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REPLY TO THREAD
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Standing On My SoapBox: Ayn Rand Had it Right
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Original Message
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In terms of political and economic philosophy, Ayn Rand is my hero. The list of people that I admire, past and present, is a short one. This excerpt from her work illustrates a core component of my social, political, and economic values. I know it is controversial. I am drawing my line in the sand. Here is where I stand.
DigitalGirl
“You, who are half-rational, half-coward have been playing a con game with reality, but the victim you have conned is yourself. When men reduce their virtues to the approximate, then evil acquires the force of an absolute, when loyalty to an unyielding purpose is dropped by the virtuous, it’s picked up by the scoundrels—and you get the indecent spectacle of cringing, bargaining, traitorous good and a self-righteously uncompromising evil. As you surrendered to the mystics of muscle when they told you that ignorance consists of claiming knowledge, so now you surrender to them when they shriek that immorality consists of pronouncing moral judgment. When they yell that it is selfish to be certain that you are right, you hasten to assure them that you are certain of nothing. When they shout that it is immoral to stand on your convictions, you assure them that you have no convictions whatsoever.
When the thugs of Europe’s People’s States snarl that you are guilty of intolerance, because you don’t treat your desire to live and their desire to kill you as a difference of opinion—you cringe and hasten to assure them that you are not intolerant of any horror. When some barefoot bum in some pesthole of Asia yells at you: How dare you be rich—you apologize and beg him to be patient and promise him you’ll give it all away.
You have reached the blind alley of the treason you committed when you agreed that you had no right to exist. Once you believed it was ‘only a compromise’: you conceded it was evil to live for yourself, but moral to live for the sake of your children. Then you conceded that it was selfish to live for your children, but moral to live for your community. Then you conceded that it was selfish to live for your community, but moral to live for your country. Now, you are letting this greatest of countries be devoured by any scum from any corner of the earth, while you concede that it is selfish to live for your country and that your moral duty is to live for the globe. A man who has no right to life, has no right to values and will not keep them.”
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