Although the novel is not fundamentally about politics, the distinction between first- and second-handers has definite political-economic implications. These implications are made clear by examining several of the main characters in The Fountainhead. Toohey is the one character in the novel with political goals. He is a collectivist intellectual seeking to establish a Fascist/Communist dictatorship in America. Toohey knows that such a society is one of, for, and by the second-handers. Its appeal is its claim to provide cradle-to-grave care for an individual. A person will be born in a state-controlled hospital, raised in a state-controlled nursery, educated in a state-controlled school, employed in a state-controlled factory. In return for its generosity, the state requires only one thing of its citizens: obedience. Toohey realizes that there is no chance to form such a state with a citizenry of Howard Roarks. Such independent persons desire to support themselves; they will not be wards of the state—and they refuse to obey. But with a society of Peter Keatings, Toohey’s goal is achievable. The Keatings will surrender their minds to a leader; they want to do so; they will obey in order to win approval from the rulers. Toohey, the aspiring power behind the throne of such a dictatorship, makes clear to Keating the world he envisions: “We’ll enjoy unlimited submission—from men who’ve learned nothing except to submit. We’ll call it ‘to serve.’ We’ll give out medals for service. You’ll fall over one another in a scramble to see who can submit better and more.” Hence, Toohey’s lifelong quest to induce submission in others.
Those individuals like Roark, who are psychologically independent, require political/economic independence. These individuals think for themselves and will not, under any circumstances, surrender their minds to a leader, whether religious, political, or other. They wish to live their own lives, pursue their own goals, seek their own happiness. Many have the entrepreneurial spirit and want to work for themselves. They will not exist as wards of the state, for they are not robotic automata. These individualists will create and thrive in a free country such as the United States. Just as the psychological dependence of a Keating leads to political/economic dependence, so the psychological independence of a Roark leads to political/economic independence. The conformists will voluntarily give up their minds and their freedom to a dictator like Hitler; the individualists will defend their freedom to the death.
In a free society, the Roarks of the world flourish. The freest country in history is the United States; and the height of its freedom was from the late nineteenth century (when the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in 1863) until the early twentieth century (when the socialist ideas of Marx began to win control of the American universities and political system). That era saw a plethora of inventions and new developments. The freedom of American society enabled the most independent minds—those real-life creators of whom Howard Roark is a fictitious representative—to think freely, to develop new ideas, to take those new products and methods to the marketplace, to convince the customers that the innovations were superior to the established ways of doing things, and to make a fortune. Independent thinkers like Roark require the freedom to act on their thinking. Without that, all of their thinking is fruitless. This is why the freest countries—the United States, Japan, Western Europe—are the most prosperous, and why dictatorships—whether of the Communist, military, or theocratic varieties—are significantly poorer. Given liberty, the Howard Roarks of society are free to innovate and create abundance; in the absence of liberty, the most independent minds are stifled, productivity is squashed, and the standard of living cannot rise. Independent minds are responsible for progress and prosperity; independent minds require freedom.
