted in operations that look like human chicken farms and many for-profit Charter Schools excel by focusing primarily on wealthy, smart kids.  It explains why using private sector government contractors to run our government only ends up in corrupting it.  Private enterprise is not designed to serve the common good.

On the other hand, Citizen Enterprise can be revolutionary because it provides the services that focus on maxing-out the value to “all customers” because the citizen enterprise is accountable to…. us.  Citizens!  We are the customers.  In exchange for tax-exempt status and the ability to compete for increasing pool of patient capital, citizen enterprise is free to focus on just getting the best results.  The best for all of us.  This is what makes Citizen Enterprise the most powerful force for positive change.  Perhaps it is the new institution of the new future.

Indeed, Atlas has shrugged.  The Atlas’s have dropped the world on its ear.  It’s up to us to pick it up.