Read Atlas Shrugged, you monkeys!

I wrote this in response to someone who tried to refute Rand's 1000s of pages with 2-3 of his own:

Rand addressed one man's finite life as the ultimate measure and value, which it is. She spoke of thriving, not surviving. What? A man who doesn't reproduce has lead a life bereft of value? You came close to capturing Rand's thesis in that stmt, (that according to the theory of evolution, animals exist to reproduce, not to survive, live or thrive) just replace reproduction with production (meaning: man exists to produce or create, to thrive, to fully express his potential, as expressed by the characters in Atlas Shrugged). I think I get you. In a nutshell: you refuse to accept the reality of absolutes in life and you envy a mind able to create a philosophy so you try and fail to poke your miniscule holes in that philos.

Objectivism can be confirmed in the scriptures. there's nothing wrong with it; except abortion (oh, and adultery and fornication...it's an exciting book, you really should read it, but not for THOSE things -insert emoticon here-), which can be wholly maligned with objectivist theory.  (An unborn baby is entitled to all unalienable rights enjoyed by us all, including life and property.  His mind and body are his property, just like mine are mine.  He is no more helpless or un-viable than he is immediately after he's born.  A thin layer of muscle, fat, skin and tissue belonging to his mother notwithstanding.  She has no more right to murder him than I, if he wanders onto my property, even if circumstances dictate that I must keep him for 9 months, at considerable danger and hardship to myself and against my will.  What if I lived somewhere that was snowed in routinely for 9 months out of the year and someone dropped him off on my front porch the day he was born, corresponding with the first day of the snow-in?  Well, that's what you call a tangent.  But I'm sure Ayn Rand has been convinced of the error of her ways by someone on the other side, by now.  Anyway...)

Selfishness IS virtuous. The most selfish thing you can do; what you should do if you want to do yourself the most good and gain the most possible is to follow God's commandments; e.g. serve others. Serve as many people as you can in the best way you possibly can with your best ability and talent..you will gain more than any you serve.  My mission to Brazil taught me that.  To call it "enlightened self-interest" is just semantic.

Please take the time to read and listen to "Fransisco's money speech" and "the story of the twentieth century motor company," both available on youtube and taken from Atlas Shrugged. It'll take you 15 min. each.  Pony up, you wuss.  I've read the whole book 3 times and I'm no genius.  Plus, I have the attention span of the proverbial, easily distracted gnat.

And please don't try to elevate yourself, your mind, by denigrating a mind with which you're not worthy to share oxygen. It's obvious you think you sank her with your paltry points and you didn't come close. Remember, "Thou shalt not covet...anything that is thy neighbor's" including her mind.

Likely, your gripe is mostly with capitalism, per se. Freedom (aka capitalism) creates a situation where the best in each field matriculate to the top. And, to you, that feels unfair. Different abilities lead to different outcomes and results. God gave all of us talents.  But we value some over others. Each of us does this by choice, under capitalism. Otherwise, we're forced into our choices. I suck as bball. Should the other players be deprived of limbs so I can compete?

Life as the ultimate value is evidenced by the life we assume or imagine is lived by Our Father in Heaven; eternal life. It's about the fullest expression of one's power. The characters in Atlas Shrugged enjoyed their money, sure. But moreso, they enjoyed taming the earth and using their minds and bodies to create, to do the things that "can't be done;" to invent. Not just to have an idea, but to bring it to life, to make it happen! That's life, living, thriving; THE ultimate value.