Oh Carmy, don't get me wrong, Ayn Rand is a good read, but she has so many issues that a lot of her Randroid followers just can't seem to acknowledge. Her
objectivist philosophy is essentially Nietzsche's
will to power. But, while Nietzsche claimed this was a natural byproduct of self-awareness and ego, Rand admonished that her version was a product of the rational mind from man's high state of evolution (which is like saying "thats twelve but this is a dozen"). She denounced Nietzsche for calling
will to power instinctive behavior (which he never did). Instead of recognizing him as a precursor to her school of though, she wrote
The Fountainhead to distance herself from him. I don't mind Rand's philosophy, but I would caution those recently exposed to her to recognize that she is not the final word on capitalism, free markets, republican democracy, or personal accountability. In fact, taken to its logical conclusions, her objectivist philosophy is a pretty darn oppressive system.
Atlas Shrugged is a good read and probably the best of her works, but it's also a refinement of
Beyond Good and Evil done in a more literary form.
/not calling you a Randroid sweetie-pie, just using you as a reason to get on my soapbox