Johnson’s observation that mass psychology remained a closed book to Rand analysts is pretty accurate.Yet such gross underestimation of America’s perceived enemies is a trait that has always characterised US elites.Rand was a finishing school for Bonesmen and the scions of America’s ruling families all of whom had an incredibly narrow view of the world outside he US.

If the failures of Rand tell us anything they surely bespeak the cultural straitjacket in which US elites are enmeshed.