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This seems topical, since we have several Objectivists floating around.

Ayn Rand took government assistance while decrying others who did t...

Mark Frauenfelder at 10:30 AM Friday, Jan 28, 2011

Noted speed freak, serial-killer fangirl, and Tea Party hero Ayn Rand was also a kleptoparasite, sneakily gobbling up taxpayer funds under an assumed name [note: it might have been her legal name] to pay for her medical treatments after she got lung cancer.

An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).
As Pryor said, "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out" without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn "despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help."

But alas she did and said it was wrong for everyone else to do so.

I like the part under the 'serial-killer fangirl' link. Her concept of a real man is great.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MCT on February 2, 2011 at 9:05pm

SS,

I believe the best way to help society is to help myself. Society is only as strong or as weak as its individuals.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on February 2, 2011 at 9:21pm

How about all of the black people in America who are STILL suffering under the after-effects of slavery, over 100 years later?

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on February 2, 2011 at 9:24pm

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. What you're proposing will send us back to the late 1800's, the days of the Robber Barons, corporate monopolies, and mass poverty for 90% of the population. You'll turn us into a third-world country, and that's flat-out wrong.

The government is there to balance the scales.

Permalink Reply by MCT on February 2, 2011 at 10:33pm

JP,

No way would we become a third world country. That really is ridiculous. We have a population of people who mostly go to work every day. How could standard of living go down if people could keep their money? Oh, all of the people that feed off of others wouldn't be able to survive. Boohoo. But, seriously, we could slowly decrease government spending over years and decrease taxes until no one needed to put a gun to anyone else to stay alive. And government will ensure that no matter what kind of person you are, you are equally entitled to your own ability. We are not equally entitled to each other's ability. I want nothing to do with the needs of other people that I do not know or care about. How could I know if they deserve it. I would never indiscriminately give away money. You should not get money because you need it. You should get money if you earn it.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on February 3, 2011 at 1:31am

Do you have any idea what the unemployment rate is right now? How many people are getting laid off from jobs that have been eliminated and will have to accept new jobs making 50% or 60% of what they have previously? There begins a downward spiral of expected compensation, over the course of a generation or less, and you soon have everyone but the business owners working at a poverty wage.

I hate to tell you this, but we currently have the standard of living dropping like a rock. If we didn't have unemployment insurance, many people would be permanently financially crippled by the current situation.

Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on February 8, 2011 at 4:03pm

You're making it sound as if rich people are victims.

Permalink Reply by MCT on February 8, 2011 at 4:51pm

I know. It is on purpose. They are. And so is anybody who is forced to pay for other people's stuff. Because of the Fed and wealth redistribution, I am born in debt and can only keep a third of the money I make, while special interest groups lobby corrupt politicians and the decide where my money goes. All because the majority of the country thinks my right to my own life is worth less than other people's right to my life and a road paid for by someone else.

Permalink Reply by MCT on February 8, 2011 at 9:02pm

I will pay one third very soon. Sorry. My mistake.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on February 2, 2011 at 9:12pm

@Michael not everybody CAN help themselves.

Permalink Reply by MCT on February 2, 2011 at 9:33pm

SS,

And I do feel bad for them, but I will not force another to help them.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on February 2, 2011 at 9:36pm

So, you don't consider helping them a benefit to society?

Permalink Reply by MCT on February 2, 2011 at 10:17pm

SS,

Yes, I do. It is simply immoral to force someone to do it. Where are their friends and family anyway? Why can't they help? Two wrongs don't make a right.